The building on Caodun Industrial 4th Street in Gaobu runs about 10,000 square meters across two floors. Six production lines sit upstairs, cutting tables and the compression molding bank on one side, sewing and lamination on the other, with around 100 machines and a little over 100 people between them. On a normal Tuesday the loudest area is the molding bank, where each cycle runs 60-90 seconds depending on wall thickness.
What Happens to a Sheet Before It Becomes a Case
The flow is short enough to walk in ten minutes. Sheet stock is cut to blank on a die press, then moves to compression molding where the shell takes its shape. Trimming and edge skiving follow, then sewing for the zipper track, webbing handle and any internal pockets. Lamination of the outer fabric - Oxford, velvet or a flocked surface - comes next, and the last station is 100 percent inspection: zipper travel, seam alignment, corner formation and the fit of the foam insert against the actual product rather than against a drawing. Raw material gets a bench test before it reaches the floor. The QA supervisor who runs that bench checks sheet density against the purchase spec, pulls a hardness reading on the Shore C scale, and rejects rolls with visible delamination. It is not sophisticated work, but it stops an entire molding run from becoming scrap.
The Numbers Buyers Ask For First
MOQ starts at 500 pieces, with tier pricing at 500, 1000 and 3000. Samples go out in three days for straightforward structures; anything with a multi-level foam layout or an aluminum frame takes longer, usually five to seven days, because the foam has to be cut and fitted by hand first. Production lead time after sample approval typically runs 25-35 days on a first order and shorter on repeats, since the tooling and the foam program already exist.
Compliance paperwork is part of the quote rather than an afterthought. The quality system is certified to ISO 9001, materials carry RoHS and REACH declarations, and we hold CTI material reports plus an SGS factory audit on file. Shipment testing follows ISTA 2A or 3A for parcel and less-than-truckload distribution, and where a customer's protocol references ASTM D4169 we build the test plan to that instead.
Where Most Projects Start
Roughly two-thirds of what leaves this building is an OEM or ODM job: a buyer sends a drawing, or a sample of the product to be carried, and we work backward to the case. Power tools, handheld medical devices and consumer electronics dominate, with our electronic accessories range covering the smaller items and the EVA tool case line taking the heavy end. Cosmetics buyers usually begin from the aluminum vanity case series, because that product lives on the frame rather than on the shell.
Export paperwork is handled in the same office. Cases ship to more than 40 countries, with North America, Europe and Japan making up the bulk of volume, and the documents that go with each container - declarations, test reports, packing list - are prepared against the destination rather than a generic template.
Mr. Yin, who runs the company, keeps the same rule for every enquiry: quote against the real drawing, not a guess. If a dimension is missing, the sales desk sends the question back the same day rather than filling it in, and enquiries go to lucy@lianpingbag.com.