01 · Customize an existing product
Take a model from the library and change what the buyer sees: colour, finish, print, laser mark, lid option, packing. No tooling, fastest route, 10 pieces on eligible configurations.
BAOYUANFENG / DEVELOPMENT
From a Sketch, a Sample or Nothing at All
Most projects arrive as a photo of something close, with a list of what is wrong with it. That is enough to start. The first question is never “what do you want to make” — it is “how far from what already exists do you need to be”.
- Routes
- 3 Existing · part · new
- DFM feedback
- 2–5days From a drawing
- Decorated sample
- 5–7days After artwork
- New tooling
- 25–35days Drawing to trial
- First sample, new product
- 30–40days Including trial rounds
CHOOSE THE ROUTE
Three routes, three different commitments.
The route decides the cost, the minimum order and how long the project takes. Choosing the smallest route that solves the problem is usually the difference between a product that ships this season and one that does not.
02 · Modify one component
Keep the body, change the part that makes it yours — a new lid, a different rim, an insert, a base. One small mould instead of a product's worth of tooling, and the body stays on an existing tool.
03 · Develop a new product
A structure that does not exist yet: new body, new lid, new proportions. 2–4 mould sets, DFM review, trial rounds, then a production minimum of 3,000 pieces. Tooling is quoted as its own line.
If your design can be delivered by route 01 or 02, we will say so — even when route 03 is the more profitable answer for us. A mould cut for a product that did not need one is a customer lost at the second order.
WHAT DRIVES COST AND TIME
Four things, and only one of them is the design fee.
Development cost is mostly tooling and trial time, not drawing time. This is what to expect before you approve a route.
| Factor | What it covers | How it moves the project |
|---|---|---|
| Tooling | Mould sets, cavity count, steel, slides, texture | The largest single line, and the one that sets the production MOQ |
| Product design | Wall sections, draft, gate position, tolerance stack-up, part count | Redesigning a 2.5 mm wall to 2 mm can remove a mould set — or a whole part |
| Sampling | Trial rounds, decorated samples, freight to you | 2–3 trial rounds are normal; each extra round adds roughly a week |
| Testing | Third-party lab reports, food-contact migration, material identification | Quoted per model, and only where your market requires it |
THE PROCESS
Six steps from brief to mass production.
Every step ends with something written down. The point is not bureaucracy — it is that a change after T1 costs tooling time, while the same change before T1 costs an email.
Brief and concept review
What the product has to do, who uses it, the market it sells into, the target quantity and price. Reference photos are welcome; a competitor sample is even better.
Route and DFM
We say which of the three routes fits, and what will be difficult in the drawing: thin sections, undercuts, threads, tolerance between lid and body.
Drawing or 3D model
We work from your file, or produce one from the brief. Rendered views and a dimensioned drawing come back for approval before any steel is cut.
Tooling and T1
The mould is cut, fitted and trialled. T1 parts are measured against the drawing, assembled and sent to you with the measurements.
Sample approval
T2 or T3 corrects what T1 showed. The approved sample — with artwork version and dimension sheet — becomes the standard for production.
Mass production
Production runs on the approved tool at the agreed MOQ, 25–30 days to ship, with first-off parts retained as the reference.
BEFORE THE FIRST CALL
What makes a development enquiry answerable.
None of these are gates. But an enquiry with all six gets a route recommendation and a cost shape in the first reply, instead of three emails of clarification.
01
The job the product does
Cold drink, hot drink, single serve, resale, giveaway. It decides wall thickness, material and lid type more than aesthetics do.
02
A reference
A product you like, a product you dislike, or your own sketch. Anything visual shortens the first exchange.
03
Volume and price target
First order and annual repeat, plus the unit price you need to hit. It tells us whether route 01 is even viable.
04
Material constraints
Food contact, recyclability, BPA-free, hot-fill, dishwasher — each one eliminates some options immediately.
05
Decoration intent
Print, laser, label, or bare. A part designed for a full wrap print is moulded differently from one that stays blank.
06
Market and documents
Destination country and the compliance documents your buyer will ask for, so testing is planned rather than discovered.
Can you develop a product from a photo only?
We can start from a photo, and we will tell you what cannot be inferred from it: internal dimensions, wall thickness, material and thread geometry. Those come from a sample, a drawing, or a first round of tooling with iteration.
Do you sign an NDA?
Yes, on request, before drawings are exchanged. Send yours or ask for ours.
Who owns the design?
You do, on a development project paid by you. We do not resell a customer's proprietary shape — and we say that in writing rather than in a sales conversation.
What if the product needs a component we do not make?
We say which parts are outside our process — metal bodies, glass, electronic modules — and quote them as sourced items with the source stated. We do not pass a sourced part off as our own moulding.
CONTINUE YOUR PROJECT
The next useful pages.
YOUR NEXT STEP
Send what you have. A sketch counts.
The job the product does, a reference, the volume and the price target. We reply with the route that fits and what it would take.