Global Sourcing - Higher Quality, Lower Costs

Firewall Security Appliances

This Internet firewall product, designed for the small office/home office market, required outstanding tooling quality and lower costs. That can be a very difficult – if not impossible – combination. Margins in the SOHO market are tight and control of manufacturing costs is critical. However, the SOHO market is also very design-conscious, so the customer was concerned about the fit and finish of the plastic bezels and the overall appearance of the finished product, making the plastic manufacturing specs for this product a real challenge.

High-quality tooling was needed to create the quality injection-molded part necessary to achieve the customer’s design requirement. NIC Global’s solution was to take the tooling to our Chinese tooling partner -- one of our many offshore manufacturing resources -- for high-quality but cost-effective tooling. High-quality tooling requires time in order to machine the finish properly. NIC Global was able to deliver that quality well within budget. The injection-molded components were shipped to our customer’s assembly vendor in Taiwan, where they were assembled, along with the NIC Global-provided sheet metal base. The customer received a very high-quality finished assembly with outstanding fit and finish for a price significantly lower than they could outsource it themselves with Chinese vendors.

This project included sheet metal fabrication, tooling for injection molding, molded parts, logistical support and final assembly. Utilizing both assembly sourcing in Asia and domestic management resources, NIC Global can bring the pieces of your most complex project together.