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Thanh joined us this week in Vietnam! He is our first technical team member in the country. He’s already doing a great job diving in on projects and working with local suppliers. Having new energy in Vietnam has given me a chance to reflect on lessons learned working in the country in the last few years. Here’s the secret… Vietnam is not always that much cheaper than China. Sometimes it’s more expensive. Why? I’ll introduce what I call the Mercedes Theory of Entrepreneurship: Everyone in the world gets into business with the goal of owning a Mercedes. Ok, maybe not a Mercedes, could be a Lexus or a Volvo or a Land Cruiser. Even lightly used would be ok, as long as the interior still looks nice. Not a Maserati, just enough to have made it to the good life. And the good life doesn’t just require a car of course. Good food. A nice house. Physical, medical, and financial security....

Gordon McCambridgeJanuary 5, 2021Shenzhen, Guangdong, ChinaI was reviewing New Year’s resolutions with a friend recently. I realized this year I really wanted to have one, and I’ve settled on trying to write more. I enjoy writing. I find it reflective and therapeutic, a chance to condense and distill thoughts. Writing more could be a good opportunity to share what is going on with us/me, particularly as we continue to be unable to see each other in person. And it might give folks more reason to visit our website! So here goes… So perhaps question one - why haven’t I done this before? Many of you have had kind words over the years for the few things I have written, and encouraged me to do more. But I don’t know… there have been moments when the experience was a little too intense to start breaking down in real time. I also had the sense that I needed to play a few more...

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Gordon McCambridgeDecember 16, 2020Shenzhen, Guangdong, China Hello Everyone, Apologies for the gap between our newsletters. It has been a busy year. In place of our normal format, I was thinking I could use this opportunity to send an end-of-year message. It has definitely been a strange one, though on the whole I feel fortunate. Thanks to you all and the nature of the pandemic, hardware and manufacturing seems to have been a relatively resilient part of the global economy. China has also been a good place to be, and I continue to feel grateful to both the government and the people for their collective covid response. A downside has definitely been our inability to see each other in person. However, I do think this year has given many of us time to reflect. I could not have foreseen this journey when I moved to Shenzhen. At that time I more sensed that between the opportunities available in China and my own interest and...

Over the last year we’ve built relationships with companies in Brazil, Russia (well, Ukraine, but close enough), India, and South Africa, while living in China - completing the BRICS countries. To me this has been a tangible sign of which parts of the world are actively developing hardware products and engaging in manufacturing. However, these partners have uniquely different needs from our US customers, more interested in the robustness and variety of component supply in China, rather than simply lower labor costs. The Rough Streets of Curitiba, Brazil Our BRICS customers have a couple common themes to their businesses. Often these hardware companies were begun in response to a specific domestic need, but then quickly expanded to become exporting themselves, whether to other countries in their region, or countries with a common linguistic and colonial past (India to Nigeria and Bangladesh, Brazil to Angola and Mozambique, Ukraine to the rest of the former USSR). They most often begin manufacturing domestically, often smaller...

The Hong Kong - Zhuhai - Macau Bridge (HKZMB) opened to traffic last fall. The bridge has been under construction through my whole time in Shenzhen, but I had not yet been on it. So my girlfriend Elaine and I decided to use our weekend trip to have a mini-adventure and take a ride across the new bridge. Shenzhen to HKG SZ -> HKG Van. I let her ride in the front. First off, we had to get to the start of the bridge from Shenzhen. A little internet digging showed that we needed to go to the HKZMB Hong Kong Port Bus Terminal (really rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it), which happens to be right next to the Hong Kong airport. I had seen signs at HKG for bus transport to Macau. Plus, there is transport from many points in Shenzhen direct to HKIA. Putting this all together, Elaine and I figured the airport was our first stop. With border crossings the ride...

Costs are rising in China. $600 - $800 per month is now a standard wage for factory labor. This is twice the going wage in Vietnam, and similar to the minimum wage of Portugal. Salaries for engineers and other professionals also match those of other high-middle income countries. Rents in Shenzhen are similar to those of a medium-sized US city. However, something that remains affordable in China is the expertise of firms. Therefore, instead of looking to only leverage the labor and equipment of factories, we have been increasingly looking for projects that place a large emphasis on our partner’s knowledge and ability to innovate. Some examples: A previously developed robot gave us confidence this factory could deliver We partnered with a Shantou toy factory to design and prototype a small robot. Total cost to our client for electrical + mechanical design work was $7.5K, vs.  a $100K quote from a US design firm. Initial prototype completed in two months. Now moving towards...

Shenzhen empties out quickly for the Lunar New Year. With the city to myself, I decided to bike south until I ran out of land. Which turned out to be the Shekou Port. I feel pretty confident that I was the only American to ride through the world's third busiest port that day, at least in flip flops. Other photos from the ride included. This is a pretty great town. I originally posted these photos on my Instagram. Check it out! 新年快乐🐷! Gordon ...

We have been making trips to Vietnam to explore the manufacturing environment south of the border. We have had the pleasure to make connections in Hanoi and Saigon and expand our team in-country. Below are thoughts on starting to do business in Vietnam. Vietnamese Die Casting of Korean Aluminum, Heading to Japan Prices Let’s start here. I had heard that prices in Vietnam were low, even lower than those in China. But never had any real info to back that up. Now with our first projects in Vietnam, we’re starting to get that data. Here are per piece quotes on the same die cast aluminum part, quantity 100,000 pieces: USA $0.68China $0.27Vietnam $0.13 With USA tooling costs at $40,000 and Vietnam tooling costs at $4000. The prices really are that good. A rule of thumb I heard was 40% savings over China - at least here, that more than holds. Old machines line Route 1A in Saigon. $2000 gets you whatever you want, if you can bargain. So....

Our first factory visit in Vietnam! With continued pressure from the Trump Tariffs, decided it was time to start making contacts south of the border. Caught a flight, hopped on the back of a Grab bike, and went to the factory. Outside of Hanoi, we saw examples of molding (plastic injection molding and aluminum die casting - molds made in Vietnam), CNC machining, large scale metal work, and electronics assembly. Enjoy! Looking forward to sharing as we continue to explore around Asia. Apologies for the vertical shot - the best way to hold my phone on the back of a scooter :)...