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Article: How to write a production inquiry
How to write a production inquiry to a factory ?
Based on your first email, factories decide if they will work with you or not. Be concise and professional. Only write comprehensive and short emails.
| 1 | Greet with name |
| 2 | Introduce yourself. State your role at your company. |
| 3 | Introduce your company (products, sales areas, quantities) |
| 4 | Say why you contact their factory |
| 5 | Present proof of having a business (website, catalogs...) |
| 6 | Summarize actual products and quantities you need made now |
| 7 | Summarize all products and quantities you are generally interested in |
| 8 | State your sales predictions for the current year |
| 9 | Ask for reference photos of products similar to yours |
| 10 | Ask for a price offer for the products you need made now |
| 11 | Ask for their phone number |
| 12 | Sign with your company name, address, country, phone number |
Ready to go more into detail? Scroll down!
To write a complete production inquiry, you will need to collect information from multiple departments of your company.
Production Inquiry
After having sent your designs and received the factory's price offer, you should now solve the following questions. Be aware - you might want to divide up the long list of questions. If you decide to go through some of the questions by phone, make sure to email the factory a summary of your questions and their responses.
03
Warranty
1 What are your warranty regulations?
2 If the machine arrives broken, does not work correctly or has manufacturing mistakes, do you hire a local engineer to repair the machine or do you need it sent back to your factory?
3 If the machine has to be sent to China and back to Germany to fix manufacturing mistakes. Do you cover both shipments?
4 How long do you need to pick up, repair, and send back machines with production mistakes?
5 Do you offer any compensation for the time, where the machine could not be used by the client?
04
Delivery
1 I will send a shrinking oven to you and some shrink bags to your factory, so you can forward everything together to the harbour. Is that okay?
2 How do you pack the machine before the shipping?
3 We will need to send the machines and some other productions from other factories to the harbour all at one time. If the other factory has a production delay, can you stock the machine until our other productions are ready for shipping? How long can you hold the machine after finishing the production?
4 If you have production delays of more than two weeks. What penalty discount do you offer?
5 If the production can not be completed within twice the production time, do you send back the complete payment received by the client?
05
Safety
1 Have you ever manufactured machines, that later have been approved by TUV?
2 Has the skateboard transfer press been tested and approved by any comparable institution?
3 Have you manufactured machines according to CE before?
4 What quality controls do you have in place, that we can use to proof, that the machine is safe to use?
5 How long is the production lead time.
05
Transaction
1 Do you have an export license?
2 Please send us a scan of your business registration and a scan of the ID card of the business owner stated on the registration. (The bank account we wire-transfer to must be owned by the registered business)
05
Payment
1. Prepayment in % before production start.
2. Final payment % after production and before shipment.
3. Are any delivery services included in the price offer? Please state the incoterm.