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Case Studies
Case Study 1
Consumer Electronics Brand
Reshoring Production to Eliminate Single-Source Risk
At a glance
- Industry: Consumer Electronics
- Service: Supply Chain Risk & Resilience
- Challenge: 100% of production for a flagship home device sat with a single contract manufacturer in China
- Result: Domestic manufacturing partner onboarded; single-source and geographic risk eliminated
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The client manufactured its core home-use device entirely through one contract manufacturer in China. The relationship worked day to day, but it meant the company’s entire production capacity, lead times, and quality control sat with a single overseas partner in a single region — a concentration of risk that had never been pressure tested against a real disruption, and one that made tariff exposure and long-term cost planning harder to forecast with confidence.
- Assessed the existing contract manufacturer relationship in full — true cost structure, capacity, contract terms, and dependency risk — rather than assuming a switch was the only fix
- Researched and screened both domestic and alternative overseas manufacturing partners capable of meeting the device’s build specs and volume
- Built out the real cost-versus-risk tradeoff of reshoring, including duty exposure, freight and lead-time impact, and the value of in-person QA access
- Supported supplier selection and transition planning so leadership could decide with full information, not a forced choice
The client selected and onboarded a domestic manufacturing partner. Landed cost increased by roughly 8% , but the business eliminated its single-source dependency, cut lead times from 12 weeks to 6 weeks, and gained the ability to run in-person quality audits and faster design iterations. For a device line where a single supplier disruption could have stalled the entire product, the modest cost increase bought insurance the company no longer has to hope it won’t need.
Case Study 2
telecommunication device startup
Building a Supplier Base From Scratch and Hitting NPI Fast
At a glance
- Industry: Consumer Hardware / Electronics (Startup)
- Service: Procurement as a Service
- Challenge: Working prototype, but no vetted suppliers, no contract manufacturer, and no internal procurement function
- Result: Qualified, audited supplier base built and NPI completed on an accelerated timeline
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The client had a working prototype but nothing behind it — no vetted component suppliers, no manufacturing partner, and no internal team to build either. Like most early-stage hardware teams, they were moving fast and couldn’t afford a slow, trial and-error path to production — but they also couldn’t afford to lock in the wrong supplier this early and have to unwind it later.
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- Mapped the prototype’s full bill of materials and identified suppliers with the right capabilities, capacity, and quality systems, casting a wider net than the client’s initial shortlist
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- Coordinated and ran on-site audits of the strongest candidates to verify capacity, quality processes, and facility conditions before any commitments were made
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- Managed supplier selection and onboarding directly alongside the client’s engineering team
- Ran New Product Introduction (NPI) — tooling, first-article inspection, and supplier ramp — in parallel rather than in sequence to compress the timeline
The startup went from an unvetted prototype to an audited, qualified supplier base and a completed NPI cycle in 8 weeks , 25% faster than the team’s original internal estimate. Just as important: every supplier had been verified in person, not just on paper, before the client committed a single purchase order.
Case Study 3
Consumer Brand
Better Pricing, Same Suppliers
At a glance
- Industry: Consumer Goods / Manufacturing
- Service: Stealth Sourcing
- Challenge: Suspected it was paying above-market rates, but couldn't test the market without alarming current suppliers
- Result: Verified market pricing obtained anonymously; savings renegotiated with existing suppliers; zero disruption
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The client suspected it was paying above-market rates on a key input, but going to market directly, under its own name, carried real risk — it could signal instability to current suppliers, tip off competitors watching the same supply base, or strain relationships the client still depended on to keep production running. It needed real, current market pricing without anyone knowing who was asking.
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- Ran the entire sourcing process under strict confidentiality, so no supplier — new or existing — ever learned the client’s identity
- Conducted market research to identify a qualified pool of alternative suppliers in the category
- Issued and managed RFPs across that pool, collecting competitive quotes based purely on the specification, not the brand behind it
- Compiled the results into a clear, defensible view of true market pricing for the category
With verified market pricing in hand, the client didn’t need to switch suppliers at all. They went back to their existing vendors and renegotiated from a position of real leverage instead of a guess, securing 7% in savings on existing spend — with zero disruption to production, no new supplier onboarding, and no existing relationship ever aware a search had happened.
Facing a Supply Chain Challenge?
Whether you’re reducing overseas supplier risk, building a supplier base from scratch, or testing true market pricing, we help manufacturers make sourcing decisions with clarity and confidence.