FAQ

A first production run needs a finished mold. Order size is not the gate. Once the mold exists and its samples are approved, the part can run in whatever quantity makes sense for your business. So the first question is not how many parts you want. It is what the tooling costs and whether you can fund it.

Check who actually makes your part, which steps run in the supplier's own plant and which go to outside shops, whether one company can handle every material your product uses, and whether you can talk to the engineers before you pay for tooling. Then verify each answer with live video, documents and a sample you sign off yourself, and decide whether China, Thailand or both fits your tariff and supply plans.

Sea shipments from Fudakin's Shenzhen factory usually leave from Yantian port. The usual terms are FOB. Fudakin can arrange the freight, or hand the goods to your own forwarder. You choose which.

Visits to Fudakin's Shenzhen factory are by appointment. The factory is at No. 39, Tangkeng 2nd Road, Pingshan District, Shenzhen. Buyers usually fly into Shenzhen (Bao'an airport), fly into Hong Kong and cross the border, or take the high-speed train to Shenzhen Pingshan Station. A live video walk-through is offered if you can't travel.

Send a drawing or 3D file with the critical dimensions and tolerances marked, the material grade and hardness, the color and finish standard, your target volume and the packaging. In our experience, tolerances are what new buyers most often forget to specify, and fit and dimension problems are the most common reason a first sample fails.

Overmolding and two-shot parts are made in Shenzhen because the 2K presses, tool room, paint line and CMM lab are all there. A part moves from mold to paint to inspection without a handoff to another company. Thailand runs injection molding, warehousing and assembly only.

As of October 15, 2026, US Customs charges a 12.5% Section 301 duty on products made in China and on products made in Thailand. China-made goods also still pay the older China-only Section 301 duties, usually 25% or 7.5% depending on the product code. Thai-made goods do not. So a typical China-made plastic part pays roughly 20% to 37.5% in added duty, and a Thai-made part pays 12.5%. Both pay the normal duty for their product code on top.

A trading company resells work that another factory does. A factory runs the production lines itself. You can tell them apart by what they can show you, not by what they say: a live look at the floor, a business license that covers manufacturing, and an engineer who can answer questions about your part.

Insert molding is for a pre-made part, usually metal, that needs to be locked inside plastic. Overmolding is for adding a second material onto an already-molded part, and it's the flexible choice for lower volumes or an existing part. Two-shot molding injects both materials in one cycle on a two-shot press, and it earns its keep at higher volume with tight registration between the two materials.

Multi-material parts usually fail when the tolerances and how the different materials react together aren't fully understood before tooling starts. It's a chemical-engineering-and-experience business: it takes real expertise in how materials mesh and work together, and that has to be checked before, not after, a mold is cut.

Mold cost ranges from about $5,000 to $500,000 or more, and the customer pays for the tooling and owns the mold outright.

A free chart of which soft plastics bond to which hard plastics, with design rules and sources.

A free calculator that compares part price, freight and US duty for a part made in China or Thailand.