Arthur Tideman has been operating in China since 2005. In the field of product design and development, he is an added-value in all related areas. Starting in manufacturing and now specialized in product design and development for European, the US and Chinese clients.
Bringing Product designs to China
Product designers often create the product design in the home country of the buying company. The feeling of being in control also seems a logic to have your product design created near to you. Because product designers usually do not have sufficient experience with manufacturing or tooling of the actual product in China, when developing the product in China, the design might be unable to use. The design can be created based on ideas and solutions which are practically not executable in China manufacturing. In this case, your design still needs to be adjusted. Causing disappointments, delay and costs in the design and development process.
Industrial designers are engineers by trade
In The Netherlands, graduated Industrial designers are product engineers by profession. In China, it is very separated. Product designers are going to art school and will have less interaction with actual engineering, a product that they designed. Product engineers are going to engineering schools where they are less interactive with product designs.
Product engineers in charge of designs
In China, product engineers are generally in charge of product designs at factories. We relate this to how designs factories in China tend to look. Efficient designs but in appearance not sufficient compared to designs from other countries. As their education has been very focused on engineering, the backlog in designing skills is explained.
Eco-system in Shenzhen
As product designers and developers in China, Shenzhen is a city and area where a lot of innovative products are developed and manufactured. Innovation is going very fast. However, real profound innovation is still seldom found. In Shenzhen, there is a significant amount of smaller factories where the neighbour manufactures the same product. Creating a big amount of manufacturers developing and manufacturing the same product. Here manufacturer
Work with a small number of manufacturers
To protect your IP’s and to control the process better. Make sure that you work with an as low as possible amount of manufacturers. By working with fewer manufacturers, by your relationship with the manufacturer and agreements made you are more able to control your interests in IP’s and designs. Also, to create a production line for the manufacturing of the product, educating the factory producing a certain quality level and to maintain this quality in production.
Protecting IP’s and designs
When developing your designs, products and brands in China, protecting your Intellectual Properties and designs is vital. Creating the right NDA contracting, having the right relationships and registering your IP’s are the most important to enforce your rights on products and designs.