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Does anyone recognise this Chinese moulded case - YORKTRON
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peter-h:
For over 15 years we have been buying this case. In fact we had various complete products built in it out there, until the company vanished, with a total loss of stock and test equipment (standard Chinese practice). We paid for original tooling in 2005. So we paid again for a new tool, USD3k, with another company a few years ago and moved the product manufacturing to the UK.

However I suspect that we were conned both times and the tool charges were a fake, and this is actually a standard box in the Chinese market. I am fairly sure this is the case (no pun intended) because the 2nd case has some little features not on the drawing, which the original one had and for which there would be no point in incorporating them in the tool.

The 2nd company, after shipping 10k cases, increased the price 3x (basically the UK level). They did this right after the tool was paid for (another standard Chinese practice) and came back down when I refused to pay it. This time I asked for the tool to be returned to us, and they did another standard Chinese thing (excommunication; works because they know a Westerner will never travel to China to see what is going on) so now we are down USD 3k plus some hefty prepayments (basically, stolen money) on some bare PCB orders which won't be shipped... so we will have to get new tooling done (in the UK - about 5k - as it would be crazy to repeat this exercise in today's China) so all in all this piece of criminal activity is going to cost us about 10k. Luckily we have plenty of stock of the case so there is time...

This is what the case looks like and below is a bit of the original drawing. But the drawing shows just the PCB dimensions; it is not a drawing for the component i.e. the tooling. The name YORKTRON doesn't google to anything, but if it is say 20 years old it probably would not anyway. Also a lot of Chinese make up English names for overseas consumption - same as they do with sales people's names. It is also possible the case was never marketed outside China.





Very many thanks for any tips.
floobydust:
I couldn't find it as a standard box. The hard part is which category it's in; sorta "handheld" without rubber grips and two square cutouts as a "cable assy"  :-//
I see many companies, OEM enclosure manufacturers just reselling this stuff. Or you were dealing through a middleman all along and this is Yorktron.
I looked here https://www.chinaenclosure.com/ but many in Taiwan as well, better quality.
Also http://www.changhe-enclosures.com/ (slow website) surely all in bed together. They were around USD $5,000 for a mould, it's like candy bars there they pump them out constantly but in the USA they ask $25-40K as if CNC machining gold billet lol. With 3D CADD and specialized software, I think people are asking way too much for making a mould nowadays.

good reads, esp. the manufacturing agreement and shenanigans that get pulled:
On the Importance of China Mold Ownership and Protection Agreements
How to leave china safely
How not to Lose Your Molds/Tooling in China
peter-h:
Thank you for looking :)

Yes very possibly Yorktron was a middleman. In China perhaps 90% of companies which a westerner sees are reselling somebody else's stuff. If one looks at Global Sources (used to be called Asian Sources and published a nice printed catalogue; I used it for many years) one sees so many companies selling what is obviously the same stuff; even same photos are used.

Chinese tooling would cost USD 1k for a box like this, in 2005. We paid 3k a few years ago after "Yorktron" vanished. The UK cost would be 10k the whole time but the quality would be much higher, although the last tool was actually very good (probably because it was new).

The "Chinese art" is excommunication. They know a small Western businessman will not visit their "factory" in China, and even if he wanted to he will be afraid of getting beaten up. It is also a big job; you need to hire an interpreter, etc. And the big Western firms (Apple e.g.) have their own people on-site so they can manage a withdrawal safely, but OTOH they probably don't need to withdraw because they have so much power - even over Foxconn. I can't see Apple etc ever withdrawing from China, although they would be wise to set up secondary mfg sites.

Interesting links on how to get out of China. Yeah... seen this. Those links are applicable to big firms and they have more options. A small company here just loses everything they have in China, if the company out there simply chooses to stop answering emails and not actions phone calls.
sandalcandal:
I personally know many people that use Chinese manufacturers and suppliers that never get screwed over but then I see stuff like this online all the time. These aren't particularly "big" corporations either, they're all small business or startups. I know people with Chinese manufacturers which actively inform of infringement attempts and help defend their IP for them. So I'm not sure how people manage to get themselves screwed over? I've spoken directly with one person that claimed to have been screwed by a Chinese PCBA but they didn't exactly give off the aura of a competent business person.

Do people never try actually meeting their suppliers or building up a relationship? Is the most people do throw out an Alibaba RFQ and pick the lowest bidder? I'd like to know how people actually end up getting screwed?

I did also go through HAX which is a startup accelerator with a specific focus on setting people up to successfully manufacture hardware in China so that's likely a source of bias in my experience/network.
peter-h:
"Do people never try actually meeting their suppliers"

That is quite a challenge... although obviously it would be fairly effective.

I am sure some Chinese companies do what they do because their customers don't travel to China and are never likely to.

Regarding putting something out for a quote, I normally go to Global Sources and send it to say 20 companies. Of the responses, say 10, the majority are illiterate, obviously reselling somebody else's product, or just sounding blatently opportunistic. So one narrows it down to a few who sound businesslike and seem to understand the requirement.

I think the risk of getting screwed depends on how long you use a company. If you use a company just a few times, they may not go under in that time, But over say 5 years it is very likely, in modern China, that it will go bust. And then you will lose whatever your exposure was. Tooling, the last prepayment, etc.

I've never used Alibaba.
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