How to find a manufacturing match

The Scrigit Scraper sought a home.

Jay Feinberg needed a manufacturer who could make his plastic scraper tool with a pocket clip in one piece.

Feinberg, based in Maryland, started searching online for manufacturers and found one of interest in Pennsylvania. He toured the manufacturing plant but learned it couldn't do the packaging in-house and would have to ship it elsewhere for that part of the process. He found other manufacturers near him, but most didn't deal with lower-volume quantities, below about 100,000 items. Some didn't even return his phone calls.

So Feinberg expanded his search to the entire U.S. east coast. That's when he found Sarasota-based Delaney Manufacturing, which makes plastic products and components. “They were interested in helping small entrepreneurs in terms of design, manufacturing and packaging,” Feinberg says. Through his online research, he knew Delaney had experience with other consumer products like his Scrigit Scraper.

Feinberg spoke with John Smelser and John Gilmore, co-founders of Delaney Manufacturing. He explained his product, sent them photos of it. He talked to them about what he wanted in a manufacturer. After Feinberg reviewed quotes from Delaney for different components of the process, the manufacturer went to work on the Scrigit Scraper.

It's been a good relationship. The company isn't nearby, but that's OK, he says. It's easy to communicate with Delaney's team through phone and email.

Feinberg's biggest advice? Companies that seek a manufacturer should take a close look at a potential manufacturer's portfolio, to make sure it has a solid background in similar products.

Bob Dugan, president of Sunrise-based lightning prediction systems company Thor Guard, also turned to Delaney Manufacturing to make components. His journey to find them also involved extensive online research. But that was just the first step.

“You can do all the research in the world and talk to all of the customers you want, but really the proof is in the pudding and sitting down and talking with them and seeing what they know,” Dugan says.

Before he got involved with Thor Guard, Dugan used to be an executive headhunter, so he says he knows a thing or two about conducting interviews. When he goes into a meeting with a company that could be a supplier, he treats it like he's interviewing a job candidate.

Want to avoid making the wrong manufacturing decision? Do your homework, Dugan says. “Know what questions you want to ask. Don't be embarrassed about asking them anything,” he says.

It's not about selling the product to the manufacturer; it's about the manufacturer selling its abilities to the company. “Make sure you're comfortable with them,” Dugan says. “Make sure there's trust.”