Field note · Working together
How I Work — and Who I Am Not For
Most sourcing pages describe capability. This one describes the transaction, because the transaction is where you get hurt.
What I do not do
Starting here because it saves us both time.
- I do not hold stock. Nothing ships from a warehouse I own. Every order is placed against a factory.
- I do not sell single units. If you need one sensor to evaluate, buy it from a distributor and pay the retail price. Freight and duty will cost more than the part.
- I do not represent one brand. I have preferred factories, not an exclusive agency. If a different one fits your requirement better, that is what I will say.
- I do not do retail packaging, consumer marketing, or dropshipping. This is business-to-business hardware.
What I actually do
Four things, in this order, and the first three are free.
- Rule options out. You describe the application — target, range, environment, mounting, power, certification market. I tell you which architectures are wrong for it and why. Sometimes the answer is "radar is the wrong technology here" and that is a useful answer.
- Read the datasheet against the test report. Vendors quote the favourable case. I go through what is actually specified versus what is assumed, and flag the parameters that are missing. This is where most bad purchases are avoided.
- Check the certification story. Which bands are approved, for which market, with which document. A module that is legal in Shenzhen can be illegal to install in Frankfurt, and the datasheet rarely says so.
- Quote and ship. This is the part I get paid for.
How I get paid, plainly
Margin on the transaction. You pay one price for the hardware; that price includes my margin; I do not invoice you separately for advice.
Where you need an on-site factory audit report issued by me in person, travel costs are reimbursed at actual cost and credited against your first order.
I also take no rebate, commission or kickback from any factory. What you get recommended does not change based on who is willing to pay me more.
This is a conflict of interest, and I am not going to pretend otherwise. The management is simple: the first order has to work, or there is no second one.
How I screen a factory
There is a fixed sequence, and most candidates drop out early.
- First, whether they manufacture or resell.
- Then whether they can account for their core components and where the design came from.
- Then test reports and certification — with conditions stated, and covering the exact variant being quoted.
- Last, environmental behaviour, batch consistency, and who is accountable when something fails.
If a factory is vague on any of these four, I stop and look for a better one. My screening method is mature and still being refined — that part you can rely on.
How a first engagement usually runs
| Step | What happens | Cost to you |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | You describe the application | Nothing |
| 2 | I shortlist two or three architectures with the trade-offs | Nothing |
| 3 | Samples from one or two factories, shipped to you | Sample + freight |
| 4 | You test. I answer questions and chase the factory. | Your engineering time |
| 5 | Quotation for production volume | Nothing until you order |
| 6 | Production and shipment | Unit price including margin |
Steps 1–3 are where most of the value is delivered, and they cost you nothing but your attention. If you walk away after step 3, that is a normal outcome and I will not chase you.
Who I am not for
Being explicit about this is the fastest way to build trust, so:
- You need brand backing for a tender. If the spec names a European brand and the evaluator will not accept an alternative, a Chinese module makes your bid harder. Buy the brand.
- You have no way to test. If nobody on your side can characterise a sensor, the risk of a Chinese part is not worth the saving. This is the single most common way these projects fail.
- You need support in your timezone within hours. I am in China. I answer within a day, not within an hour, and I will not pretend otherwise.
- You want a catalogue with prices. There is no price list. Pricing depends on volume, variant, certification and payment terms, and quoting without those is fiction.
Why not just contact the factory directly?
You can, and sometimes you should. What changes when you go through me:
- The factory answers a partner they want to keep, not a stranger with a Gmail address.
- You get the honest version of which spec is real and which is aspirational.
- Certification documents get produced instead of promised.
- When a batch goes wrong, someone local is accountable for the fix.
If your volume is large enough that the factory will assign you an account manager directly, you do not need me and I will tell you so.
Start with a question, not an order
Describe what you are trying to detect. That is enough for a useful first answer, and it commits you to nothing.
Tell me what you are trying to detect
Target, range, environment, mounting, power budget, and the market you need to certify for. That is enough for me to tell you whether radar is even the right answer.