Three layers, each doing one job
A distributor buying from six factories is buying six lead times, six quality standards and six sets of export documents. Our supply chain is built so that you buy from one. Each layer below removes a specific kind of risk from your order.
- Mainland China sourcing and supplier development — the factories, the tooling and the production capacity, across Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Fujian and Shanghai.
- Hong Kong contracting and quality control — the commercial contract, the inspection plan and the accountable party, under Hong Kong law and a Hong Kong corporate bank account.
- Kwai Chung consolidation and export — receiving, checking, re-packing and combining goods in a free port, then shipping them as one insured consignment with complete documentation.
Sourcing & supplier development
An established factory panel covering electronics assembly, precision machining, stamping, moulding, extrusion and finishing. Suppliers are checked for licence, capability, capacity and quality system before an order is placed, and re-scored on delivery performance.
Hong Kong contracting & QC
Vemlora Limited contracts with you directly. Purchasing, inspection, documentation and commercial responsibility sit with our Hong Kong entity, so accountability does not depend on a factory email address that changes every few months.
Kwai Chung consolidation & export
Goods are received, counted, checked against the packing list and re-packed in Hong Kong, where no import duty applies. Multi-supplier orders leave as one consignment with one set of export documents and one insurance certificate.
Eight stages between your enquiry and your goods
Each stage has an owner, a written output and a defined time window. Nothing is skipped because an order is small.
Enquiry and specification review
You send a part list, drawing, sample, BOM or target price. We confirm what is being bought, at what grade, for which destination and against which certification. Anything ambiguous is written down and answered before pricing begins. Typical time: same day to two business days.
Supplier matching and quotation
We match the requirement against our supplier panel, request comparable quotes from two or three factories, check licence and capability records, and return an commercial terms, MOQ, lead time and Incoterm. Where a sample is warranted we say so rather than quoting blind. Typical time: two to five business days.
Sample approval
Samples are produced or drawn from current stock, measured against the drawing and sent to you with the relevant test data. You approve against a golden sample that both sides sign and retain, so later shipments have a physical reference. Typical time: three to ten days plus courier.
Purchase order and deposit
We issue our sales contract with the specification, quantity, price, Incoterm, inspection standard, packing and payment terms. Production is scheduled once the deposit is received; on T/T 30/70 that is 30 % against the order. Typical time: one to three business days.
Production and in-line checks
Production starts against the approved part list. We monitor the first-off sample, run in-line checks during the run and issue a weekly progress report with photographs. Material substitutions are not permitted without a written change approval. Typical time: 7 to 26 days depending on the product.
Pre-shipment inspection
Before packing is closed we inspect to the agreed standard — normally ISO 2859-1 / ANSI Z1.4 at AQL 1.0 to 4.0 — covering appearance, dimensions, function, labelling and packing. You receive a written report with photographs within 24 hours of the inspection. Typical time: on completion of production.
Consolidation and documentation
Goods from several suppliers are received in Kwai Chung, checked against the packing list, re-packed or palletised as required, and combined into one consignment. Commercial invoice, packing list, certificate of origin and, where needed, fumigation or test certificates are prepared for the shipment. Typical time: two to five days.
Shipping and proof of delivery
The shipment is booked on the agreed mode — sea FCL or LCL, air, express or Europe rail — and insured on request at 110 % of invoice value. We track the consignment and send you the bill of lading or air waybill, then confirm proof of delivery and close the file with the inspection record attached. Typical time: see the freight table below.
What controls total lead time
Total lead time is production time plus consolidation plus transit. Production is the only part we influence from inside the factory; consolidation is two to five days; transit depends on the mode you choose. If a date is critical, tell us the date rather than the mode and we will work backwards from it.
Documents issued along the way
Order confirmation, weekly production reports, sample approval record, inspection report, commercial invoice, packing list, certificate of origin, bill of lading or air waybill, insurance certificate and proof of delivery.
Why one shipment beats six
Consolidation is the single largest cost lever in a multi-supplier order. It reduces freight, documentation and insurance cost, and it reduces the number of things that can go wrong at the destination port.
What changes when suppliers are combined
Six suppliers shipping six small consignments pay six sets of origin handling, six sets of export documentation, six insurance certificates and often six destination release fees. Combined into one, the same volume pays one. The saving is typically 15 – 25 % of total logistics cost on an LCL programme, and more where a small consignment would otherwise move by air out of urgency.
The second benefit is risk. With one consignment there is one packing list, one inspection release and one party responsible for what is inside the container. When something is missing or damaged at destination, the answer is not a six-way email thread between factories that each shipped “correctly”.
How goods physically reach Kwai Chung
Factories deliver to our Kwai Chung facility by truck, either directly or through a local consolidator. Received goods are counted against the packing list, inspected where the plan requires it, re-packed into uniform export cartons or palletised, labelled with shipping marks and staged for the container or the airline. Nothing is shipped before the release documents are complete.
Choosing a freight mode
Transit times below are typical ranges from Hong Kong, Shenzhen or Yantian to European and North American destinations, and exclude customs clearance at destination. Cost drivers are indicative of what moves the rate, not of the rate itself.
| Mode | Typical transit time | Best for | Indicative cost driver |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sea freight — FCL | 18 – 32 days port to port (EU, US West Coast, US East Coast) | Full container loads from one supplier or a consolidated programme; heavy metal parts; palletised goods | Container size and utilisation, origin and destination port pair, season, bunker adjustment |
| Sea freight — LCL | 21 – 38 days door to door including consolidation | Mixed or partial loads below about 12 – 15 cbm; trial shipments; multi-supplier consolidation | Chargeable weight or volume (W/M), consolidation and deconsolidation fees, destination handling |
| Air freight | 3 – 7 days airport to airport | Urgent components, high value-to-weight electronics, line-down situations, launch stock | Chargeable weight, volumetric ratio, fuel and security surcharges, carrier capacity |
| Express courier | 2 – 5 days door to door | Samples, small spare-part orders, documents, urgent warranty replacements up to about 100 kg | Weight and dimensions, service level (economy or priority), remote-area delivery charges |
| Europe rail | 18 – 26 days door to door via China – EU rail corridor | Non-urgent mid-size volumes to inland European destinations where sea is slow and air is expensive | Route and border transit, container or groupage pricing, inland pickup and delivery distance |
FCL, LCL, air, express or rail?
A simple rule: below about 12 cbm, LCL or express usually wins; between 12 and 15 cbm the decision depends on density and destination charges; above roughly 15 cbm a 20 ft FCL is normally cheaper than LCL. Air and express are for urgency and value density, not for bulk. Europe rail sits between sea and air on both cost and transit. We quote the realistic options rather than a single number, and we say when a mode is not worth considering.
You should never have to ask where your order is
Reporting is part of the service, not a favour. Every active order has a named account manager in Hong Kong and produces the same set of records, whatever the product and whatever the value.
Weekly production reports
Every order under production receives a weekly written status: quantity completed, quantity in progress, expected completion date, and any issue that could move the date. Reports are sent by email with photographs of the actual line, not stock images.
Photo and video evidence
First-off samples, in-line checks, packing, pallet labels and container loading are photographed. For critical parts we record short video of the functional test so you can see the unit working before it leaves the factory.
Inspection reports
Pre-shipment inspection reports state the sampling plan, the number of units checked, the defects found by class, the measurement results and the packing condition. Reports are issued within 24 hours of inspection and kept on file for the order.
Shipment tracking
You receive the booking confirmation, the bill of lading or air waybill, and status updates at departure, transit milestones and arrival. Tracking continues until proof of delivery is confirmed, not until the container is loaded.
Stock reports for warehousing customers
If we hold your stock in Kwai Chung, you receive a monthly stock report by SKU with opening balance, receipts, releases and closing balance, plus a photo confirmation on request before any dispatch.
The five risks we plan for on every order
| Buffer and safety stock | For repeat customers we hold agreed safety stock — typically 4 – 8 weeks of average usage — at Kwai Chung, so a factory delay does not become your stock-out. Levels are reviewed quarterly against your actual consumption, not your forecast. |
|---|---|
| Dual sourcing | Every critical part or process is qualified with a second approved factory before it is needed. Tooling duplication is quoted separately where physical redundancy is required, and the alternative source is validated with its own sample approval. |
| Obsolescence and last-time-buy | We monitor end-of-life notices from component makers and tell you when a part on your list is at risk. Where a last-time-buy is the sensible answer, we quantify the quantity, the storage cost and the alternative, and you decide. |
| Currency exposure | Our quotations state the currency and the validity period. For larger programmes we can quote in USD, EUR or CNY and hold a rate for the production window, so a currency move does not appear as an unexplained price change mid-order. |
| Cargo insurance | All-risk marine cargo cover at 110 % of invoice value is available on every shipment, arranged per consignment or as an annual open cover for regular buyers. Certificates are issued with the shipping documents. |
Lead times, shipments and responsibility
The five questions that come up most often once an order is placed, answered the way we answer them on the phone.
Add three numbers: production, consolidation and transit. Production is 7 – 26 days for catalogue lines and 6 – 22 weeks for a new tooled project. Consolidation in Kwai Chung is two to five days. Transit is 3 – 7 days by air, 18 – 32 days by sea FCL, 21 – 38 days by LCL and 18 – 26 days by Europe rail. Quotations state production time only unless you ask for a door-to-door figure.
Yes, and it is often the right answer. A frame order can be released in monthly or quarterly lots, or split by product line so the fastest-moving items arrive first. Partial shipments carry their own documents and inspection reports, and each release is invoiced against the agreed schedule. Where a letter of credit is used, partial shipment must be permitted in the L/C terms.
Vemlora Limited is the shipper of record on consolidated shipments arranged by us, and appears as shipper on the bill of lading or air waybill. Under EXW terms the shipper is normally your nominated forwarder and we act only as the supplier of the goods. Under FOB, CIF, CIP, DAP and DDP we arrange and are named as shipper. The position is always stated on the order confirmation.
EXW, FOB, CFR, CIF, CIP, DAP and DDP are all available. FOB Hong Kong or Shenzhen and CIF are the most common for sea freight; DAP and DDP are common for customers who want a delivered price. Where we act as importer of record under DDP, we confirm the destination, the HS code and the duty position in writing before the order is accepted.
We tell you as soon as we know, not at the sailing date. If the delay is inside the factory we give the reason, the revised completion date and the options — partial shipment, air upgrade of the urgent items, or a revised release plan. If the delay is with the carrier we provide the written carrier notice and, where cover applies, support the insurance claim. Freight upgrades are quoted at cost, not marked up.
Ready to consolidate your suppliers?
Send the list of suppliers and part numbers you buy today. We will tell you which lines are worth consolidating, what the landed cost looks like, and how quickly a first combined shipment can move.