Sourcing for consumer hardware at SFbei.
Consumer hardware is where sourcing decisions become manufacturing decisions. The display you pick determines the bezel; the switch you pick determines how the product feels; the molder you pick determines whether you ship in time for the holidays.
Three sourcing problems we watch teams hit.
Feel is unspecifiable
Detent force, travel, acoustic character — the qualities that make a product feel expensive cannot be bought from a datasheet. They have to be handled.
Scaling breaks your supply chain
The supplier who was perfect at 500 units is often wrong at 50,000. Meeting both kinds of supplier in one building makes the transition survivable.
Cosmetics are a process, not a spec
Texture, colour matching and finish consistency come from the molder and the finisher, and they need to be involved before the CAD is frozen.
Your route
through the building.
- Floor 01
Displays, touch, switches, encoders, speakers, batteries, connectors
- Floor 03
Injection molding, tooling, finishing, packaging, contract assembly
- Floor 02
Assembly automation and end-of-line test
What you'll find
on the floor.
The categories most relevant to consumer hardware teams. The directory lists who covers each one.
- LCD & OLED modules
- Touch panels
- E-paper
- Tactile switches
- Rotary encoders
- Speakers & microphones
- Injection molding
- Tooling
- Surface finishing
- Retail packaging
A checklist for
your first visit.
Five things that make the difference between a pleasant walk around and an afternoon that moves your programme forward.
- Handle the switches. Bring a glove if your users wear one.
- Get your molder in front of your CAD before you freeze it — DFM saves weeks of tooling rework.
- Ask display suppliers about optical bonding and sunlight readability, not just resolution.
- Line up a low-volume and a high-volume supplier for the same part now, not at ramp.
- Discuss colour and texture with the finisher and the molder together.
Bring the part.
Leave with three quotes.
Free unlimited access for builders after a one-time screening. If you make components for this industry, apply for a display.