Views: 0 Author: Tonney Shao Publish Time: 2026-07-30 Origin: Abery Mold
Most overseas buyers never set foot in the factory that builds their mold. They make a six-figure sourcing decision based on a website, a WeChat call, and a PDF quote. That is not a criticism — it is simply the reality of cross-border sourcing. The problem is that most of the information a factory puts on its own website is not designed to help you evaluate it. It is designed to make it look impressive.
This guide is not about how to judge Abery. It is a framework you can use to judge any mold factory, including ours. After 16 years of walking buyers through supplier evaluations — and occasionally telling them to walk away from a factory we don't even compete with — I've seen which questions separate a real production facility from a trading company with a rented showroom.
Nearly every factory website has an equipment list: "50 CNC machines, 20 EDM machines, 30 injection molding machines." A long list feels reassuring, but the number of machines is the least useful data point on that page. Here is what actually matters:
1. Machine brand and model, not just machine type. "CNC machining center" could mean a high-precision Japanese or German machine capable of holding tight tolerances, or it could mean an older, lower-rigidity unit that will struggle with fine detail or thin-wall cores. Ask for the specific brand and model of the machines that will touch your mold — not the whole shop.
2. Precision/tolerance rating relative to your part. A machine's positioning accuracy and repeatability determine whether it can hold the tolerances your part actually requires. If your part needs ±0.02mm on a critical feature, ask directly: "Which machine will cut this cavity, and what tolerance can it hold on a feature this size?" A serious engineering team will answer with a specific number. A sales-only contact will answer with "don't worry, we can do it."
3. Machine count vs. machine utilization. A shop with 61 machines running three shifts has more real capacity than a shop with 100 machines sitting mostly idle waiting for orders — or worse, machines that belong to a subcontractor down the street. Ask how many machines are dedicated to mold-making versus part production, since these are often different machine types entirely (mold-making leans on CNC/EDM/WEDM; part production leans on injection molding presses).
At Abery, our shop runs 61 pieces of equipment — CNC machining centers, EDM, wire-EDM (WEDM), and injection molding machines — across a 10,000-square-meter facility in Shenzhen. We mention this not as a boast, but because it is the kind of concrete, verifiable detail you should be asking every factory for, regardless of who you choose to work with.
This is where a lot of buyers get misled without realizing it. A factory can list "20 engineers" on its team page, but that number is meaningless until you know what those people actually do. Ask these specific questions:
How many people design molds versus design the plastic part itself? Mold design and product/DFM design are different skill sets. A factory that only does mold design (working from a finished 3D file you provide) has a different — and narrower — capability than one that also has dedicated product designers who can catch moldability issues in your part design before tooling starts.
Is CNC programming done in-house by a dedicated programmer, or outsourced/shared with production staff? Independent CNC programming matters because it directly affects how fast and how accurately your mold's cavities and cores get machined. If the same person is running the machine and writing the program on the fly, quality control becomes harder to guarantee.
Is there a dedicated DFM (Design for Manufacturability) review step, or is DFM just a sales talking point? A real DFM process means an engineer — not a salesperson — reviews your part file for wall thickness, draft angle, undercuts, and gate placement before quoting or before cutting steel. If nobody can tell you who does this review, it likely isn't happening as a formal step.
How many QC engineers are involved, and at which stages? Incoming material inspection, in-process checks during machining, and final mold trial inspection are three different checkpoints. A team with QC only at the final stage will catch fewer problems than one that inspects throughout.
For reference, our own team structure is 130 people, including 6 mold designers, 2 product designers, 6 project/product managers, 2 dedicated CNC programmers, and 8 QC engineers. The point of sharing this isn't the headline number — it's that every one of those roles maps to a specific stage of the process, and you should expect any serious supplier to answer with that level of specificity rather than a vague total.
You don't need a plane ticket to check whether these claims hold up. Here are three practical, low-cost methods:
1. Request a live video walkthrough, not a pre-recorded one. A recorded factory video can be edited, borrowed, or years old. A live video call where you ask the person on camera to walk to a specific machine, show the model plate, and point the camera at a mold currently in production is much harder to fake. Ask to see a mold that is mid-build, not just finished ones sitting on a shelf.
2. Ask pointed, specific questions during the call and watch who answers them. If technical questions about tolerance, steel grade, or DFM process get redirected every time to "let me check with the engineer," that's a signal the person you're talking to is sales-only, and you should ask to speak directly with the engineering lead before committing.
3. Request or commission a third-party factory audit report. Independent inspection companies (SGS, Bureau Veritas, TÜV, and similar firms operating in China) offer factory audit services that verify equipment, staff count, and production conditions on-site, on your behalf. This costs money but is standard practice for larger orders and removes any doubt that photos were staged.
4. Ask for the same DFM or design-review question in two separate conversations, weeks apart, with two different people at the factory. Consistent, detailed answers from multiple people are a much stronger signal than one polished answer from one contact.
None of this requires you to be an engineer yourself. It just requires you to ask specific questions and notice whether the answers get more specific — or vaguer — the deeper you push.
If you're evaluating more than one supplier and want to compare them fairly, it helps to score each conversation against the same short list rather than relying on a general impression afterward. Before your next supplier call, prepare these five questions and take notes on how directly each is answered:
Which specific machine (brand/model) will cut the cavity and core for this part, and what tolerance can it hold on the tightest feature?
Who reviews DFM on this project — a named engineer, or is DFM handled informally during quoting?
Is CNC programming done by a dedicated programmer, and can I see an example of a programming file or CAM screenshot for a comparable part?
How many QC checkpoints happen between raw steel and a finished mold, and at which stages?
Can I get a live video walkthrough this week, not a pre-recorded video?
A supplier that answers all five with specifics, on the spot or within a day, is telling you something important about how their organization actually operates — not just what their marketing team wrote. A supplier that struggles to answer even the first two is worth a second look before you commit tooling budget.
It's also worth asking these same five questions of more than one supplier and comparing notes side by side. Differences in specificity between suppliers are often more revealing than any single answer on its own, because they show you which factory has genuinely internalized its own process versus which one is reciting a script.
Equipment lists and team photos are marketing material until you verify them. The good news is that verification doesn't require a site visit — it requires asking about model numbers instead of machine counts, asking about role-specific responsibilities instead of headcounts, and requesting a live look instead of accepting static images. Any factory confident in its actual capability will welcome these questions. If you'd like to see how our own equipment and engineering team map to a specific project, our Factory Capabilities page walks through the same detail described above.
Written by Tonney Shao, CEO of Abery Mold. Tonney has spent 16 years helping overseas buyers source injection molds and plastic parts from China, and has personally overseen mold projects for clients including Schneider Electric and Honda's supply chain. Contact: tonney@a-mold.com | WhatsApp: +86 139 2521 4356
