ARC SILICONE works as a factory plus a certified capacity network. Our own workshop holds the tooling bench, the compression presses and the inspection equipment. Certified partners take volume peaks and, in some programmes, a specific finishing step.
That arrangement is stated on the website because it changes three things a buyer should care about: where the schedule risk sits, who measures the part, and which documents travel with the lot.
What stays in the workshop
- Tooling design, mould making and mould maintenance.
- First articles and sample runs — the parts your engineers will actually judge.
- Inspection: dimensional reports, in-process checks and lot records.
- Light customization: colour, laser marking, durometer and private-label packing.
What can move
Repeat volume above workshop capacity, and occasionally a secondary finish the workshop does not run. When a step moves, it moves with the approved drawing, the compound specification and the inspection plan attached. The part does not become a different part because a different press made it.
The programme owner does not move. Clark stays on the file, and the answer to "where is my order" is the same phone number.
Three questions this arrangement should invite
Where is my part actually made?
Ask, and you get the answer in writing: which steps are in the Dongguan workshop and which are with a partner. A supplier that claims everything is under one roof and cannot show the press schedule is telling you less, not more.
Who signs the first article?
The workshop does, against your drawing. Sample approval is not delegated, and production is not released until the report is signed.
Do the documents change?
The document set stays the same: material lot certificate, first-article report, dimensional check record, and the declarations named in the RFQ. What changes is the name on the press log, which is recorded.
Why not simply buy more presses
Because capacity that sits idle most of the year is not capacity, it is cost, and it lands in the unit price. A workshop sized for tooling and specialty runs, plus partners for peaks, keeps the first order affordable and the tenth order on time. The trade is transparency, which is why the arrangement is described here rather than in an FAQ.
What it means for a first order
For a first order — typically a tooling programme, then 10 working days to ship — most of the work stays in the workshop. The network matters when the programme grows, and by then the drawing, the inspection plan and the paperwork are already fixed.
Ask which steps your programme would use before the quote is issued.