Americanmachinist 788 67702casebooks000000043702
Americanmachinist 788 67702casebooks000000043702
Americanmachinist 788 67702casebooks000000043702
Americanmachinist 788 67702casebooks000000043702
Americanmachinist 788 67702casebooks000000043702

Company Gives Its Customers An Edge

June 22, 2007
Eastek handled all the grunt work in the re-design of the Wobble Light into the Wobble Light Jr. Wobble Light LLC experienced so much success with its Wobble Light construction-site model work light that it wanted to offer the ...

Eastek handled all the grunt work in the re-design of the Wobble Light into the Wobble Light Jr.

Wobble Light LLC experienced so much success with its Wobble Light construction-site model work light that it wanted to offer the product to the general consumer market for home and small-contractor use. The new version, called Wobble Light Jr., would be as robust as its high-end predecessor, only smaller for working in tight areas and less expensive. The company successfully accomplished both challenges with the help of Eastek International.

Eastek (www.eastek-intl.com) is a U.S.-based contract manufacturer with five plants in China that provide low-cost manufacturing to customers needing global contract manufacturing solutions. The company offers end-to-end manufacturing processes and services that include design, sourcing, production and logistics. The company calls its all-encompassing solution the Eastek Edge.

Eastek manufactured a few small components for the full-size work light. That fact, along with the complete design and manufacturing services offered by Eastek, prompted Wobble Light (www.wobblelight.com) to give it the product re-design job.

For the Wobble Light Jr., Eastek engineers designed all the new injection-molded tooled parts that mated to the light's blow-molded body. By using Eastek and its services, Wobble Light was able to drive costs down in shrinking the original product design. "Wobble Light had no internal engineering support, so it needed to partner with someone for injection-mold tooling. We not only saved them money at the re-design stage, but also in mold tooling," said Cherie Wilkinson, vice president of Engineering at Eastek. The company lent local engineering support from its Chicago-area headquarters by reviewing designs to maintain quality, and it even supplied prototypes.

Eastek provided the tooling at a low cost because it manufactured the tooling to U.S. standards in one of its China shops, then transported the tooling to the United States where a local plastic-injection shop ran part production.