I have decided on a suitable factory space in the "High-Tech" zone of Shenzhen and it will become the new Homepin Pinball factory. This area is often called "Chinas Silicon Valley" due to the huge number of high tech factories in this area. I had to prove to the area officials that I would be manufacturing a world class, high tech product before they would allow me to lease space there.
I spent well over a week looking at dozens of places all over town. Most were either new or fully vacated and that meant a HUGE amount of time, effort and money would need to be spent bringing the space up to a usable standard. Even to paint the floor in one of these empty places would cost a fortune and take several weeks.
Then I lucked upon Skyworth. They are a massive company (30K employees) and last year were the worlds largest set top box manufacturer making over 10 million units (amongst many other products). The quality of this factory (one of about 10 they have) is world class there is no doubt. Turns out they have built a new mega-factory complex and will move a few of their smaller places into this new facility. I managed to secure the office level (1500 sq mts) and the 3rd floor of the accomodation complex which has 6 self contained dorms (housing 6 each) and 2 executive apartments for managers. It is a 5 minute walk from the factory building in the same secure compound. The executive apartments on the floor I leased were reserved for visiting Skyworth managers so the quality of fitout is exceptional.
Best part is that they will remove only the furniture from the office floor leaving the brilliant finish with flooring, curtains/blinds, ceiling and lighting behind. The floor is already divided up into very usable spaces with one area even being thier R&D department for LCD screens.
I get the keys to the facility today (10th Dec) and will move in and start setting up over Christmas. The excellent fitout means I will be able to have the Homepin R&D area up and running by mid January.
More info once we are in the building and making our changes.
Pictures here of the Homepin factory floor (to be) and the accomodation block - third floor is the one - Chinese count the ground floor as "floor one".
