Locating manufacturers (prefereably not in China)

[Megaman9]

Looking for some guidance on how to find a manufacturer for a product.

Some background :
I had a product designed by an engineer about a year ago. It's not a new product, it just has a different shape and size from other similar products.

I tried contacting a few well known US companies about it. Some did not reply, others gave me a "no quote" reply.
Exchanged a few good emails from a manufacturer in Europe. He sent me some design improvement suggestions and even a quote which seems good. But then, he suddenly just stopped responding all together.

It is has a very specific use and I suppose you can say it's a niche product, which makes locating a manufacturer much harder. It will need to be a factory which makes similar products and has experience in the field, and there are not too many of those.

Already spent dozens of hours searching online in all sorts of databases and google.
I know there's a factory for thing like that in South Korea for example (a competitor makes his there), just not sure how to find it.

Any suggestions are welcome.

 

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[Chosenone]

Looking for some guidance on how to find a manufacturer for a product.

Some background :
I had a product designed by an engineer about a year ago. It's not a new product, it just has a different shape and size from other similar products.

I tried contacting a few well known US companies about it. Some did not reply, others gave me a "no quote" reply.
Exchanged a few good emails from a manufacturer in Europe. He sent me some design improvement suggestions and even a quote which seems good. But then, he suddenly just stopped responding all together.

It is has a very specific use and I suppose you can say it's a niche product, which makes locating a manufacturer much harder. It will need to be a factory which makes similar products and has experience in the field, and there are not too many of those.

Already spent dozens of hours searching online in all sorts of databases and google.
I know there's a factory for thing like that in South Korea for example (a competitor makes his there), just not sure how to find it.

Any suggestions are welcome.

What type of product ? Give at least material (PVC, Steel, Ruber , Textile etc) and production process (manual, casting, exstrusion , etc). What is the expected quantity? Need some rough data in order to help.

 

[Megaman9]

What type of product ? Give at least material (PVC, Steel, Ruber , Textile etc) and production process (manual, casting, exstrusion , etc). What is the expected quantity? Need some rough data in order to help.

Makes sense

It is mostly metal, with some plastic. Requires injection molding, machining and maybe other processes which I am not aware of.
Hard to say about quantity, but I don't mind making a first batch of 5000 (after a prototype). Hope fully I can get to a 30-50K a year. (it's a pretty cheap product).

I am willing to say that Switchcraft is on of the companies I contacted, that should give you an idea of the type of manufacturer I need.