Inside the plant · Yingtan, Jiangxi
Four cells, one floor, one exception
Acetate, metal, combination and lens assembly run as separate cells rather than one shared line. Polishing, assembly and final inspection sit on our floor. Plating does not — it goes to the park's centralised zone, and every lot returns to our bench for adhesion, colour and salt-spray checks before it is accepted.
Photography pending. These six positions are the sequence a buyer walks on a factory visit, in order.
Equipment
What is actually on the floor
A capacity claim without a machine list is a guess. This is the equipment register, by process.
| Process | Equipment | Units |
|---|---|---|
| Block cutting | CNC block cutters | 4 |
| Milling | 5-axis machining centres | 6 |
| Polishing | Tumblers, barrel & spindle | 12 |
| Metal forming | Stamping presses, wire benders | 9 |
| Plating | Park centralised zone — not on our floor | — |
| Assembly | Workstations | 40 |
| Testing | Salt spray, hinge fatigue, lens meter | 5 |
Register to be verified against the fixed-asset list before launch. Plating is the one process we do not run ourselves — see the park section below.
The park
Not a factory
on its own
An inland plant is only as good as what surrounds it. Ours sits inside the Yu Jiang eyewear park in Yingtan — one of China's five major eyewear manufacturing bases, with more than 300 manufacturers in the estate and a combined output exported to 60-plus countries.
That matters on a purchase order, not just in a brochure. Components, lenses, cases and display material come from inside the park, so a missing hinge does not become a four-week delay. And plating — the process that decides whether a frame survives nickel-release and salt-spray — runs in a centralised zone built for the cluster, with environmental controls on site rather than at whichever subcontractor was cheapest that month.
We do not own a plating line, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. European buyers usually find this the easier arrangement to audit, not the harder one: a permitted shared facility with its own wastewater treatment is a known quantity, while a small in-house tank on a factory floor is a question mark. What we own is the acceptance — every lot comes back to our bench for adhesion and colour, and nothing is packed until it has passed.
The cluster is also why the labour is not inexperienced. Most of the plants here relocated from Shenzhen and Wenzhou in groups, bringing their supervisors with them.
Yingtan is not where we went to get cheaper. It is where the supply chain went.
| Input | Source | Lead time |
|---|---|---|
| Acetate sheeting | Regional mills | 2–3 days |
| Metal components & hinges | In park | Same day |
| Plating | Centralised zone, in park | Same day |
| Lenses | In park | 1–2 days |
| Packaging & cases | In park | 1–2 days |
Supplier distances to be checked against the actual vendor list before launch.
Quality
Three gates, not one final check
A frame rejected at final inspection has already consumed a full production cycle. We catch it earlier, at three points.
Incoming material
Acetate sheeting colour and thickness, metal stock gauge, hinge and lens batches — checked and logged on arrival.
Every batchIn process
Dimensional checks after milling, after polishing and after plating. Out-of-tolerance parts are pulled before assembly.
Every 200 pcsFinal, before packing
Full inspection to AQL 1.0, plus salt spray, nickel release and hinge fatigue on sampled units.
100% lotsThird-party inspection — SGS, Bureau Veritas, Intertek or your own QC team — is welcome at any stage. We do not restrict access to the floor.
Compliance
Certificates and test reports
Numbers and validity dates, not logo badges. Originals available on request under NDA.
| Certificate | Scope | Number | Valid to |
|---|---|---|---|
| ISO 9001:2015 | Quality management system | — | — |
| CE — EN ISO 12312-1 | Sunglasses and related eyewear | — | — |
| FDA — 21 CFR 886.5844 | US market, spectacles | — | — |
| BSCI | Social compliance audit | — | — |
| EN 1811 / EN 12472 | Nickel release, metal components | — | — |
Certificate numbers, issuing bodies and expiry dates to be inserted from source documents. Do not publish this table without them — buyers check.
Video
A three-minute walkthrough
Shot on the floor, unedited except for captions. Buyers trust an unpolished walkthrough more than a produced brand film — it shows the plant as it is on a normal working day.
Video slot reserved — 16:9, 2–3 minutes, shot on a phone is acceptable.
Visit
Come and see it
Yingtan is on the Shanghai–Kunming high-speed line: about three hours from Shanghai, an hour from Nanchang's international airport, and four from Shenzhen. Containers move through Ningbo and Shanghai. We will collect you from the station and walk the whole floor.