Doc. AGN—LP—2026.07.30 · Rev. D1 Drawn: S.L. · Sections 00–03 of 03
Fractional NPI & Manufacturing Partner

Full NPI support
for your manufacturing.

Experience
10 yrsSCM + Reliability
NDA protected
1-2 clients non-competing · exclusive focus
Rebates taken
0100% vendor-agnostic
For a 20-person hardware startup, every day of delay can easily burn $12,000 - $15,000 before counting lost market timing, supplier rework, or investor pressure. x = 0.00 · y = 0.00 ⊕ hover to scan ± tolerance ∞ Unanticipated NPI schedule delay by program phase A schedule-risk chart plotting unanticipated delay in weeks against program phase from Kickoff through EVT, DVT, PVT and mass production. Without an NPI partner the delay curve climbs steeply past 36 weeks, driven by risks such as tooling revisions and certification scope creep. With AgileNPI the curve tracks close to the optimal schedule, staying under roughly 24 weeks. Kickoff EVT DVT PVT MP T0 12w 24w 36w WITH AGILENPI WITHOUT NPI PARTNER Optimal Schedule R.01 tooling revise R.02 Cert scope creep PROGRAM PHASE → UNANTICIPATED DELAY (weeks) ↑
Typical NPI Engagement Timeline

New Part Introduction, phase by phase — hover any milestone to see the manufacturing risks we neutralize at that stage.

save 22 weeks
Roadmap and baseline study
  • Organization and PM operation understanding
  • Roadmap discussion
  • Review documents for each stage
  • Supply chain strategy discussion and CM audit
  • RFP & RFQ collections and study

Risks neutralized this phase

R.K.05Incorrect key component strategy+8w
R.K.02Inefficient communication with suppliers+4w
R.K.35Unrealistic timeline estimation+10w
Three ways to work together

Start with a free conversation. Scale into Asia sourcing or an on-site factory audit only when it makes sense.

Part A · Free

Free Discussion

Open discussion, initial planning, a first-pass risk read, debug-process suggestions, or any hardware/supply-chain question on your mind.

Free one 20-min call, or one written note
Typically answered within 3 business days
  • First-pass risk & planning read
  • Debug process suggestions
  • Open Q&A on whatever's on your mind
  • Findings judgment call, not just a checklist
  • Ends with a clear next-step recommendation

I love to share and make a contribution to your success.

Book a free discussion →
Part B · Sourcing

Sourcing for RFQ

Provide a spec — a full BOM or a single part — and get back benchmark pricing, supplier information, and an on-site visit to verify the supplier's qualifications.

$500 per day + real travel expense
Trip plan, output format & cost estimate confirmed with you before work starts
  • Asia-region sourcing on your spec
  • Quote collection & comparison
  • Critical-part inspection standards
  • Supplier document review
  • Prototype/mockup

On-site time here is review-focused — checking supplier-provided quotes and documents, not open-ended investigation.

Request sourcing →
Part C · Audit

Internal / External Audit

Third-party audit of a supplier's qualifications, or of your own internal operations and quality performance.

$800 per day + real travel expense
Scope, output format & cost estimate confirmed with you before work starts
  • External factory audit & scoring
  • Internal operations audit & scoring
  • On-site observation & data review
  • CM search & audit

Audit days are analysis-intensive — a dense on-site schedule plus judgment calls on the data and observations collected afterward, which is why the day rate is higher than sourcing.

Request an audit →
Sam Lu — NPI and manufacturing risk advisor for hardware sourcing and factory audits in Asia
Fractional NPI & Manufacturing Partner
Sam · NPI / Manufacturing Risk Advisor
— no junior handoffs, no agency layer

Who we work with

US & EU hardware startups, Series A and up
Teams entering EVT, DVT, or PVT in China / SEA
Appliances, consumer, medical-adjacent, robotics, edge-AI devices
Founders who want an operator, not just an advisor

Field notes from the factory floor

Patent First — file before you share a single drawing
Concurrent Engineering — running NPI tasks in parallel
Root Cause as a Detective — unrepeatable failures
Tank Leaks — finding the real root cause

Request · Get in touch

We reply within one business day