Martin Wang

Martin is the founder of Sky Flux and runs China Sourcing Agents, its electronics sourcing product line. He spent 7+ years as a hardware and full-stack engineer — building IoT devices and a port-management system — before moving full-time into sourcing.

That background is the whole point of the business. Most sourcing agents in China can’t read a schematic or tell a real factory from a trader reselling someone else’s catalogue. Martin reviews PCB layouts and BOMs, checks firmware and tooling feasibility, audits factories on-site in Shenzhen, Dongguan, and Yiwu, and inspects every shipment in three stages.

He writes the guides and articles on this site to help Western and Japanese hardware teams source from China without the surprises — covering factory audits, FCC/CE/UKCA certification, payment terms, and the trade-offs nobody tells you about until the first batch ships.

What Martin actually does on a project

A typical engagement starts with a technical review, not a supplier list. Martin reads the product spec, BOM, and any 3D files the client has, then flags the parts that will cause trouble: chips with 26-week lead times, connectors that look standard but need a custom mold, battery chemistries that need UN38.3 testing, or enclosures that look simple until you account for draft angles and sink marks.

After the review, he builds a shortlist of 3–5 factories that have made something similar at the right volume. For a recent industrial IoT gateway project, that shortlist came from a pool of 22 suppliers and was narrowed down after capability calls and document checks. Two factories were eliminated because their “in-house” SMT line turned out to be subcontracted during the audit stage.

He then runs the factory audit personally or with a trained local engineer, checks production lines, QC stations, and warehouse discipline, and writes a report that includes red flags, risk ratings, and a recommendation. Audits are not pass-or-fail scorecards; they are buying decisions. A factory with average equipment but honest management and clean documentation often beats a shinier shop that cannot explain its own test records.

During production, Martin sets up an inspection plan: pre-production for materials and first-article approval, in-process for critical assembly steps, and pre-shipment for finished units. For most electronics projects he uses AQL 2.5 for general defects and AQL 1.0 for critical functional checks. Defects are photographed, classified, and tied back to a root cause before the factory is allowed to rework.

Background and domain expertise

Martin’s engineering work covered embedded firmware, PCB design, backend systems, and RF testing. He has shipped products using BLE, LoRa, Wi-Fi, NB-IoT, and 4G CAT-1 modules, and has debugged enough supply-chain issues to know where factories hide risk.

That technical depth matters when clients ask questions like:

• “Can this factory really make our LoRa gateway, or are they just quoting our drawing?” — He checks their previous designs, test fixtures, and antenna validation reports.
• “Why did our first sample pass but the second batch fail RF?” — He traces whether the factory changed a balun, shielding tape, or firmware revision without a PCN.
• “Is this BOM cost reasonable?” — He compares against current distributor pricing and identifies where the factory is marking up generic passives.

He works most often in consumer electronics, IoT modules, wearables, industrial IoT, PCB assembly, and power electronics. He does not take on apparel, furniture, food, or supplements — those categories need a different network and a different kind of expertise.

Real numbers from recent work

• Audited 200+ factories in Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Fujian over the last four years.
• Sourced or managed production for 500+ SKUs across consumer electronics, IoT, and industrial hardware.
• Helped a EU industrial integrator reduce landed cost by 22% on an IIoT gateway by switching from a Hong Kong trader to a direct Shenzhen factory relationship.
• Reduced a US smartwatch client’s defect rate from 8.3% to 1.2% over three production runs by tightening incoming-material checks and adding a functional test station.
• Turned around a private-label IoT sensor project for an Amazon seller in 14 weeks from spec to first 2,000-unit shipment, including FCC/CE certification.

How to work with Martin

The fastest way to get a useful answer is to send a clear technical package: product description, target MOQ, target price, BOM or key specs, and any certification needs. If you only have an idea, that is fine too — be ready to explain who will use it, in what environment, and what “good enough” looks like.

You can reach him and the team through the contact page, on LinkedIn, or via WhatsApp at +86 176 0803 0983. Office hours are Monday to Saturday, 09:00–19:00 China Standard Time. Response time is usually within one business day for technical sourcing questions.

If you want to see how the team thinks before reaching out, start with the factory audit checklist or the guide on electronics quality control in China.