Why Design Ownership Matters in a Shifting Global Landscape

With tariffs as a topic of strategic discussion, many OEM companies whose electronic controls are designed and manufactured offshore are reevaluating the long-term risks of intellectual property (IP) ownership. OEMs are finding more and more that offshore partners—especially in China—may not completely own their product designs, even while they have historically offered reasonably priced engineering services. When trying to update, scale, or move manufacturing, missing source code, inadequate documentation, and limited access to design history can become a significant challenge.

The Hidden Risk in Offshore Design Partnerships

Many times, OEMs get basic deliverables schematic or BOM—but not the complete firmware source code or test procedures. In other cases, some OEM partners may offer the firmware but at a significant cost. These “black box” designs limit the OEM’s view of the product, making it difficult to:

• Perform future upgrades and modification
• Help with improvements to products or problem solving
• Maintain consistent quality over several manufacturing sites
• Transition manufacturing in response to geopolitical concerns, lead time problems, or tariffs

OEMs may find themselves locked in a single vendor or region with little room for flexibility without complete control over the design.

Design Ownership Builds Resilience.

Owning the core design of your product is the foundation of real supply chain resilience—not simply relying on supplier diversification. Whether you are moving production to a lower-tariff area, optimizing new components, or scaling production to meet demand, quick adaptation results from control of the complete design – your schematics, firmware, and test documentation.

Local Engineering Control in Global Manufacturing

Partnering with a local engineering firm can be the key to ensuring your product designs are secure, accessible, and production-ready when needed. Partners, such as Avnan, can provide OEMs with the flexibility to move seamlessly by combining worldwide manufacturing capacity with localized engineering knowledge.

Mitigate Risk through Design Ownership

Owning your control design is not optional as the electronics terrain changes; it is rather necessary. Avnan helps OEMs turn legacy or incomplete control designs into entirely documented, ownable platforms. Whether you have partial access to the design or deal with obsolete files, our engineering team can:

• Review and fix current designs to close documentation and functionality gaps; rebuild or extract missing firmware for complete openness.
• Verify and change designs for manufacture in other countries including China, Vietnam, or India
• Deliver a complete, transferable intellectual property package to keep total control moving forward.

In addition to our design services, we also offer an end-to-end solution managing the full scope of manufacturing and supply chain. Contact us if you are an OEM considering moving your product design out of China or other at-risk regions.