Frequently asked questions

What raw materials can you source through your global network?

We source the full spectrum of industrial inputs, the materials that build your product before any machining or assembly happens. On the metals side that covers carbon and structural steel, stainless, aluminium, brass, copper, tool steel and specialty alloys, supplied as billet, plate, sheet, bar, tube or extrusion. On the polymer side we source engineering plastics including nylon, ABS, POM (Acetal), polypropylene, polycarbonate, polyethylene and PEEK, as sheet, rod or pellet. We also source castings (sand, investment, die), forgings, fasteners, fittings, seals, bearings and standard mechanical components. If it is a raw input that goes into your product, we can specify it, source it from a vetted mill or supplier, validate the material certificates (EN 10204 3.1 or equivalent), and land it in Australia. Briefs that include grade, temper, tolerance, surface condition and quantity get the sharpest quote, but a sketch and a target cost is enough to start. See our raw material sourcing service for the full process, or send a brief.

How do you select and verify global suppliers for raw materials?

Every supplier on our roster has been earned, not assumed. The shortlist starts with suppliers our group already uses for its own production through Perfetti Engineering and McIver Engineering, meaning we have run their material on our own machines and seen how it behaves under load. From there we expand by referral, audit and trial order. Verification involves four checks: paperwork (mill test reports, ISO 9001, REACH, RoHS where relevant), capability (do they actually run the grade and form you need or are they brokering it onward), commercial behaviour (transparent pricing, named source, traceable origin), and a sample run. For higher-spec metals we cross-check material certs against the heat number on the physical stock. For plastics we verify resin grade and supplier of record. Suppliers that pass every gate go on the active roster; suppliers that fail any gate do not get a second chance. The result is a pre-vetted network you would not have time to build yourself, evaluated through a manufacturer's eyes rather than a broker's. More on the approach in our services overview.

Can you provide samples for raw inputs?

Yes. Sample programs are a standard part of how we de-risk a new supplier or a new material grade. For metals that means a representative cut of the actual heat or batch you would receive in production, long enough to machine a test coupon, run a tensile pull or check surface condition. For plastics it means a sheet or rod offcut from the same lot, with the resin certificate attached. We arrange incoming inspection on landed samples, and where you need it, we will run dimensional and material verification through our group's Sydney workshop before shipping the sample to you. Sample lead times are typically days, not weeks, because we hold relationships with the source and bypass the courier-and-broker chain. Once you sign off the sample, the same supplier and the same heat or lot become the production reference, meaning what you tested is what you get on the container. If a sample fails, we move to the next vetted source rather than asking you to absorb the risk. To trigger a sample request, send a brief with the spec and target.

What manufacturing processes do you cover overseas?

The full engineered-parts stack. CNC machining (3-, 4- and 5-axis milling, turning, mill-turn) covers the majority of what we route offshore, see our dedicated CNC machining sourcing page. Sheet metal fabrication includes laser cutting, punching, forming, welding and powder coating. Injection moulding covers tooling design, T1 sample, validation and production with engineering-grade resins. Casting covers sand, investment and die casting in aluminium, steel, stainless and bronze. We also cover forging, extrusion, 3D printing (SLA, SLS, MJF, metal DMLS) for prototypes and low-volume production parts, sub-assembly and full assembly, and finishing operations such as anodising, plating, heat treatment, painting and packaging. Whether the brief is a one-off prototype, a pilot run of fifty, or a recurring production schedule of tens of thousands, we route it through the partner whose process, capacity and price profile best fits, not whichever factory we visited last. Full process detail on our overseas manufacturing service page.

How does your overseas manufacturing service work?

It is a managed program from drawing to delivery, not a referral. Step one: you send us a brief, drawing, spec, target cost, quantity, timeline. Step two: we shortlist two or three vetted partners whose process, capacity and pricing fit, and return cost-optimised quotes with named factories, lead times and any tooling or NRE called out. Step three: you choose, we run point. That covers PO placement, tooling kick-off where required, first-article inspection, in-line QC against your drawing, final pre-shipment inspection with photo and dimensional reports, freight booking (sea or air), customs clearance, GST and duty handling, and final-mile delivery to your door anywhere in Australia. You get one point of contact and one accountable party throughout. The supply network, the relationships, the engineers in-country, the QC routines, stays with us. You get the result on your loading dock with the paperwork to back it. For the full process and price comparison logic, see our overseas manufacturing service or brief our team.

What are typical lead times and minimum order quantities (MOQs)?

Quotes are returned rapidly, typically within days of receiving a complete brief. Production lead times are process- and volume-dependent. Indicative ranges, including ocean freight to Sydney: CNC machined parts 6–10 weeks; sheet metal fabrication 5–8 weeks; injection moulding 8–14 weeks for first production after tool sign-off (tooling adds 4–8 weeks upfront); castings 8–12 weeks; 3D printed prototypes 1–3 weeks. Air freight typically collapses any of those by 4–5 weeks at significantly higher cost, we model both before you commit. MOQs vary by process and supplier. CNC has effectively no MOQ; we have run jobs of one. Injection moulding and casting carry MOQs driven by tool amortisation rather than the supplier's preference, and we negotiate flexible MOQs for prototyping and pilot runs. Where it makes sense, we consolidate shipments across multiple parts or even multiple clients to bring landed cost down. The realistic answer for your specific part is a question of drawing, quantity and target, send a brief and we will return numbers, not ranges.

How do you ensure quality control on overseas production runs?

Quality is engineered in, not inspected in. The first lever is supplier selection: we only route work to factories whose process capability we have already verified against our own group's standards. The second lever is the drawing, we will challenge an under-specified drawing before a PO is raised, because a vague tolerance or missing surface call-out is the most common defect cause we see. The third lever is staged QC. Standard programs include first-article inspection (FAIR), in-line dimensional checks against the drawing, final pre-shipment inspection with photo evidence, dimensional reports and material certificates (EN 10204 3.1 or equivalent), and where critical, CMM reports. The fourth lever is presence. For higher-stakes production we put our own people closer to the floor during the run, and on the most critical jobs we travel on site to personally inspect parts before the container is sealed. Defects caught at the factory cost cents to fix; defects caught in Australia cost the program. That is why we lean upstream. More on the approach in our overseas manufacturing service.

Do you handle freight, customs clearance and delivery into Australia?

Yes, end to end, on the same PO. Sea freight (FCL or LCL) and air freight are both available; we recommend the route that matches your urgency and your unit economics, not the one that maximises a freight forwarder's margin. We handle consolidation across suppliers where it makes sense, customs brokerage, import duties, GST, AQIS treatment if required, and final-mile delivery to your warehouse, workshop or job site anywhere in Australia. Documentation, commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading or air waybill, certificates of origin under FTAs such as ChAFTA, material certs, QC reports, is prepared and reconciled by us before the goods leave the origin port. You get a single point of contact from PO to dock and a single landed cost number you can plan against, rather than a quote that quietly excludes half the line items you will eventually pay for. Hand off to your warehouse team when the truck arrives. Brief us if you would like a landed-cost quote on a current shipment.

Can you also manufacture locally in Australia?

Yes. Through our sister business McIver Engineering, established 1947 and part of Perfetti Engineering Pty Ltd, we run a full Australian manufacturing capability from our Sydney workshop. That covers CNC machining (3-, 4- and 5-axis), sheet metal fabrication, laser cutting, welding, design and engineering, sub-assembly and full assembly. Local production suits work where lead time, IP control or regulatory environment matters more than unit cost, defence and medical components, prototype and pre-production runs, low volumes where freight overhead would dominate, jobs that need to land on a customer's loading dock in days rather than weeks, and any program where being able to walk the floor and look at the part this afternoon is part of the brief. Because the offshore network and the local shop sit inside the same group, we can move work between them without changing supplier, drawing standard or accountable party. See our services overview for how the two halves combine, or brief our team.

Can you run a hybrid offshore and onshore program?

Yes, and for engineered programs of any scale, hybrid is usually the model that wins on total cost and total risk. Common patterns: volume parts machined or fabricated offshore, then finished, anodised, assembled and packed onshore where short cycles and final inspection matter most. Prototype and pre-production iterations run through our Sydney shop where we can change a drawing on Monday and machine a new sample by Wednesday, then transfer the validated drawing to the offshore partner for production once the design is locked. Critical or regulated components stay onshore while non-critical sub-assemblies route offshore. Emergency rescue work, the part that did not arrive, the supplier that missed a date, gets pulled into the local shop without changing your point of contact. One brief, one accountable team, one set of drawings, one quality standard, sourced or built where each part of the program belongs. See our services page for how this works in practice or send a brief.

How is GSN different from a typical sourcing agent or import broker?

Global Supply Network is a manufacturer-led procurement partner, not a dot-connector. We come from the factory floor. Our group owns and operates a long-standing Australian manufacturing business, McIver Engineering, established 1947, part of Perfetti Engineering Pty Ltd, so we evaluate suppliers the way an engineer would: tolerances, materials, process capability, capacity, lead time and total landed cost. That manufacturing DNA changes three things in practice. First, we ask the right questions before a purchase order is raised, under-specified drawings get challenged, not quoted. Second, we only take on projects we could personally build end to end, which means no jobs routed to suppliers we have not used ourselves. Third, when something goes wrong, we have an Australian workshop to fall back on rather than a phone number in a different time zone. Compared with a traditional sourcing agent (volume on commission) or an import broker (margin on resale), the model is closer to having an in-house procurement and engineering team without the overhead. More on the approach in about us.

What industries do you supply?

Industrial equipment, mining, defence, infrastructure, energy, transport, agriculture, construction products and consumer hardware, anywhere a physical product needs reliable industrial inputs at the right cost and the right tolerance. Practically that means OEMs building machinery, fabricators sourcing materials and sub-components, civil and infrastructure contractors needing fittings and fabricated parts, mining and resources operators sourcing replacement components and consumables, defence-tier programs where supply chain provenance and lead time both matter, energy and renewables developers sourcing structural and balance-of-plant components, and consumer brands manufacturing physical product at scale. The common thread is not the industry, it is the brief. If it has a drawing, a tolerance, a material spec and a deadline, we can route it. Industries where we are particularly strong, because our group manufactures into them through Perfetti and McIver, include heavy industrial equipment, defence-adjacent fabrication, and precision machined components. See services for the process or brief our team if you would like to discuss your specific industry.

Is GSN ISO 9001 certified?

GSN itself is not ISO 9001 certified. We work with a vetted network of ISO 9001 certified overseas manufacturers, and selected partners hold ISO 13485 for medical device production. The certification sits where it matters most, at the factory producing the part. We act as the procurement and quality interface on top of that network. For programs that require a certified prime contractor (for example flight-critical aerospace or implantable medical), GSN is not the right fit and we will say so upfront so you can engage a Tier-1 supplier directly.

How does GSN manage quality on overseas orders?

Quality is managed through four levers. First, supplier selection, work is only routed to factories whose process capability we have verified. Second, the drawing, under-specified drawings get challenged before a PO is raised. Third, for ongoing or higher-risk programs we put a Master Services Agreement in place defining inspection points, acceptance criteria and rework terms. Fourth, on-the-ground oversight, in-line and pre-shipment inspection against your drawing. CMM dimensional reports and material certificates are available on request for any order. More on the approach in our overseas manufacturing service.

Does GSN provide material certificates?

Yes, on request. EN 10204 3.1 mill test certificates and material certificates can be supplied for any order, covering chemical composition, mechanical properties and heat traceability. For machined and critical-tolerance parts, CMM dimensional reports are also available on request. Just flag it with your brief and we will build the documentation requirement into the PO upfront.

Who handles customs and duty on shipments into Australia?

GSN handles it 100%. Customs clearance, import duties, GST, AQIS treatment where required, and final-mile delivery anywhere in Australia are all managed by us as part of the same purchase order. We act as importer of record on the program. You receive a single Australian invoice covering the landed cost, no separate freight forwarder, customs broker or duty bill arriving weeks later. Documentation including commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading, certificates of origin under FTAs such as ChAFTA, material certs and QC reports is prepared and reconciled by us before goods leave the origin port.

Can GSN handle medical device or regulated work?

For ISO 13485 medical device parts, yes, through our certified supplier network. We route the work to a partner factory whose certification covers the relevant device class, and we manage the procurement and documentation interface. For programs requiring a certified prime contractor (flight-critical aerospace, implantable medical), GSN is not the right fit and we will say so upfront. For defence and other regulated work where supply chain provenance and lead time matter, we can quote and run programs subject to a scope review against the specific compliance requirements.