By Jin Joo Lee

For the past 5 weeks, I was in Shenzhen, China taking the MIT Media Lab’s “Supply Chain and Manufacturing Bootcamp” course taught by Bunnie Huang, author of “The Hardware Hacker: Adventures in Making and Breaking Hardware” and “Hacking the Xbox: An Introduction to Reverse Engineering.”

The program was very hands-on, and we were introduced to basic manufacturing concepts and taught how to effectively manage a supply chain network. With the help of AQS, a contract manufacturer (CM), I learned how to manufacture a product working with the PCB fabrication & assembly and injection molding factories.  I sourced for parts and materials at the electronics market Huaqiangbei and the China South International Industrial Materials City.  I also toured a diverse set of factories (e.g., leather, zipper, ball bearing, high-precision molding, and mannequin).

I kept a running blog of my experiences. Check it out here!