Some customers are surprised at how long the product development process takes.

We worked with one of my most  new customers for a year before the new product development process was completed. Once this was done, the production parts were done in just 60 days.

I had another new customer contact me the early part of this year. They worked with a U.S. based prototype company for 6 months to develop a sample that could be sent to China to get a quote.

Another new customer took a year of product development before the new product development and sampling process were complete.

Depending on the complexity, 6-9 months of engineering and prototyping time is realistic to plan for a new product. Once this is accomplished, add 2 weeks to get the sample to manufacturers in China and get a quote, and another 6 weeks to make molds and/or a first production sample.