Ten years of building and running a factory

I spent ten years running a manufacturing plant in Korea, one I built myself from the ground up. I secured the permits, raised the capital, and spent a year living on the construction site, building the facility alongside the crew with my own hands. Once it was running, I worked through every part of the business with my team, on the floor and in the office: buying, maintaining and repairing equipment, controlling and improving product quality, negotiating with clients, and handling regulatory inspections.

Those ten years became the foundation of 29plus. I was a factory owner, but I was also a buyer: of machinery and equipment, of raw materials and finished goods. So I know both sides. I know when a factory owner starts to feel the squeeze, and which corners begin to look tempting. I also know how frustrating it is to be the buyer on the other end, waiting and not knowing. That's why I catch things on the factory floor that most inspectors walk right past.

Learning China from the inside

My history with China began in Shanghai in 2004. I later moved to Dalian and enrolled in the International Trade program at Dongbei University of Finance and Economics. I studied alongside Chinese students, in classes taught entirely in Chinese, and earned my degree in four years.

Between the factory and head office

My first job after graduation was with a Korean electronic components manufacturer. I was hired into overseas sales, but was soon sent to the company's production plant in Shandong, China, as the first resident manager the sales department had ever posted there. My job was to close the distance between the sales team at head office and the factory floor, so head office could read the situation quickly and act on it. I also handled major clients directly at the plant.

That role taught me one thing. The distance between what a factory says and what a buyer actually receives is where problems are born. I spent a year living inside that distance, and it shaped how I approach every project I take on today.

This time, on the trader's side

After returning to Korea, I ran my own plant for ten years and then sold it. In 2022, a Korean friend who had founded a manufacturing and trading company in China asked me to join him, and I came back. For a year and eight months, I managed the company's OEM partner factories and local staff, gaining experience in everything from managing local manufacturers to supplying overseas customers.

That's when I saw the side of sourcing and manufacturing that rarely shows. Specs changed without the buyer knowing. Contracted factories turned out not to be the ones actually making the product. Misunderstandings and problems started there, and in the end, buyer and supplier both paid the price.

This is hard for the two companies to solve on their own. It takes a third party who stands on the buyer's side and works with the factory. Not a watchdog, but someone who closes the gap between the two sides.

2024: 29plus

In 2024, I registered 29plus as a foreign-invested company in Jiangmen. Buyers can't be at the factory, and the people who are there usually work for someone else. I wanted to be the one on the floor who works for the buyer. Someone who has stood on both sides, the factory's and the trader's, and who documents everything he sees.

Most sourcing problems come from a basic gap between what buyers expect and what actually happens at the factory. The usual fix is to hire a local agent who ticks boxes. But closing the gap takes more than a box-ticker. It takes an execution partner who understands manufacturing as well as the factory does, and who works problems out together with the factory instead of just reporting them.

We don't leave manufacturing outcomes to chance. Our quality control is built on data. As your independent verification on the ground in China, we check material consistency and dimensional accuracy to a 0.1mm tolerance, and test real-world function on site. Before you commit to a production run, every inspection gives you measurement data, photos and video from that day, and a written verdict.

Every project is overseen by the founder. Every on-site check follows the same 29plus checklist and the same filming standard. Each report includes our findings, our recommendations, and photos and video from that day, so you can see for yourself and make the call with us. Every report is reviewed by the founder before it reaches you. When problems come up, we flag them on site and work them out with the factory.

• Your person on the ground in China: no need to station your own staff here. We act as your on-site representative, for your product.
• Site records and status reports: what we see and record on the floor goes straight to your inbox, unfiltered.
• The factory floor, not just a shipping date: after you place your order, you can see what's happening while your product is being made.
• Problems solved on site: when something comes up on the floor, we give the factory quick feedback and work it out together, before it turns into a shipment delay.

A standard report from a large agency rarely tells you what to do next. 29plus is a partner on the buyer's side, managing every step from production to delivery as if it were our own product.