[allworknoplay]

Local manufacturing is the only way to go if you're developing a reasonably complicated product and don't have a team that's super experienced with international manufacturing. I was the technical co-founder of Brightbox (brightboxcharge.com, us founders are no longer affiliated), we were based in NYC and could never have done the prototyping and iteration required if we couldn't clap eyes on hardware constantly.

There's plenty of great manufacturing in the US. Since I'm a software guy, we had one company build us a prototype and handle industrial design (Tomorrow Lab, http://tomorrow-lab.com/; Pepin is a friend) and found an integrated mechanical engineering and manufacturing firm just over the river in NJ (Tech Products, techproductsco.com; Bob is an awesome human being) for the final product and first few real runs.

Having an actual partner we could meet with all the time, understand clearly, and iterate with was incredibly valuable for us. Plus obviously there are important technical integrations (I was writing all the software myself while the ME and EE was happening) and multiple suppliers, and if you're in charge of managing a few bespoke engineers who sometimes don't see eye to eye, you'd better be able to work with them all carefully and personally.