Showing posts with label original design manufacturer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label original design manufacturer. Show all posts

Friday, December 23, 2011

OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) vs ODM (Original Design Manufacturer)

An original equipment manufacturer, or OEM, manufactures products or components that are purchased by a company and retailed under that purchasing company's brand name. OEM refers to the company that originally manufactured the product. When referring to automotive parts, OEM designates a replacement part made by the manufacturer of the original part. In this usage, OEM means "original equipment from manufacturer".


On the other hand, an original design manufacturer (ODM) is a company which designs and manufactures a product which is specified and eventually branded by another firm for sale. Such companies allow the brand firm to produce (either as a supplement or solely) without having to engage in the organization or running of a factory. ODMs have grown in size in recent years and many are now sufficient in size to handle production for multiple clients, often providing a large portion of overall production. A primary attribute of this business model is that the ODM owns and/or designs in-house the products that are branded by the buying firm. This is in contrast to a contract manufacturer (CM).