Frequently Asked Questions:

Most contract manufacturers will hand you a customer portal, a support ticket number, and a promise that someone will get back to you. We do something different at SR Labs: we give you a cell phone number. Ours. Directly. And if you want to walk onto the production floor and watch your product being made, you're welcome to do that too—not through a scheduled tour with a viewing window, but by actually coming onto the floor.

We didn't land on this by accident. It's the clearest, most concrete way we know to prove something that's easy to say and hard to demonstrate: that we think of ourselves as your partner, not your vendor.

Why "partner" isn't just a word we picked

When our CEO, Michael Pereira, was asked what he wants a brand owner to feel the first time they connect with SR Labs, his answer was immediate: this is a partner. Not a facility you rent capacity from. Not a vendor you manage through a ticketing system. A partner who understands that moving your production to a new manufacturer is a real professional risk for the person making that decision — and who takes that risk as seriously as you do.

It's easy for a manufacturer to say that. It's harder to build a set of actual practices around it, which is why we'd rather show you the practices than ask you to take our word for the sentiment.

Direct access, not a support queue

Here's what that looks like in practice: our team shares direct cell phone numbers with clients. Not a general support line. Not a ticketing system that routes you to whoever's available. If something comes up with your production run, you're not waiting in a queue to reach someone who has to go find the answer. You're calling someone who already knows your product.

The same philosophy extends to our floor. Clients are welcome to come to the facility and go directly onto the production floor to watch their product being made, any time. Most manufacturers either don't allow this at all, or they limit it to a window you can look through from a distance. We'd rather you stand right there. If we're making your product, you should be able to see exactly how, whenever you want to.

We understand why most manufacturers don't operate this way. Open floor access means opening up things a facility might otherwise prefer to keep behind closed doors. Things like process details, timing, or the occasional imperfect day. We'd rather take that trade. A brand owner who's seen their product made in person doesn't have to take our word for anything, and that's a stronger foundation for a working relationship than any amount of reassurance we could offer over email.

A culture you can't manufacture by reading about it

This kind of access only works if the culture underneath it is real, and we think the clearest evidence of that is internal, not external. Our team has grown from 8 people to 16 and counting since relaunch—a fast pace of hiring in an industry where manufacturing jobs are too often treated as interchangeable. During a recent open enrollment period, roughly half the team came to Michael's office, unprompted, just to say thank you for the benefits package. That's not the kind of thing you can stage for a brand tour. It either happens or it doesn't.

We mention it because we think it's connected to the client experience in a direct way. A team that feels genuinely taken care of is a team that's invested in getting your product right, not just clocking hours until the batch is done. The open floor policy and the direct phone lines aren't isolated gestures. They're downstream of the same culture that has people thanking their CEO during open enrollment.

It's also, we'd argue, the part of this that's hardest for a competitor to copy. A manufacturer can decide tomorrow to start handing out cell phone numbers. Building a culture where people genuinely want to be here, and where that shows up in how carefully they treat your product, takes a lot longer than a policy change. It isn't something you can manufacture by reading about it somewhere else.

What this should mean to you as you evaluate a manufacturing partner

If you're considering a move to a new contract manufacturer, you already know the tour, the deck, and the sales pitch. What's harder to fake is what happens after you sign, whether you can actually reach someone when you need to, and whether you're allowed to see what's really happening with your product on any given day.

We built SR Labs around the idea that you shouldn't have to wonder. Call the number. Walk onto the floor. That's not a policy exception we make for certain accounts. It's how we operate, because it's the only way we know to make "this is a partner" mean something more than a line in a pitch deck.

If you're weighing a move to a new manufacturing partner right now, we'd ask you to test this directly rather than take it on faith. Call the number before you sign anything. Ask to walk the floor before your first production run, not after. A partner worth choosing should welcome that request without hesitation. We intend to be exactly that kind of partner, for as long as we're making your product.