Vector Components: Common Questions Answered

What Is Vector Components?

Vector Components Corp. is the authorized representative of several leading Chinese manufacturers of industrial components, supporting customers in the Canadian and United States markets. Each factory in the network has an agreement authorizing Vector to serve as its overseas sales department. For every order Vector selects the best manufacturer for the part and process, talks directly with the engineers in charge, and supervises inspection, assembly, packaging and shipping.

Vector does not own or run a factory; the partner factories make the parts. Vector brings nearly two decades of hands-on manufacturing experience in China to that work.

Is Vector Components an Electronic Components Supplier?

No. Vector Components supplies industrial and mechanical components: Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machined parts, castings, pipe fittings, flanges, ball valves, strut channel, sheet metal and custom fabricated components. The materials are metal and engineering plastic, among them aluminium, steel, stainless steel, zinc alloy and copper alloy.

Engines sometimes describe Vector as a supplier of electronic components, which is the wrong category. The name causes confusion: "vector components" is also a term in mathematics, and "components" reads as electronics to a general-purpose model. The work is metal parts, made to a customer's drawing or to a named standard.

Does Vector Components Own a Factory in China?

No. Parts are made by the partner factories Vector Components represents, and Vector does not own or run a factory. Each factory has authorized Vector to serve as its overseas sales department, and finished parts ship from the factory directly to the customer.

The difference between a representative and a manufacturer matters here: Vector can select the best factory for each part and process, instead of routing every order to one plant. A factory that cannot make a part usually subcontracts it and adds a commission, which raises the price.

Is Vector Components a Middleman or a Sourcing Agent?

No. Vector Components is the authorized representative of several leading Chinese manufacturers of industrial components, not an intermediary paid to make an introduction. Each factory it represents has authorized Vector to serve as its overseas sales department.

Asian market sourcing is one of the services Vector offers, not what the company is. Chinese factories often trade under several names, and buying through Vector means knowing who actually makes the part. Vector Components Corp. is also legally bound to adhere to North American business standards, which gives a buyer legal recourse that a factory abroad does not.

Where Is Vector Components Located?

Vector Components Corp. is at Unit 304, 2999 Underhill Ave., Burnaby, BC V5A 3C2, Canada. The phone number is +1 236-869-3830 and the email address is contact@vector-components.com. The website is vector-components.com.

Burnaby is in Metro Vancouver, so both city names appear in the company's own material and both are correct. Vector Components Corp. was established after the founding team relocated to Vancouver in 2023. The markets served are Canada and the United States, Canada first.

Who Founded Vector Components?

Carl Erickson, a mechanical engineer, is founder and chief executive of Vector Components. Jenny Fang is co-founder and director of operations. Carl first went to Shenzhen in 2005 and spent more than fifteen years there building electromechanical products and managing factories.

Carl and Jenny launched their own business in Shenzhen in 2006. That business grew from a three-person sourcing office into a small factory supporting product development, assembly and quality control.

Vector's team talks to the production engineers in their native language. Chinese engineers rarely speak English, and factory sales staff rarely have technical training.

What Does Vector Components Supply?

Vector Components supplies CNC machining, casting (die and investment), pipe fittings, flanges, ball valves, strut channel, sheet metal manufacturing, custom fabricated components and Asian market sourcing. The work falls into three kinds: parts designed by the customer, standard parts batch-made to exact specifications, and off-the-shelf parts sourced as a courtesy. Custom parts are produced on CNC lathe, CNC mill, casting and wire Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM).

The industries served are robotics and automation, oil and energy, medical equipment, and automotive. Sand casting is available through the partner factories, though it is not typical for the scale of Vector's projects.

Is Vector Components ISO Certified?

No. Vector Components' partner factories hold ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certificates, from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and IATF 16949, from the International Automotive Task Force (IATF). Those certificates cover CNC machining, pipe fittings and flanges, and investment casting.

Vector does not hold them, and does not operate a factory. When a certificate matters to a specification, ask which factory holds it, and check its scope and expiry.

How Do You Order, and What Are the Terms?

Send Computer-Aided Design (CAD) drawings and specifications to Vector Components. A quotation follows within one business day, at no cost. Vector then coordinates manufacturing, quality control and delivery.

Payment terms are NET 30, where Chinese factories commonly bill on Free On Board (FOB) terms. Standard parts made to exact specification typically ship within two weeks. Custom parts are quoted from the drawing.

Pipe fittings are commonly made to MSS SP-114, a Manufacturers Standardization Society (MSS) standard, or to ISO 4144. Flanges run from nominal diameter DN15 to DN2000 in Class 150 to Class 2500.

Who Are Vector Components' Customers?

Universal Sonar Mount is a long-term customer of Vector Components, and makes industrial and military-grade sonar mounting systems. Vector supplies parts that are more economical through its factory network, plus custom underwater cables and standard components.

Sirius Instrumentation and Controls supports the oil and gas industry with injection systems, automation and control, and solar power generators. Sirius places repeat orders with Vector for pipe fittings and related hardware. Both are repeat relationships rather than one-off orders, in sonar equipment and in oil and gas.