>>518552955
>I don't know how you can compete at all when there are millions of Chinese companies that have way lower costs because wages are much lower
You have to find a customer base that has restrictions or requirements that prevent those from being supplier options to them. ITAR, security clearance limitations on the drawings, ISO 9001 certification, and even the requirement for material certifications and part inspections for narrow tolerances on dimensions or other geometric or finish requirements will make depending on foreign suppliers impossible.
Indian or Chinese companies can make you parts cheaply, but you can't assume that the materials they use are going to meet domestic regulatory requirements (especially if you are producing pharmaceutical, food-grade, or aerospace components with those parts).
I've outsourced simple parts that weren't cost-efficient to produce inhouse but the company I worked for was an approved supplier and the customer didn't have specific enough limitations on how the parts were produced (and the IP for the drawing wasn't limited either). But I've also had to work on projects where no outside assistance of any kind was permissible and every part of the process required closed custody of the parts/materials and paperwork due to clearance restrictions. So even final inspection couldn't be trusted to be done by a third party.
I've also worked for pharmaceutical companies where the long term goals for business structuring mean that relying on vendors in other countries is just becoming less reliable and not worth the "savings" as a result of the inconsistency in the quality of the parts provided and the lead times on the parts with higher rejection rates both keep getting worse.