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If it was easy, everyone could do it and get rich.

(this is applicable to most questions about why business processes suck)

More like if it was ever easy everyone already did it until it either became impossible to do easily or not worth enough money anymore to bother with.

Where in the story could it be improved?

On my read it's at "2nd rate design firm in a flyover state"; a buy once//cry once here could make the "move to china" step unnecessary.

That said, I'm coming at this with webdev knowledge. I'd appreciate input.

At the beginning: spend more time/money finding a market-product fit that affords you a high 3 low 4 figure or so manufacturing budget for "aerospace grade" CNC construction. Local vendors, established quality control practices, etc.

Of course eventually your product will get knocked off, which is it's own kind of issue.

Because the world became a zero sum game in this respect.