OEM (original equipment manufacturing) means the factory builds a product to a design the brand already owns — its own housing, optics and mechanical spec. ODM (original design manufacturing) flips that: the factory's engineering team designs the product, and the brand licenses or rebrands it.

Most growing lighting brands start ODM, because it's faster to get a catalog to market using platforms a factory has already tooled, tested and certified. As a brand's volume and differentiation needs grow, specific SKUs often move to OEM so the brand can protect a design or optimize a detail competitors can't easily copy.

The practical question to ask a manufacturing partner isn't 'OEM or ODM' — it's whether they can do both under one roof, so a catalog can start on shared platforms and evolve into owned designs without switching suppliers.