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I don't think so.

Casting at a different company in China only makes sense if you can cast a "relatively" large number (e.g. 1000 or so) and sell them again in a fairly short period, as to not clog up warehouses.

It might make sense for some things... e.g. the Void Shield Generator or perhaps a new HH Primarch coming out, etc..,

But 95% of the Forge World stuff is more or less "cast-on-demand". If you order ... say ... an Eldar Cobra or a Tyranid Harridan... they send a guy down into a dusty cellar, pick up the mould, cast it, send to to you. Done

"Pre-casting" all that backlog, and storing it in GW's logistic centres around the world, just to have it on hand along with high volumes stock like Tac Marines, etc.., isn't worth it.

They don't even do it with Black Library (for the entire catalogue).

They only carry the 10 or 20 most recent products from Black Library on the GW-main-webstore, because those are stocked in GW-logistic around the world, After a certain time, the rest of .. say .. the latest Space Marines Battles novel that didn't sell, they'll get destroyed to free warehouse space. You'll only be able to get it from BL directly after that (until the print-run is done).

If they'd move FW to the GW-main webstore, they'd need to pre-cast (possibly in China) tons of miniatures, stock them around the world, and periodically destroy gak that that's only collecting dust. Not gonna happen, no matter how cheap they can push those production costs in China.

Maybe they'll start a model similar to how the current GW-shop handles Black Library... e.g. stock the ~10 new releases of a given month for a limited period. But even that would increase the costs of logistics quite dramatically, so I kinda doubt it.

Fraud is a huge problem in china (I'm an auditor, and we have a jv in china) - you cannot rely on the usual management oversight being done by locals, as collusion is rampant. You have to keep a constant watch, which is tiring for any company.

Can it be worth it? For a company like GW, where ip is everything? Not hugely. They're not big enough to put any actual pressure on.

Oh, it's confirmed. The void shield was made in China

Given the numerous disadvantages to manufacturing in China mentioned previously, and also that low end factory wages are rising rapidly there (11% rise for 2014), the competitive advantage once held by China is quickly diminishing. Vietnam is looking better and better.