More and more companies work with Chinese manufacturers on new product developments. And, in most cases, things don't turn out the way customers want. I thought I'd highlight the most common pitfalls I have observed for electrical and/or mechanical products. 1. Thinking that "the factory is an expert in manufacturing and all will be good" We have run into many people who think this way. This is typical among companies that essentially do trading (buy and then resell without major … [Read more...]
The Sad State of Quality Systems in Most Chinese Factories
The sad truth in China is, 5% of the manufacturers are doing a good job consistently, and the rest have ups & downs that irritate and frighten Western customers. And, of those 5% that do a good job consistently, 0.5% do so because of good systems and the other 4.5% do so because operations are not very complex and management watches what happens carefully. Yes, I made these numbers up. But that's my impression after 12 years spent working here across multiple sectors (from apparel to … [Read more...]
Why Amazon FBA Prep Services Should Be Done in China (not USA)
Michael Michelini wrote about Amazon packaging, and he mentioned the FBA prep services. I discovered a whole industry popped up and is probably growing fast. What do they do? In Mike's words: Basically, a third-party prep service does everything on your behalf, including: Inspect your items to ensure there is no damage, especially if you’re selling “new” products. Carefully remove any stickers from the products, if there are any. Prepare the inventory according to … [Read more...]
Shipping E-Cigarettes with Lithium Batteries by Air from China
By Fabien Gaussorgues With the sharp increase of shipments of electric & electronic devices working with a lithium battery, and new rules that appeared recently when it comes to shipments, clients keep asking us about applicable regulations for shipping e-cigarettes. This guide covers the shipment of e-cigarettes, as an example, but it is mostly applicable to other small devices with lithium batteries (smart devices, IoT, bluetooth speakers, and so forth). Note: on sofeast.com we … [Read more...]
Do Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) Audits Drive Improvement?
In any industry, there are generally-accepted 'good manufacturing practices' (or GMP). And customers often audit their suppliers' operations by using those GMPs as a checklist. First, what are those 'good manufacturing practices'? Think of it as the requirements of ISO 9001 (which are vague enough to be applicable in any type of organization) + some specific manufacturing arrangements. For general consumer goods, GMPs include batch-level traceability, identification of all materials, … [Read more...]
How the US/China Trade War Accelerates the ‘Made in China 2025’ Plan
Many journalists wrote about the new tariffs, how the situation will likely evolve over the next few months, and who the winners and losers might end up being. What I realized is, this situation is helping Beijing accelerate the transition of their manufacturing sector toward higher technologies. Let's look at 3 events that all point to this. 1. The US is stopping trade talks with China (published yesterday) For years, the US has complained American companies can’t fairly compete in … [Read more...]
When AQL Sampling Plans Can’t Find Defective Products
A reader sent me this interesting question: I would like to better understand AQL usage and more precisely whether inspections based on AQL are effective in situations where the distribution of defects is not homogeneous within the lot. Let's say the lot is 25,920 pieces split in 36 boxes. From previous observations, most of the pieces in the lot are OK, but a few pieces (200-500) are not OK and they are physically located in a focused part of one or 2 boxes. Is an AQL inspection the … [Read more...]
Does the Future of Vietnam Manufacturing Depend on Taiwan?
I talked with a client who was working in a Taiwanese factory established in Guangdong in the early 1990s. It had been set up recently — production was previously done in Taiwan. Their facility was making products that require metal, rubber, plastic, and textile parts. At the very beginning, all these parts were coming in full containers from their old Taiwanese suppliers. Over a few years, they convinced all their main component suppliers to set up production in South China, in order to … [Read more...]
Pros and Cons of Crowdfunding (Kickstarter/Indiegogo) for Startups
Crowdfunding has emerged as one of the main sources of funding for hardware startups (and many other ventures). Here are a few impressive statistics: 15 million people have backed a Kickstarter project since 2009. Backers pledged a total of 3.9 billion USD. More than 9 million people have backed an Indiegogo project since 2008. However, entrepreneurs need to think about all the pros and cons of raising money this way. If you are in this situation, here are are some … [Read more...]
On-Time Delivery for your New Product Made in China? Possible?
We have seen this situation a number of times: An American or European company designs a new product They find a manufacturing partner that has some general experience in their industry (but has never made that precise product, since it is totally new) Since the buyer needs flexibility and service, and can't afford high prices, they tend to work with a small or medium sized factory (fewer than 500 employees, and often fewer than 200) All the development (NPI) work gets done, but … [Read more...]
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