Many importers are puzzled. They ask quotations for a plastic part, and Chinese suppliers quote wildly different amounts for the injection mold. One reason, obviously, is the nature of the mold: Is it in hard metal (e.g. H13 steel), ready to make hundreds of thousands of pieces? Or in soft metal (e.g. aluminium), for making a few prototypes only? Is it a single cavity mold (requiring more machine time and more labor)? Or multi cavity (more expensive, but more efficient for large … [Read more...]
Is Factory Consolidation Accelerating in China?
I had an interesting discussion last week about one of the mega-trends I see happening in the Chinese Manufacturing sector -- the consolidation of the manufacturing sector, from many players of all sizes to a few large players. Several factors, most of which act in an inter-related manner, are driving this trend. Let's look at the major factors. 1. Competitive forces Competition drives inefficient players out of the market. With Alibaba.com, 1688.com, and other directories, sending an RFQ … [Read more...]
New Version of ISO 19011 Is Available – Guidelines for Auditing
When an ISO standard is a set of "requirements", like ISO 9001, it is often seen as a constraint. It is like a law. It is not fun. When it is a set of "guidelines", though, it is only positive. The standard is full of advice on how to do something well! An example is ISO 9004 -- which gives advice on how to be ISO 9001 compliant and how to go further. If your company has auditors who work on management systems, you might want to look at the new version of ISO 19011. It covers the following … [Read more...]
What Are the Steps and the Objectives of Making Prototypes in China?
By Fabien Gaussorgues Are you going to manufacture a mechanical and/or electrical product in China? This article will help you plan for the steps for follow. You might need a concept of the product, to show investors and to launch a Kickstarter campaign. You might need a prototype that is close to the final version of the product, in order to run testing (including usability testing) and validate the design before going into production. The usual process goes as follows. (The steps … [Read more...]
Product Specifications: What Tolerances for Measurements?
A client asked me, how to decide on tolerances to write on a drawing, when giving a technical file to a Chinese manufacturer? I always suggest to importers that they define a product specification sheet. And they often struggle with setting the right tolerances. Many considerations need to be taken into account. This is not a formal how-to guide, but I jotted down a few ideas. First, you might not need to specify every dimension on your product. And on those dimensions you end up … [Read more...]
Progress and Challenges of China’s Manufacturing Sector
Dirk Dusharme, editor in chief at Quality Digest, wrote a well researched and thoughtful article about the progress of China's manufacturing sector, the challenges it faces, and what importers should do about it. Part 1 ('China’s exploding middle class drives improvement') focuses on the trend for better quality. It rightly points out that certain brands have emerged (e.g. Huawei, Oppo...) and are competing successfully on non-price factors with the best foreign brands. And, at the same time, … [Read more...]
Expert Guide for Importing from China
Freightos just released a pretty comprehensive guide for importers. I was invited to write a chapter, and some other service providers and software vendors were invited to, depending on their experiences. It was written mainly for the buyers of consumer goods (luxury market excluded), particularly those selling through e-commerce. Having said that, I found several chapters that cover topics I seldom write about (freight, Customs, drop-shipment, and so forth) and do a very nice job of … [Read more...]
US Compliance Documents When Importing from China: Q&A With an Expert
American importer often ask us questions about the compliance documents they need when importing products from China. I thought it would be interesting to ask Fredrik Gronkvist, from Chinaimportal.com, to answer the most frequent questions we get asked about US compliance. He has a firm grasp on this complex topic that can seem complex and confusing. 1. Do I actually need some documents to prove that my products are compliant with US safety regulations? Documentation is in many ways part … [Read more...]
Example of Indiegogo Project Made in China: NAOX
The number of new products to be launched on Kickstarter or Indiegogo has grown very fast. It seems not a week passes without a start-up team contacting us for either developing a new product or for help on their production in China. Some projects are very successful and raise important amounts of funding on these platforms. Most projects raise more modest funds and don’t receive much publicity. However, some are worth studying. Not just because their products can be pretty innovative, but … [Read more...]
What To Do If You Are Afraid of Poor Quality from Your Chinese Factory?
A client asked for my advice about a common situation: They are about to give a relatively large order to a factory. They had a bad experience with that same factory in the past. They had too many defective products and it was quite costly. I have met with many importers in this situation. Here is what I usually tell them. First, why keep working with the same factory? Have they promised they would improve? On what basis? In most cases it doesn't happen, and the next production run … [Read more...]
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