Another horrible accident occurred last Saturday in a Bangladeshi factory. I took some excerpts from a good article (Bangladesh Factory Fire Puts Ethical Sourcing, Factory Conditions in Spotlight) I found: A garment-factory fire in … [Read more...]
Archives for November 2012
Is an export license a must for Chinese suppliers?
Some quality control firms say to their clients: "You should book an audit on the factories you intend to work with. We'll check if they have an export license. If they don't, it is a bad sign because they are not authorized to export their … [Read more...]
How to get a Chinese supplier to accept a letter of credit
Some importers start buying in China and are lucky. They find a proper manufacturer and they get good product quality. Their challenge will be to keep this quality level in a consistent manner and for a competitive price. But in the … [Read more...]
Core quality tools in the automotive industry
Over the past couple of years, I noticed some very interesting comments on some articles on this blog. They came from Brad Pritts, a consulting engineer and six sigma black belt who works primarily in the auto industry. I asked Brad a … [Read more...]
Basics of freight forwarding in China: Q&A with an expert
I recently met with Sandra Nguyen Thanh, who works for Karl Gross Logistics, a freight forwarding and logistics company with offices in Europe and in China. Sandra was kind enough to respond to my questions. Here are some of the basics … [Read more...]
Brand protection in China: Q&A with an expert
A few weeks ago, I met with Elisabeth Bourgeois, who is based in China and specializes in brand protection & anti-counterfeiting. She is the managing director of Bourgeois & Yang and is a member of the European Union Chamber of … [Read more...]
The lack of professionalism of some Chinese suppliers
A few days ago, I was invited to speak in a seminar organized by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China. The topic was "How to collect payments from Chinese suppliers". The first speaker was Javier Hernandez, a lawyer based in … [Read more...]
What happens to rejected products in China?
In China, a conscious effort is made to avoid wasting anything. For example, they will try to eat all organs of an animal. This good habit naturally made its way in the manufacturing industry: There are some defects? Let's just mix … [Read more...]
A good review of Deming’s teachings
I have been reading the blog written by Michel Baudin for a few months. It is a source of great information for those with an interest in lean principles (derived from the Toyota Production System). He started examining in depth each of … [Read more...]