I wrote many times that QC inspections before shipment are a good way of keeping quality problems where they belong: in the factory. It is a good tool. But pointing to its limits is important. Misinterpreting its reliability is very … [Read more...]
Archives for July 2013
Statistics about payment terms between importers and Chinese suppliers
Here are some interesting or useful articles that I found recently. Bank transfer most favored payment method among China exporters [Survey] This survey from Global Sources displays interesting data about: The preference for bank … [Read more...]
Lean and ISO 9001 are very compatible
I just read Lean ISO 9001: Adding Spark to your ISO 9001 QMS and Sustainability to your Lean Efforts, and this excellent book opened my eyes on many things. I thought ISO 9001 was too rigid for a true lean culture (control documents … [Read more...]
Quality, cost, or speed: choose 1 or 2, but not 3
I found this funny photo, and I thought all China sourcing agents should show this type of message on their namecards. Source: it was shared on Linkedin by Lisa Short (07826 546236). … [Read more...]
How a purchasing office in China should be organized
From my observations, procurement offices and trading companies that are based in China tend to make the same mistakes. In this article I will explain how they should be organized. The traditional organization Some purchasers … [Read more...]
Articles about QC inspection statistics & procedures
A few people told me recently that they had spent hours going through the archives of this blog to find articles on a certain theme. So I gathered all the good articles I published over the years about the statistics, and more generally … [Read more...]
How and why Chinese suppliers increase their prices
If you have done regular business with Chinese suppliers, you have certainly noticed how eager they are to push prices up. And you probably felt like you got cheated several times. In this article I am going to focus on cases where the … [Read more...]
Shipping from China to Russia
Last week I had an interesting discussion with my old friend Greg Torosyan, who runs Ageo and helps Russian companies import from China. I took notes about some interesting things Greg told me. The issue of the standard price Customs … [Read more...]
Product specifications template for importers in China
Some importers send information about the product they expect through many different channels: Email threads; Skype or QQ conversations; In the form of samples, or validations of counter-samples; Drawings and explanations in … [Read more...]
High quality standard [cartoon]
I found this great cartoon from the New Yorker, and thought it illustrates nicely some buyer-supplier interactions. … [Read more...]