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 … [Read more...]
Archives for October 2018
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 … [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 … [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, … [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 … [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 … [Read more...]
How Blockchain Can Help Importers & Regulators Manage Supply Chains
I came upon a great article entitled The Time Is Now (available only to ASQ members), by Narahari Rao. It describes how orders, invoices, transactions, testing & inspection reports, material certificates, and other critical pieces of … [Read more...]
Transferring Production from China to Vietnam to Avoid Tariffs
Many companies US importers from China have seen margins annihilated. It's logical to look at transferring production from China to places like Vietnam. I am writing this from Vietnam, where the tariffs imposed by the Trump … [Read more...]