Navigating USA Tariffs: Reclassify, Relocate, Reshore, or Rethink?
Unless you have been living under a rock, you have heard of Trump’s clear intentions to raise USA tariffs on products imported into America … with a particular focus on those coming from China. Dan Harris clearly lays out the basic facts in Trump’s New Tariffs and Their Impact on U.S. Trade with China, Mexico, […]
Questions to Ask Your Tooling and Plastic Supplier to Reduce Risks
This article is for companies that are developing their own innovative product(s) from scratch. Many products include plastic parts, and getting tooling right is fraught with risks. Suppose you have been working with an industrial designer or a mechanical engineer, and your product includes custom-designed plastic parts. In that case, you are probably getting some […]
The Four Levels of Plastic Injection Molding Suppliers in China
Have ever sent a RFQ for plastic parts? Have you been surprised by the wide disparity of the quotes from plastic injection molding suppliers in China? Asking these suppliers for quotations can be highly confusing. The prices of molds can differ by a factor from 1 to 10, and prices for production of plastic parts […]
Expect a Push from Amazon to Get Product Compliance in Order
Is your company selling products through the Amazon.com platform, as a third party seller? Some new policies regarding product compliance are probably coming up very soon. The US agency in charge of protecting consumers’ safety just published an important ruling: CPSC Finds Amazon Responsible Under Federal Safety Law for Hazardous Products Sold by Third-Party Sellers on […]
Social Audits: 4 Reasons Why Testing, Inspection, & Certification Firms Should NOT Do Them
Over the past 15 years, I have been shocked by the large-scale malpractice that social compliance audits represent. I wrote about it in several articles: Social compliance audits in factories: perverse effects Social Compliance Audits: Fear, Lies, and Corruption Brands and Retailers: Please Stop Doing Social Compliance Audits in Asia The auditing process is still […]
Avoiding Product Development Limbo: When To Engage Manufacturers
We are regularly in contact with companies that complain their new product is in ‘product development limbo’… it was planned to take 3 or 6 months, but it turns out that after 9 to 12 months there are still gnarly technical challenges to surmount. Here is a typical scenario that seems to play out quite […]
Switch Away from a Manufacturer at the First Signs of Trouble
I found myself warning a lot of companies recently about working with unsuitable manufacturers, and I thought I’d write about it. It usually unfolds this way: The buyer designs a new product and finds a manufacturer located in China that seems eager and offers low pricing. The Chinese manufacturer takes the design files, gets tooling […]
How To Manage Chemical Compliance: 8 Tips for Importers
We regularly provide advice to our clients so they know how to keep their products compliant. Recently the topic of restricted chemical substances came up a few times, and I thought I should put together all my general advice in one article. This is valuable if you sell into the EU and you need to […]
10 Common Disputes With Chinese Suppliers And How To Overcome Them!
Our clients sometimes come to us with problems and disputes with Chinese suppliers. We provide advice for them and others in a similar situation and bring awareness to common problems so they can be avoided in the first place where possible. Here we’ll give a taste of the top 10 cases from the past years […]
2024: What if Trump Came Back? New Tariffs for China?
Looking at the momentum of Donald Trump’s campaign for the US presidency, people everywhere are starting to take the scenario of his returning to the White House seriously. And people involved in international trade are wondering, will he ramp up the pressure on China again, and will he resort to adding new tariffs? Let’s assume […]
