A few months ago I published an ebook about quality assurance in China. I also offered it for download on my company’s website and I got great comments about it.
This time I am listing 15 strategies to avoid problems with your suppliers in China. I am tired of hearing advice about “cultivating guanxi“. So I wrote 8 pages about customer-supplier communication, buying processes, and quality control tips… without mentioning guanxi.
If you follow this ebook’s advice, you will get all the fundamentals right.
Table of contents:
1. Select capable and reliable suppliers
2. Beware of subcontracting
3. Keep written records of all promises
4. How to use pre-production samples
5. Visit the factory frequently
6. Don’t put all your IP in one company’s hands
7. Check materials before final assembly starts
8. Check quality early in the manufacturing cycle
9. Communicate mostly in person / over the phone
10. Be polite at all time
11. Release payments after milestones are reached
12. Sign an enforceable contract
13. Sort defective goods with a 100% check
14. Line up a backup factory
15. Never say never again
What do you think?
Martin says
February 24, 2011 at 9:33 AMGood manual given a decent general overview of sourcing.
Renaud Anjoran says
February 24, 2011 at 10:48 AMThanks for the feedback, Martin!
Budi says
January 10, 2013 at 11:03 AMThanks for sharing Renaud