A few years ago, I wrote an article on '7 Common Mistakes Revealed by Factory Org Charts'. I described two issues I have seen many times in Chinese factories: Mistake 1: not having a quality department Most small workshops don’t have personnel dedicated to checking quality on a full-time basis. The problem is, very often nobody checks quality at all! That’s a serious problem and only importers who can station inspectors on site 24/7 should do business with such … [Read more...]
New Importer from China? Beware the Credulous Foreigner Syndrome!
After about 40 years of openness, and about 15 years of 'direct trade' without Hong Kong trading companies, one might expect that foreign buyers take more precautions when dealing with Chinese suppliers. And, to be sure, some buyers do pay attention to risks. They have heard a few horror stories. They have read about common misconceptions, typical pitfalls, assumptions to avoid, and best practices for supply chain management. Unfortunately, it seems that a majority of people who haven't … [Read more...]
How To Manage Chinese Suppliers based on Facts & Data
If you buy products from a few Chinese suppliers, do you have a system for managing them? And do you use data for that? In this post, I'll show you how to manage Chinese suppliers using facts and data. … [Read more...]
How To Fight Back Against Fake Goods In China Trade Shows
For all the talk about improvements in China's intellectual property protection, many importers are still facing very unethical behavior from their supplier base. And nowhere is it more apparent than in trade shows. The temptation for suppliers to show a customer's innovative product is often too strong. So, how to fight back against fake goods in China trade shows? … [Read more...]
How Quality Planning Drives QC and Process Improvement
What does quality management consist of? Juran wrote about this first in 1986, and he suggested 3 types of activities that make up the "Juran trilogy": Planning Quality control Improvement … [Read more...]
Two Preventive Maintenance Examples: Go for More Structure
As I wrote before, preventive maintenance helps cut costs and improves quality. That's an extremely important element of good manufacturing and it doesn't get much coverage. Simply put, it extends the lifetime of the equipment, it prevents downtime that prevents production from taking place, and it ensures the equipment is ready to make good products. … [Read more...]
11 Steps To Set Up a Process Control Plan
About 2 years ago, I wrote about the 3 process improvement tools we use most often. And today I'd like to do a deep dive into one of them -- the process control plan. … [Read more...]
Quality Planning for Importers: Classify Orders by Risk Level
Every purchaser knows that some orders are riskier than others and the risk impacts many of the decisions they make. This is why quality planning and classifying orders by risk level is important for importers. … [Read more...]
Ceramic Grades and Grades of Ceramic Tiles (Videos)
As many of our clients are quick to remind us, inspecting certain products require a level of expertise and ceramic products are definitely in this category since most of the visual defects are based on the 'ceramic grades' the buyer paid for. … [Read more...]
How a China-Based Buying Office Can Add Value
If you source and buy consumer goods from several suppliers in China, your experience probably looks like this: Some suppliers are good, some are not so good and not improving When there is a quality issue, it is much better to detect it while the goods are still at the factory... and yet, sometimes, that factory plays the "do nothing and wait" game -- it means they do a very light sorting job and tell you "all is good now", simply because they don't want to do rework and discard some … [Read more...]
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