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COVID-19: What Are The 7 Major Risks for Importers of China Goods?

As an importer, you are probably wondering how the COVID-19 epidemic in China is going to impact your business. Beijing says things are rapidly improving and hints that the situation will nearly be back to normal on the coasts by the end of February. They are still planning to hold the Canton fair. Let's all hope they are right. Let's hope there is no relapse (the epidemic starting again in certain cities) in the coming months. The situation is still far from clear. In the meantime, … [Read more...]

How To Diversify Manufacturing Sources Out of China and Cut Risk

By now, companies that rely on China to supply some products or parts have generally grasped the current situation with the COVID-19 epidemic that is leading them to wonder if it's important to diversify manufacturing sources away from China alone: A large portion of the Chinese population is forced to stay home (up to 760 million, according to the NYT) In many areas, local authorities have taken the matter in their hands and nobody knows when they will change policy It means … [Read more...]

Coping With Coronavirus: How Importers Can Check If A China Factory Is Ready & Has Capacity

Importers are being hit severely by the Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia epidemic in China: Many factory workers (operators, inspectors, engineers...) are locked down in Hubei province Perhaps a higher number of factory workers are remaining in their home towns, hesitant to come back to work Local governments have extended the holiday, and then have imposed strict conditions for re-opening, which means many factories are not yet authorized to re-open One can expect a much … [Read more...]

All about Silicone Rubber Injection, Compression, and Extrusion [videos]

We covered plastic materials in previous videos. Now we are covering their close cousin, the silicone rubber (often simply called "silicone"). It is easy to make on very common equipment (often the same used to mold thermoplastics), and does not require very expensive tooling. As a result, it is increasingly common in newly-designed products. Like plastic, silicone is used in a variety of products, from cookware to TV remote controls, from baby products to apparel, and from medical … [Read more...]

China Epidemic: Real Effects on Logistics and Manufacturing

The situation is pretty dark, with a new virus spreading like wildfire and governments resorting to extreme measures. Nobody believes Beijing's official numbers. I wrote about the alarming estimates of some Hong Kong experts a few days ago, and finally, the Western press started to report them, too, a couple of days later. The Economist is asking 'how bad will it get?'. This is in everyone's mind. We have gotten many emails from our clients asking the same question this past week. They … [Read more...]

Diverging Views on the China Virus Outbreak: Whom To Listen To?

Some medical experts in Hong Kong have devoted their careers to the study of micro microbiology and viruses, after the traumatic episode of SARS. These are the people I will tend to listen to, on this topic. For example, Yeung Kwok Yung and Gabriel Leung. And these Hong Kong specialists project the evolution of the infection in a way no Western newspaper (who mostly take the official government numbers at face value) dares to relate, it seems. … [Read more...]

Tips for Writing SOPs and WIs that Will Actually Be Useful

What is worse than not writing SOPs (standard operating procedures) or WIs (work instructions) at all? Creating inappropriate and bloated procedures. In this post, we'll look at the benefits of really good guidelines and explore the best practices to follow when creating yours... … [Read more...]

5 Marketing & Sales Mistakes Hardware Startups Tend To Make

John Teel from Predictable Designs (a great resource for hardware startups, with a focus on electronic design & engineering) just launched his podcast, and I thought the third episode was quite interesting. The interviewee was Dave Millman of BizDev Global, a company that helps B2B tech startups find their first customers. Here is a summary of what he shared. … [Read more...]