There are frequent misunderstandings between importers and their Chinese suppliers, and they could be avoided if the purchaser placed himself in his supplier's shoes from time to time. Andrew Hupert came up with an excellent reminded … [Read more...]
Supervising production in china
If you import from China, you are probably frustrated by the lack of updates about production advancement. Not only that, but you must have been shocked by the lack of reliability of any update or forecast that your suppliers give … [Read more...]
The 2 types of inspection companies
Let's say you are an importer, looking for a provider of QC inspection services in China. You will evaluate candidates on how serious they look, on their size, and maybe on their knowledge of your product line, right? Well, you'll be … [Read more...]
Managing independent quality control: what it takes
Some importers often over-estimate the amount of time it will take them to manage a third-party quality control (QC) firm. So I made a list of the main "touch points" and of the required steps. Writing clear specifications and/or sending a … [Read more...]
Timing for a final random inspection
As part of their quality control plan, importers should decide when final random inspections should take place. As I wrote a while back (see here), each option has drawbacks. An earlier inspection is easier on the factory, and it allows … [Read more...]
Social compliance audits don’t work!
Yesterday I had a good discussion with Bergson Wang, who has worked in the CSR (corporate social responsibility) departments of Adidas and Puma. There is one thing both of us believe: using audits does not work if the goal is to improve … [Read more...]
Scams by Chinese suppliers: what to do?
At least once every 2 weeks, I get an email from the victim of a scam performed by a Chinese supplier. They ask me whether someone can help them recover the money. Sometimes it is a scam (seller asks for a deposit before shipment, then … [Read more...]
How a letter of credit protects importers
As I explained before in Confirming quality when paying by irrevocable letter of credit, an importer can pay his suppliers through letters of credit (L/C). An L/C triggers the payment once the bank receives a pre-determined list of … [Read more...]
Troubleshooting process in a Chinese factory
I have been to Chinese factories a few times for solving problems. In one case, the factory pretended the goods really couldn't be made as intended by the importer (that was true). In another case, the QC inspector found many defective … [Read more...]
Piece by piece inspection: pros and cons
Some buyers don't want random inspections. They don't trust the manufacturer to produce consistently at the right quality level. So they need to check 100% of the goods. A few months ago, I described inspections on a platform, where the … [Read more...]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 121
- 122
- 123
- 124
- 125
- …
- 158
- Next Page »