Up until now, I have explained how to find a good supplier and what terms to negotiate from the get-go. But this is not enough. Buyers who are new to China often make a mistake: they trust their suppliers too much. How to keep leverage … [Read more...]
Sourcing from China 101, Part 5: Negotiating With Chinese Suppliers: The Terms you Need to Discuss
Chinese suppliers are good at detecting which purchaser is inexperienced. If that's the case, and if you are dealing with dishonest suppliers, they could think that they will be able to take advantage of you. Therefore, it is … [Read more...]
3 Basic Process Improvement Tools: Flow Chart, FMEA, Control Plan
There are 3 basic process improvement tools that you can use to help you plan ahead to avoid missteps that might be quite costly: The Process flow chart The Process FMEA (Failure Mode & Effects Analysis) The control plan … [Read more...]
How To Cooperate With Your Chinese Supplier, Part 4: Training Sessions on Supplier Development (In Guangzhou & Shenzhen)
This week and next week I am holding a training session on this topic: Half-Day Training: How To Set Up a Supplier Improvement Program Practical Tools for Quality and Procurement Professionals Dates and places: 30 Nov. in … [Read more...]
Sourcing from China 101, Part 4: Second Choices vs. “Never Again”
This is the 4th post in our "sourcing from China 101" series. By now I’ll assume that you have verified a few manufacturers. One of them will be your first choice, and, hopefully, you will have a couple of “backups”. But, what is the … [Read more...]
Sourcing from China 101, Part 3: How to Verify a Manufacturer
If you have followed the advice about identifying potential suppliers in part 2, you may have found a few interesting suppliers. The next step is to confirm that they told you the truth and that they are reliable. Even if you place … [Read more...]
Minimizing and Identifying Frauds and Corruption in a Factory
I took part in an interesting event organized by the European Chamber of Commerce in China, with the participation of 3 members of EY's Fraud Investigation & Dispute Services department. Are you worried about shady practices taking … [Read more...]
Limits of Letting a Supplier Self-Inspect their Product Quality
A few days I wrote about the trend toward more supplier self-inspections. In certain cases, it makes a lot of sense to stop sending employees to check if a supplier has done a good job. However, it is not just a case of saying "oh by the … [Read more...]
Sourcing from China 101, Part 2: How to Identify Potential Chinese Suppliers?
Now I am assuming that you have decided to source in China by yourself, but how to identify potential Chinese suppliers who will do a great job? One key point I want to communicate is this: you need to follow a process. You CANNOT browse … [Read more...]
Sourcing from China 101, Part 1: Do You Need a Sourcing Agent?
A few years ago I wrote a 15-part course that was sent automatically, lesson by lesson, to interested readers. These days, such autoresponders are a thing of the past and we will switch to something different. But, rather than ditching … [Read more...]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 62
- 63
- 64
- 65
- 66
- …
- 158
- Next Page »