Over the years, many importers have contacted me after making various mistakes, and, often, the best they can do is start things over with a new supplier, but that means a lot of wasted time, money, and energy! What if you could get years of advice about sourcing from China and developing suppliers once you've started working with them in order to avoid this scenario, but distilled into one eBook? Now you can! A few years ago, I wrote 15 articles that address sourcing from China and … [Read more...]
Why First-Time Buyers Fall for Trading Companies in China
Let's say you are looking for a supplier in China to make your innovative product. You know that traditional sourcing agents are not the solution -- they simply don't have the ability to assist you with design reviews, engineering work, certifications, and so on. And you can't justify setting up a company in China and hiring local staff -- that's a lot of extra expense. So, the choice often ends up being between a trading company (which will be your supplier, even though they don't do … [Read more...]
How To Check a Chinese Supplier & Confirm They Fit Your Needs
Last month I wrote an article (How To Get a List of “Good Chinese Factories”?) and one my points was: What is a good supplier to one company is a bad supplier to another company. In that article, I gave an example of a famous contract manufacturer in Apple's supply chain. Doing great work for Apple, but a terrible job for some other customers. Let's take another example: A typical factory that makes apparel for Walmart tends to be good at making large volumes in a short time period, … [Read more...]
Understanding the Basics about Food GMP
Several clients asked precise questions recently about food GMPs. I asked Annie, our food production safety specialist, to clarify some key topics. Q: What are food GMPs? Food GMPs are the industry-specific 'good manufacturing practices' for food products. These practices are the fundamental operational requirements necessary to enable a food business to produce safe food. They are about the methods, equipment, facilities, and controls for producing safe and wholesome food. They are an … [Read more...]
A Key China Sourcing Criterion: Can Your Factory Improve?
If you are only going to place 2 or 3 orders with a supplier, the key sourcing criteria will probably be quality, price, past production of similar products, and understanding of compliance requirements. However, if you are looking for a manufacturer you'll work with for 5+ years, you need to look at how they can ensure that the operations in their factory improve. If they are stuck in old ways, they might not be able to support your evolving needs... and, more worrisome, they will probably … [Read more...]
The Real Purpose of Factory Audits? Evaluate and Prevent Risks.
I had a good discussion with a client whose background was in auditing for a Big Four accounting firm. He pointed that audits, in that context, is mostly about looking at what happened in the past. In contrast, when buyers request factory audits, the purpose is: To identify risks by pointing to gaps that might have a serious impact on business performance (and to avoid giving much business to a high-risk supplier) By making the most serious gaps obvious, to put pressure on the … [Read more...]
How To Get a List of “Good Chinese Factories”?
Hardly a week goes by without someone asking me for contacts of "good Chinese factories". We see so many of them, the thinking goes, surely we know a few good ones. When we did a few trade shows in Hong Kong, 7-8 years ago, it came up roughly every 30 minutes. Why wouldn't we do that? For several reasons. … [Read more...]
Does the Future of Vietnam Manufacturing Depend on Taiwan?
I talked with a client who was working in a Taiwanese factory established in Guangdong in the early 1990s. It had been set up recently — production was previously done in Taiwan. Their facility was making products that require metal, rubber, plastic, and textile parts. At the very beginning, all these parts were coming in full containers from their old Taiwanese suppliers. Over a few years, they convinced all their main component suppliers to set up production in South China, in order to … [Read more...]
Upwork vs. a Sourcing Agency for Managing Your China Production
Some importers take a shortcut as they set up their supply chain, and pay for it many times over a few years later. I want to cover one of these shortcuts today. We have had a few clients come to us after being let down by an Upwork freelancer who was sooo great at the start... before things went downhill. (I get it -- it seems convenient, fast, and cheap to go to Upwork and get a freelance sourcing agent. After all, you may be selling goods online through the “Fulfilment By Amazon” … [Read more...]
Selecting a Contract Manufacturer (CM) for Your Electronic Product in China
In China, there are a few entirely different breeds of manufacturers you can work with. One of them in the contract manufacturer (CM). Working with a CM makes sense when you purchase relatively high volumes (e.g. more than 10,000 pieces a year for electronic products). You will get the best results in cost and quality with a CM. In OEM, ODM, Contract Manufacturers: Choose your China Supplier Wisely, we listed the pros and cons of working with a contract manufacturer: Pros: The buyer … [Read more...]
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