If you have conducted inspections at your suppliers' facilities in China, you have probably found that many of the testing equipment necessary to check your product's quality is not available on site. The question, of course, is 'how can … [Read more...]
China Supplier Vetting Part 7: Factory Process & System Audit
In a previous article I described why and how a factory’s quality system can be audited. However, if you want to confirm a factory's reliability with high certainly, you might have to dig deeper. A quality audit will only focus on the … [Read more...]
China Supplier Vetting, Part 6: On-Site Social Compliance Audits
This is another article in our "supplier vetting" series. So you vetted a potential supplier through background checks and a factory quality audit. Great. You might also have to check their social & environmental policies if you are … [Read more...]
Why Your China Sourcing Agent Is NOT Looking for New Suppliers
I got an interesting question from a reader. It shows how poorly traditional sourcing agents' incentives are aligned with those of their customers (who get paid X% of the value of the goods). The sad reality is, it makes perfect sense … [Read more...]
China Supplier Vetting, Part 5: On-Site Factory Quality Audits
This is another article in our "supplier vetting" series. So you asked potential suppliers a number of questions, then you visited them and noted your subjective evaluations... If you want to move further in the direction of working with … [Read more...]
China Supplier Vetting, Part 4: On-site, subjective evaluations
So you have identified a potential supplier, you vetted their reputation & legitimacy, you asked them questions before a visit... and now is time to pay them a visit in China. I will cover the different aspects of the factory that … [Read more...]
What Makes Supplier Due Diligence & Compliance Harder
The OECD published a long report entitled Due diligence guidance for responsible supply chains in the garment and footwear sector. I discovered it thanks for Sophie Pruvost. It is written with the production of garments and shoes in … [Read more...]
China Supplier Vetting, Part 3: Evaluating Engineering Capability
If you want to work with a Chinese manufacturer to develop a new product, you need to evaluate their engineering capability. (If you only buy off-the-shelf products, this article won't be useful.) In addition to the questions a purchaser … [Read more...]
China Supplier Vetting, Part 2: Questions to Ask Before a Visit
Let's say you found a potential supplier, you communicated a bit with them, you vetted their company's legitimacy and reputation, and you want to move forward. Generally, the next step is to ask them a number of questions that will … [Read more...]
China Supplier Vetting, Part 1: Background Checks
So you are looking for a supplier, you see some nice samples on Alibaba / Global Sources, and you would like to do a bit of research on the company before getting too deep into discussions. This is wise. More and more people have … [Read more...]
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