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You are here: Home / Quality Control Tips / Laboratory testing in China: ideas for optimization

Laboratory testing in China: ideas for optimization

January 9, 2013

Quality Control TipsA few weeks ago, Jean-Etienne Alain, deputy director of Canal Toys Asia, was a speaker in an EU Chamber of Commerce in China seminar. He explained the way his company managed to optimize the laboratory testing process.

I found it very interesting, so I took some notes that I am reproducing below. His company sell toys, mainly into the European Union, that are made in China.

Here are the challenges they are facing:

  • Many laboratory tests are necessary to make sure the EN71 directive is respected. It amounts to a lot of money.
  • They need to respect very strict color requirements from the licensors (Disney and such).
  • They work with many factories in several areas of China, so controlling colors is very hard.

Here is the solution they found:

  • They decide what colors will be used before all the designs of a new season are confirmed. They reduce the number of colors as much as possible.
  • They buy all the components themselves, to maximize control over the supply chain.
  • They launch “testing campaigns” for all the components to be used. Even if a component is to be used in several production across several factories, it is tested only once.

It allows Canal Toys to enjoy the following benefits:

  • More control over the supply chain.
  • Lower testing costs through consolidation.
  • They buy the components earlier and they start the injection molding process before the peak season of May and June (the toy business is very seasonal because of Christmas sales). It means prices are markedly lower.
  • Some testing is still necessary in production, but only on the components that could not be tested prior to production.

Obviously they need a substantial team on the ground to coordinate all this, but it allows them to have more control and (probably) lower costs than many competitors.

Anybody has other tips for optimizing lab testing? What do you think?

Filed Under: Quality Control Tips

Comments

  1. loison says

    January 11, 2013 at 7:06 PM

    Too difficult to run toy business now , I think lots of toy fty will close after CNY.

    • Renaud Anjoran says

      January 11, 2013 at 7:18 PM

      True, it is very competitive and the overall industry volume is down from a few years ago. Those who don’t work smarter are in a tough situation.

      • loison says

        January 11, 2013 at 10:48 PM

        It seems that toys are all made in China. did you see some toys are made in Europe or made in Japan??

        • Renaud Anjoran says

          January 11, 2013 at 10:58 PM

          From what I have read. about 80% of toys are made in China. Yes, I have heard of toy companies that produce in Europe. One month ago, a French plush manufacturer closed down… Sad!

          • loison says

            January 12, 2013 at 11:28 AM

            France(or Europe country) is suitable to making luxury goods only , such as perfume, LV bag, high class fashion. Making toys….high cost but low money return, 90% fail in business.

          • Renaud Anjoran says

            January 12, 2013 at 3:17 PM

            I am not sure about this at all. There are many highly-automated or just very well organized factories there, and their costs can be lower than in China.


Weekly updates for professional importers on better understanding, controlling, and improving manufacturing & supply chain in China.

This is the official blog of Sofeast.com.

This blog is written by Renaud Anjoran, an ASQ Certified Quality Engineer who has been involved in chinese manufacturing since 2005.

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