What can you observe in a Chinese factory?

A few days ago, I wrote What questions can you ask a Chinese factory during a visit?

Unfortunately, a factory visit is carefully scripted, and you won’t get 100% truthful responses. In other words, the supplier’s salesperson will tell you what she thinks you want to hear.

Here is a list of things that anyone can observe easily when visiting a Chinese factory:

• Is the production floor clean? Are products in direct contact with the ground?
• Is the office organized? Or do they have papers all over their desks?
• Are the workers’ toilets clean?
• Are there lines on the ground, and nameplates for each department?
• Do the workers wear protective equipment (masks, gloves…) when they perform dangerous operations?
• Are the operators afraid/nervous when you stop and look at them?
• Are the operators mostly young (more into their work, more adaptable) or old?
• Do the workers perform only 1 simple and repetitive operation, in front of a conveyor belt?
• Is production organized in islands (bad) or in line (better)? Is there a lot of work-in-process in the workshop? (You can read about the different types of production organization).
• What operations are they performing? If it is only packing, you are wasting your time (the real action is somewhere else).
• What other customers do they serve in your country? Have a look at the labels on the packing line, and then at the shipping marks in the cartons warehouse.
• Do they agree to show you the latest designs they developed for their other customers? Would they give you quotations for these proprietary designs?
• Does the showroom contain branded items? If some designs were developed for a specific customer, would they accept to make them for you too?

To finish on a lighter note: make sure you don’t go as far as the pointy-haired boss in the below cartoon.

 Source: dilbert.com