I wrote recently about ISO 9001: What are the standard and the certification process 10 ways it can get poorly implemented in a factory To summarize my view on this topic: It is a good standard, keeping in mind that it was designed to apply to all sorts of organizations Many companies did not implement it the wrong way, as they took shortcuts and they were only interested in the 'marketing impact' of a certification The real culprit is the way registrar bodies audit and … [Read more...]
Factory Audit Tips: 10 Signs of a Bad ISO 9001 Implementation
A few days ago, I wrote about the basics of ISO 9001 -- both the standard and the certification/registration process. I got some comments on Linkedin about how useless ISO 9001 is. It is useless indeed in many manufacturing facilities I have visited, and the key reasons are: Poor implementation (because managers want to take shortcuts), combined with Inadequate auditing (lack of understanding of processes and of what is important, and lax enforcement of the standard by many registrar … [Read more...]
Basics about ISO 9001: The Standard and the Certification Process
How many of your suppliers claim to be ISO 9001 certified? Is it true? And, to start with, what does it mean? I want to shed some light on this topic. The purpose of the ISO 9001 standard is to "help businesses and organizations to be more efficient and improve customer satisfaction". How does it do that? First, what is a Quality Management System (QMS)? Basically, a QMS is what a company puts in place to ensure it meets its customers' requirements. Among others, it includes: … [Read more...]
Tired of Your Chinese Factories’ High MOQs & Long Lead Times?
A few months back, I wrote about how some buyers can no longer put up with their suppliers' quality issues. And I often lament on the poor state of quality systems here. In this article I'd like to mention the other enormous source of frustration for foreign buyers: the high minimum order quantities (MOQs) and the long lead times. High MOQs and long lead times are tightly linked They come from the same underlying issue: the "big batch & long queue" mentality. Industrial engineers, as … [Read more...]
The Sad State of Quality Systems in Most Chinese Factories
The sad truth in China is, 5% of the manufacturers are doing a good job consistently, and the rest have ups & downs that irritate and frighten Western customers. And, of those 5% that do a good job consistently, 0.5% do so because of good systems and the other 4.5% do so because operations are not very complex and management watches what happens carefully. Yes, I made these numbers up. But that's my impression after 12 years spent working here across multiple sectors (from apparel to … [Read more...]
Do Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) Audits Drive Improvement?
In any industry, there are generally-accepted 'good manufacturing practices' (or GMP). And customers often audit their suppliers' operations by using those GMPs as a checklist. First, what are those 'good manufacturing practices'? Think of it as the requirements of ISO 9001 (which are vague enough to be applicable in any type of organization) + some specific manufacturing arrangements. For general consumer goods, GMPs include batch-level traceability, identification of all materials, … [Read more...]
No Process Improvement Action Plan in Chinese Factories? Why?
In good factories, the leaders look at the future and wonder how to make their company stronger. They usually have an action plan that will support process improvement. That's how they will improve their quality, cut lead times, and contain costs. When I go to Chinese factories, managers very seldom tell me "here is our action plan". They seem to respond to every day's urgencies: A supplier is late in delivering some materials, and the customer will ask us to send the goods by air? Let's … [Read more...]
Avoiding Plastic Injection Molding Defects: Key Preventive Measures
Plastic injection molding is one of the most common production processes here in China. And most Chinese manufacturers are not very good at setting up and maintaining their presses and their molds... If the right polymer is used, and if the factory adopts the right process control measures, there is a low probability for things to go wrong. I have met many manufacturers that don't understand that... There are a multitude reasons for parts to be rejected. Some of the more common defects are … [Read more...]
Sourcing from China 101, Part 15: How To Improve Factory Productivity
This is the last part in this 15-part series. Here we'll focus on how to improve factory productivity in China. Why is it important for buyers? Because, unless your suppliers make progress in this area in the next 5-10 years, many of them will go out of business. Admittedly, if you are not their biggest customer, they will not follow your suggestions of re-organizing production, but it is your responsibility to open their minds about best-in-class practices. I have prepared a simple … [Read more...]
Sourcing from China 101, Part 14: How To Improve A Factory’s Quality
I bet you are tired of hearing your Chinese suppliers say “this is made by hand, so avoiding defects is impossible”. So am I, because it’s so wrong. Some small factories have decreased their defect rate below 50 parts per million (that’s 0.005%). Some of them, in Japan, employs housewives in the countryside, and their operations are all manual! So, what's their secret for getting so close to zero defects, and how to improve a factory's quality in China along the same lines? The answer … [Read more...]
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