After about 40 years of openness, and about 15 years of 'direct trade' without Hong Kong trading companies, one might expect that foreign buyers take more precautions when dealing with Chinese suppliers. And, to be sure, some buyers do pay attention to risks. They have heard a few horror stories. They have read about common misconceptions, typical pitfalls, assumptions to avoid, and best practices for supply chain management. Unfortunately, it seems that a majority of people who haven't … [Read more...]
How To Fight Back Against Fake Goods In China Trade Shows
For all the talk about improvements in China's intellectual property protection, many importers are still facing very unethical behavior from their supplier base. And nowhere is it more apparent than in trade shows. The temptation for suppliers to show a customer's innovative product is often too strong. So, how to fight back against fake goods in China trade shows? … [Read more...]
Beware of this China Scam: The Commodity Bait and Switch
We are contacted regularly by overseas buyers who are about to purchase a commodity product from a Chinese manufacturer, and it is nearly always a very risky situation for the buyer as switching out an order of commodities to a cheaper commodity at the last minute is an all too common China scam. … [Read more...]
China Still Best For New & Complex Manufacturing Projects
Steve Dickinson wrote an article (Moving Manufacturing from China: Where you Gonna Run?) that got me thinking about complex manufacturing projects and China. He outlines the main reasons why China became "the factory of the world" so quickly (especially from 1992 to 2005), for small and large buyers alike. Other low-cost Asian countries are now trying to emulate these results and attract manufacturing, and they seem to focus on lower tax rates. Here are two recent articles I found on this … [Read more...]
Effects Of The US-China Trade War On Manufacturing Relocations
A few days ago, I shared an article entitled Are Manufacturers Really Leaving China? The China Perspective on Linkedin. David Collins, the author, wrote: Right now, a full-scale exodus is more talk than anything else; it is too early to tell with any degree of certainty what exactly will happen. But, numerous companies have signalled that they are exploring the option of leaving but have not pulled up stakes yet. This post generated a number of excellent comments, some of which I reproduced … [Read more...]
9 Consequences of the Upcoming US-China Trade War
Based on all the articles I have read about the current geopolitical situation, I am not optimistic about the affect of the US-China trade war on American importers. Dan Harris, who wrote "the US-China Cold War start now," announced that a "mega-storm" might be coming, and he may be right. Now, if things turn out as bad as predicted, and if tariffs apply on more goods imported from China to the US -- and at higher rates -- what does it mean for US importers? … [Read more...]
What If Your Chinese Supplier Offers To Make Your Product in Vietnam?
We heard of several Chinese manufacturers that are opening a Vietnam factory, in order to serve their American customers better by avoiding Trump's tariffs. Sometimes that makes sense, and sometimes it doesn't... If one of your suppliers tell you about their ability to produce in Vietnam, what should you do? … [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...]
Benefits of ISO 9001 for a Chinese manufacturing organization
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...]
Must-know Basics of Quality Assurance in China & Vietnam for Buyers
Many new or inexperienced importers who are outsourcing their production to suppliers in China (or wider Asia such as Vietnam) for the first time go into the process almost blind. They're later hit with crippling issues that can make the process a costly nightmare. Why? Because they were not aware of how to implement strong quality assurance in China/Vietnam and fell into some fairly common traps that can catch out 'green' importers. It doesn't need to be this way though. Read on to get … [Read more...]
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