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7 Reasons To Switch To A New Chinese Manufacturer

January 19, 2021

7 Reasons Why It's Time To Switch To A New Chinese Manufacturer

Many times, importers ask me "how to control production better?", and they proceed to give me examples of the recent issues they have had with their current Chinese supplier. And I often tell them "switch to a better supplier". Now, making a switch is not always easy. It takes preparation. On the one hand, a new factory has to be identified and vetted. They need to be onboarded and trained to your requirements. They probably need to find sources, they may need to adapt their internal … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Supplier Management Tagged With: assessing suppliers, chinese suppliers, common problems with Chinese suppliers, managing Chinese suppliers, sourcing new suppliers, switching to a new manufacturer

Tips For Continually Getting Good Results From A New Supplier | Vetting Chinese Suppliers (Part 11) [Podcast]

December 10, 2020

Tips For Continually Getting Good Results From A New Supplier | Vetting Chinese Suppliers (Part 11) [Podcast]

You've successfully vetted and started working with a new Chinese supplier. What's next? In our mini-series on vetting Chinese suppliers, you will already have learnt about due diligence, factory audits and visits, exploring testing facilities, and much more when it comes to vetting suppliers. If you follow through this process logically, perhaps with the help of local factory auditors and quality inspectors in China, you will be well-placed to find reliable suppliers who reach your … [Read more...]

Filed Under: China Supplier Vetting Tagged With: China, chinese suppliers, podcast, sourcing suppliers, supplier improvement, supplier management, supplier performance, supply chain kpis

7 Manufacturing Challenges Due To Lack Of Transparency In China & How To Mitigate Them [Podcast]

September 3, 2020

7 manufacturing challenges in china due to lack of transparency

The situation in Hong Kong, the US/China trade war, mistrust of China and attempts at decoupling, and other news stories are rightfully a cause of concern for importers with Chinese suppliers. But the manufacturing challenges you should be concerned the most about are those that may prevent you from receiving the products you expect from your suppliers. These challenges can be categorized into 7 different areas and often occur due to a lack of transparency which is either intentional or a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Risk Management Tagged With: chinese suppliers, common problems with Chinese suppliers, managing suppliers, podcast, vetting suppliers

Some Chinese Factories Are Going Bankrupt: How To Know Which Ones

August 7, 2020

Some Chinese Factories Are Going Bankrupt: How To Know Which Ones

Some Chinese factories have suffered serious blows recently. Large American companies are moving manufacturing outside of China, often abruptly. Many manufacturers were hit in 2020 by very soft demand and cancelled orders. Their government is becoming more serious in getting taxes paid and regulations complied with. And so forth. The logical conclusion? Many factory owners who have accumulated debt and don't see the light at the end of the tunnel are tempted to go out of business. If … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Supplier Management Tagged With: assessing suppliers, bankruptcy, chinese suppliers, supplier reliability, supply chain risk

Chinese Suppliers Harder To Work With than Last Year, 2020 Survey Respondents Say

August 4, 2020

The State Of Manufacturing In China 2020 (Survey)

2020 has been a tough year for so many reasons: The COVID-19 pandemic, the continuing US/China trade war, the drive to exit China for some manufacturers, a global recession beginning, and more. But what effect has this had on the relationship between foreign importers and their Chinese suppliers? To find out, we sent a survey to both our Sofeast and QualityInspection.org readers to assess the state of manufacturing in China in 2020. The results were eye-opening... … [Read more...]

Filed Under: China Insights Tagged With: China, china manufacturing insights, chinese suppliers, manufacturing in China

Vetting Suppliers In China [Podcast Series]

July 24, 2020

Vetting Suppliers In China [Podcast Series]

Vetting suppliers is important. After all, these suppliers are responsible for your company's reputation. Hopefully, everyone by now will understand the dangers of checking Alibaba or Global Sources and 'choosing' a supplier who 'looks' good, or perhaps trusting that Alibaba Gold suppliers are somehow more legitimate and trustworthy (spoiler alert: they might not be). So what does a good vetting process look like? … [Read more...]

Filed Under: China Supplier Vetting, Sourcing New Suppliers Tagged With: chinese suppliers, finding chinese suppliers, podcast, Sourcing, sourcing from china, sourcing suppliers, vetting suppliers

China’s Corporate Social Credit System: Watch Out For Supplier Risk!

June 4, 2020

China's Corporate Social Credit System: Watch out for your Supplier Risk!

Recently, I watched a webinar entitled "China's corporate social credit system: evaluating the impact on your supply chain". It was organized by the European Chamber of Commerce in China, and the Head of Risk Consulting at KPMG provided some insights. If you buy products from Chinese suppliers and/or that are made in China, this development comes as good news... and bad news. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Risk Management Tagged With: chinese suppliers, corporate social credit system, CSCS, doing business in china, supply chain risk

When Should American Companies Reshore Manufacturing Or Stay In China?

May 16, 2020

When Should American Companies Reshore Production Or Stay In China?

In recent times it's very common to see stories about American companies scrambling to reshore manufacturing and leave China and the data seems to support this trend of reshoring or finding other locations.  However, I suspect the American companies that moved to China for the wrong reasons originally are mainly the ones who are now reshoring back in the US.  Is this the case, though? Let's explore this... … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Coronavirus, Supply Chain Tagged With: America VS China, chinese suppliers, coronavirus, ppe, reshore, reshore manufacturing, reshoring, reshoring production, usa

Don’t Let a Chinese Supplier Circumvent You: 5 Tips

May 12, 2020

Don't Let a Chinese Supplier Circumvent You: 5 Tips

Some risks and frustrations never go away... One of them is Chinese suppliers circumventing their customers, or selling to their customer's competitors, all the while using the product knowledge they gained... from their customers. Over the weekend, I stumbled upon a good old HBR article entitled When Your Contract Manufacturer Becomes Your Competitor. It came out in 2006, but the same trends are still at work! … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Good Articles, Legal System Tagged With: chinese suppliers, legal risks, manufacturing risk, minimizing risks, risk reduction, supplier management

Advice for Buying Face Masks in China without Losing your Shirt

March 23, 2020

Advice for Buying Facial Masks in China without Losing your Shirt

With the COVID 19 pandemic hitting more countries, and more people realizing how serious the situation is, it seems tens of thousands of people started looking for face masks and other personal protection products. And what I see is a lot of people sending money, receiving substandard products, or not receiving anything at all. I wrote this article as a warning about your risks. And also to improve your odds of getting what you want, if you are determined to pursue your project. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Sourcing New Suppliers Tagged With: buying face masks from china, chinese suppliers, coronavirus, covid-19, face masks, sourcing suppliers

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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.

Tweet Renaud here or hit the button below to get in touch.

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Latest Articles

  • Brands and Retailers: Please Stop Doing Social Compliance Audits in Asia
  • 7 Tips to Manage the Transfer of Production To Another Chinese Factory
  • Good Project Management With Chinese Suppliers From A Product Designer’s Perspective [Podcast]
  • 7 Reasons To Switch To A New Chinese Manufacturer
  • Why Do Importers Need Product Reliability Testing? [Podcast]

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