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How To Validate Your Supplier’s Factory’s Production Capacity (From Abroad) [Podcast]

January 8, 2021

How To Validate Your Supplier’s Factory’s Production Capacity (From Abroad) [Podcast]

You can't visit suppliers in China due to coronavirus. How can you validate their production capacity without going on-site? As we head into 2021 travelling to see suppliers in Asia, in particular China, remains difficult for most buyers due to coronavirus restrictions. Even if you can travel, you face the risk of transit and a long mandatory quarantine period in a hotel before you're even able to conduct your business, so most buyers are staying at home for now. However, before placing an … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Supplier Management Tagged With: due diligence, factory audits, factory visits, production capacity, Sourcing, sourcing tips, verifying supplier capacity

Exploring Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) [Podcast]

November 4, 2020

good manufacturing practices

Time to pay attention to good manufacturing practices! Importers with suppliers over in Asia may benefit from adopting GMPs (Good Manufacturing Practices). What are they? How are they useful for managing and improving the performance of suppliers in countries like China? How do they fit in with quality audits, social compliance audits, and process audits? The basics are always a good starting point for any supplier management and development plan and GMPs represent the basic activities … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Supplier Management Tagged With: factory audits, gmp, good manufacturing practices, podcast, supplier audits, supplier management

Exploring Process Audits | Vetting Chinese Suppliers (Part 7) [Podcast]

September 23, 2020

process audits podcast

Why perform process audits? So far in this mini-series of podcasts about vetting Chinese suppliers we've discussed what quality audits and social compliance audits are and their respective benefits. Since auditing prospective suppliers is such an important part of vetting new suppliers, we now move on to another type of audit: Process audits. These audits focus on a supplier's manufacturing reliability and will aim to answer the questions: Are they truly experts in the production … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Factory Audits Tagged With: factory audits, manufacturing process controls, podcast, process audits, process control, supplier audits, suppliers' processes, systems audit

All You Should Know About Management System Standards & Auditing Them [Podcast]

September 10, 2020

All You Should Know About Management System Standards & Auditing Them [Podcast]

What are management system standards? Management system standards aren't 'just another tool.' When an organization is certified to one of these standards it's an important way to demonstrate that they're able to perform the tasks required to fulfill the objectives or needs of their clients and/or drive meaningful improvements in a specific area. Let's use ISO 9001 as an example. It's a QMS (quality management system) that, when put in place, shows that the certified company can reach … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Certifications Tagged With: auditing suppliers, certifications, factory audits, fake certificates, management system standards, management systems, podcast, quality management system, standards

Why Conduct On-Site Social Compliance Audits? [Podcast]

August 26, 2020

Why Conduct On-Site Social Compliance Audits? [Podcast]

In part 6 of our mini-series of podcast episodes about vetting Chinese suppliers, I'm discussing social compliance audits. After regular factory audits are done on a prospective supplier, it may make sense to assess their social compliance, too. But are these audits into things like legal practices and health & safety truly everything that they promise? … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Factory Audits Tagged With: ethical sourcing, factory audits, podcast, social compliance, sourcing from china, vetting suppliers

The Importance Of On-Site Factory Quality Audits [Podcast]

August 12, 2020

The Importance Of On-Site Factory Quality Audits [Podcast]

In this episode of the podcast, I discuss factory quality audits as a part of the new Chinese supplier vetting process. Loosely based on this article, you'll understand where these audits fit into the vetting process and the more formal benefits that they provide when you have narrowed down potential suppliers. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Factory Audits Tagged With: factory audit tips, factory audits, factory quality audit, podcast, quality system, vetting suppliers

Service Providers: Escape the Commoditization Trap

July 30, 2020

Service Providers: Escape the Commoditization Trap

We compete with a number of other service providers, and over the years I have seen stark changes happen in some verticals. An interesting case study is the TIC (Testing, Inspection, Certification) industry. In 2005, importers were paying 500+ USD per man-day for QC inspections on consumer goods. Over the years, salaries and other costs went up, but the market price tended to go down. (I wrote before why some buyers always want a lower price.) What are the reasons? It is a combination of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Quality Control Tips Tagged With: factory audits, new product development, product inspections, project management

Tips for Writing SOPs and WIs that Will Actually Be Useful

January 23, 2020

Tips for Writing SOPs and WIs that Will Actually Be Useful

What is worse than not writing SOPs (standard operating procedures) or WIs (work instructions) at all? Creating inappropriate and bloated procedures. In this post, we'll look at the benefits of really good guidelines and explore the best practices to follow when creating yours... … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Process Improvement Tagged With: factory audits, guidelines, standard operating procedures, work instructions, writing procedures

Continuous Auditing to Keep Pressure on a China Factory: How it Works

June 12, 2019

Continuous Auditing to Keep Pressure on a China Factory: How it Works

One of the questions our clients ask most often is "how to keep the pressure on our supplier's factory so they improve and they don't make the same mistakes again". Continuous auditing is an answer to this, but how does it work? … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Process Improvement Tagged With: auditing suppliers, audits, continual auditing, continuous auditing, factory audit tips, factory audits, supplier improvement

Are Calibration Reports Always A Must? Why Auditors Should Think Before Raising Suppliers’ Costs

May 28, 2019

Are Calibration Reports Always A Must? Why Auditors Should Think Before Raising Suppliers’ Costs

By Annie Chan Did you get a visit from an auditor who seemed obsessed with calibration reports? Was he/she happy to see that all tools had been calibrated based on internal reports, or (even better) on third-party lab certificates? There is no doubt auditors love asking for all kinds of reports to confirm the supplier complies with requirements. However, their requests are not always reasonable. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: In The Factory Tagged With: calibration certificates, calibration reports, factory audits, qa, quality assurance

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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.

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