China, as a whole, has 35+ years of experience manufacturing products for export customers. They have accumulated a lot of experience. However, foreign buyers are rather consistently shocked at the level of mismanagement that plagues their factories' quality operations. And fixing it is not that hard. In this article, I will lay out what I see as the 4 basic roles that manufacturers need to fill in their quality department. … [Read more...]
Understanding Product QC Inspections: What Is In A Man-Day?
A conversation earlier today made me realize that some buyers who haven’t spent much time in Chinese factories have some common misconceptions, including inaccuracies about a QC inspector's man-day, or stories like: “Chinese production operators are forced to work 12 hours a day, in a case of modern slavery”, or “all metal factories do all the steps from casting/forging to surface treatments and all the way to assembly and packing”, and so on. Another misconception is that a good inspector … [Read more...]
The 4 ways of checking product quality before shipment
I can see four key product inspection solutions that importers should use for checking product quality before the goods are shipped out (remember, it is extremely hard to send a container of defective products back to China). … [Read more...]
How much does a Chinese inspector cost?
Some importers wonder how much a Chinese inspector costs to hire full time. The short answer is: More than you might think. It's more than just their salary, so in this post, I'll explore the 5 types of people you might hire as an inspector, their pros and cons, approximate salaries, and then break down how to calculate their full cost to your business as a new hire. … [Read more...]