QualityInspection.org

Quality Assurance, Product Development, and Purchasing Strategies in China

  • Home
  • Articles
    • An Importer’s Guide to New Product Manufacturing in China
  • Best Of
  • About Us
  • Contact us
X

Don't miss a post

It's easy to subscribe to our newsletter where you'll receive weekly updates for professional importers and manufacturers on better understanding, controlling, and improving manufacturing & supply chain in China.

Want To Prevent Assembly Problems? Use This Checklist.

May 19, 2021

Want To Prevent Assembly Problems? Use This Simple Checklist.

Pilots follow a checklist before they fly. Same thing for doctors & nurses. But, for some reason, I see very few Chinese factories follow a checklist that can help them avoid assembly problems before they make a new product (for the first time). I jotted down some important points any assembly factory should confirm before production begins in order to avoid assembly problems. (It is not very different from the points we typically check in a 'production readiness audit' for an … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Factory Audits Tagged With: assembly, assembly problems, Chinese factory management, common problems with Chinese suppliers, fixing problems, managing Chinese suppliers

Good Project Management With Chinese Suppliers From A Product Designer’s Perspective [Podcast]

January 23, 2021

Good Project Management With Chinese Suppliers From A Product Designer’s Perspective [Podcast]

Let's hear from an experienced product designer about project management with Chinese suppliers... In this episode, we catch up with Andy Bartlett, a friend of Sofeast, who is an enormously experienced product designer from the UK, to discuss his project management best practices and observations from his 'designer's' perspective for when developing a new product and manufacturing it in China. If you're developing a new product and have Chinese suppliers, you'll love this episode. Andy … [Read more...]

Filed Under: New Product Development Tagged With: managing Chinese suppliers, new product development, NPI, podcast, product design, project management

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

How To Cooperate With Your Chinese Supplier, Part 10: Jewelry & Gold Plating Problems: Exploring the process and controlling quality

November 27, 2020

Jewellery & Gold Plating Problems: Exploring the process and controlling quality

By Fabien Gaussorgues We have worked with multiple jewelry manufacturers in Europe, the US, and Australia. In this time, I realized that their knowledge is often far below what one would expect from industry experts which leads to many failures like overpricing, and gold plating problems such as plating peeling, wearing out, green effect, rust, and more. Why is this happening? … [Read more...]

Filed Under: How to cooperate with your Chinese supplier series, Supplier Management Tagged With: electroplating, gold plating, gold plating qc, jewellery, jewelry, managing Chinese suppliers

How To Manage Chinese Suppliers based on Facts & Data

November 28, 2019

How To Manage Chinese Suppliers based on Facts & Data

If you buy products from a few Chinese suppliers, do you have a system for managing them? And do you use data for that? In this post, I'll show you how to manage Chinese suppliers using facts and data. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Supplier Management Tagged With: buyers, chinese suppliers, hands on buyers, managing Chinese suppliers, purchasers, supplier improvement, supplier KPIs, supplier management

How To Reduce The Risks Of Substandard Components In Your Productions

August 12, 2019

How To Reduce The Risks Of Substandard Components In Your Productions

One of the major fears of importers is to notice substandard components when they receive a batch from China. But how to reduce the risks of receiving them from your suppliers? … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Sourcing New Suppliers Tagged With: BoM, chinese suppliers, controlling component quality, managing Chinese suppliers, minimizing risks, risk mitigation when purchasing components, substandard components, technical data sheets

5 Ways To Have a Chinese Manufacturer Take Responsibility for Quality Issues

March 26, 2018

5 Ways To Have a Chinese Manufacturer Take Responsibility for Quality Issues

Many importers lament that Chinese suppliers don't take any responsibility when quality issues are found after shipment. Ten years ago, I would have confirmed that it happens less than 0.1% of the time. These days, it seems to become more common. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Supplier Management Tagged With: chinese suppliers, common problems with Chinese suppliers, developing suppliers, managing Chinese suppliers, supplier management

6 Steps and 1 Key To Reduce Subcontracting Risks in China

December 14, 2016

6 Steps and 1 Key To Reduce Subcontracting Risks in China

I wrote before that the vast majority of Chinese manufacturers find it natural to subcontract certain orders. There are two main problems with this: It seems like a disproportionate number of quality issues occur on batches on which a key process was subcontracted. Walmart and other retailers are driving transparency and are ready to cut a supplier out if production is found in a non-approved factory. You can expect this trend for openness to gain in momentum in the coming years. This is … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Ethical Sourcing Tagged With: managing Chinese suppliers, subcontracting, supply chain management, wider supply chain


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.

Hit the button below to get in touch:

Contact Us!

Subscribe to our email newsletter

Connect with us

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
sofeast
sofeast
sofeast

Latest Articles

  • Do THIS Before You Start Mass Production! [Podcast]
  • Sea freight costs falling in summer ‘22. Too early to celebrate?
  • What Does A Good QA Program For New Electronic Products Include? [Podcast]
  • Planning for Quality & Compliance at the Product Design Stage: 3 Topics You MUST Focus On
  • EU importer? Get ready for the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation! [Podcast]

Categories

  • Quality Control Tips
  • Sourcing New Suppliers
  • Supplier Management
  • New Product Development
  • Process Improvement
  • Ethical Sourcing

Archives

© 2022 QualityInspection.org