QualityInspection.org

Quality Assurance, Product Development, and Purchasing Strategies in China

Should North American Importers Leave China For Countries Like Mexico or Vietnam? (Feat. Andrew Hupert) [Podcast]

In this episode… Our CEO Renaud is joined by a special guest in this episode, Andrew Hupert, a cross-cultural management and communication expert, coach, and trainer who spent 10+ years in China, is currently based in Mexico, and also creates a podcast you should check out: Globalism 2.0. They discuss why North American companies are starting to move their supply chains out of China, in particular US businesses, the political forces at play, and why this is giving rise to a new era of … [Read more...]

Best Practices for Leaving your Chinese Supplier for a New One [Podcast]

In this episode… One listener asked us: What checklist of activities does an importer need to perform when ending business relationships with a Chinese contract manufacturer?  So, in this episode, Renaud explains what the process of leaving your current Chinese supplier looks like, including plenty of best practices to follow to make sure that your transition goes as smoothly as possible.   Just hit the play button to start listening..! Listen to the episode right here … [Read more...]

What Is The Typical Industrial Design Process? [Podcast]

In this episode… Andy Bartlett, a UK-based product designer, joins Renaud again to discuss the industrial design process in detail. Following on from a recent episode where he introduced what industrial design is and how to work with designers, this time the process you can expect the designer to follow between being hired and handing off the completed designs for development and manufacture is explained. It can be broken down into 6 rough phases, and each of these is discussed.  Why is this … [Read more...]

What Are The Long-Term Costs of Poor Quality & Reliability? [Podcast]

In this episode… Renaud is joined this week by two interesting guests who've been on the podcast before:  Clive Greenwood a quality consultant at WWMG associates who is a Six Sigma Black Belt and has a special focus on medical devices and product compliance and Sofeast's head of New Product Development, Andrew Amirnovin who has a background in electrical engineering and a keen focus on product reliability. The topic is the long-term costs of poor product quality and reliability, and they'll … [Read more...]

What Does An Industrial Designer Do? [Podcast]

In this episode… British product designer Andy Bartlett guests on the podcast to explore industrial design in detail. An industrial designer is one of the important players in realizing your product concept and developing it so it is helpful to understand how they work. To that end, Andy will answer the following questions: What is industrial design? What are the best practices followed by designers? What tools might they use and when? What role does CMF (color, material, finish) play in … [Read more...]

Which Chinese Manufacturing Business Model Is Best For You? [Podcast]

In this episode… Sofeast's CEO Renaud recently wrote this guest post on Harris Bricken's China Law Blog about which Chinese manufacturing business model importers will come across when sourcing a Chinese manufacturing partner. Today he goes deeper, joined by Adrian from the Sofeast team, and explains what the two models are in detail, why expectations about how most Chinese manufacturers will behave need to change, and their pros & cons to you if you're searching for a manufacturer right … [Read more...]

Why Skipping NPI Phases Is A Big Mistake [Podcast]

  In this episode… The New Product Introduction process is absolutely central to what we do and provides a solid framework for bringing a product to market 'the right way' from concept to mass production. However, SMEs and entrepreneurs sometimes don't realise the importance of the NPI phases and their Chinese manufacturers would prefer to rush into mass production (so they can ship and get paid) rather than following an NPI process or by skipping some of its key phases. This is a … [Read more...]

Reviewing The Top Stories Of 2021 For Importers From China [Podcast]

In this episode… Covid-19 has continued to dominate the headlines in 2021 and its impact on the manufacturing sector and importers with long supply chains continues to be felt with the numerous challenges this year including the disease itself, supply chain disruption, crazy shipping costs, raw material cost rises, and so much more. Renaud recaps some of 2021's biggest stories for manufacturers, especially those with Chinese supply chains, with Adrian from the team, and predicts how 2022 may … [Read more...]

6 E-Commerce Trends Affecting Amazon Vendors In Particular [Podcast]

In this episode… Marshall Taplits, the founder of East Coast 3PL Ship It Done, joins us again on the podcast, this time to share his e-commerce expertise and catch us up on 6 major trends affecting online retailers in late 2021. This is useful information, especially if Amazon is a key platform for you, as he focuses on what they're doing now and likely to be doing in the near future. It's not all good, either, as you won't be impressed by the costs or some of the ways that Amazon might compete … [Read more...]

Sourcing from China (Part 3): Project management & checking quality early in production. [Podcast]

In this episode… We continue to explore what importers who're new to outsourcing manufacturing to suppliers in China need to be able to handle themselves when sourcing, developing products, and manufacturing there. In part 2 of the series (episode 75), we went through the terms you need to negotiate with your chosen supplier, how to keep leverage over them, and how and why to clearly describe what you actually want from them at the pre-production stage. As pre-production is done, we're … [Read more...]