A few years ago, I suggested 6 tips to avoid bribery in a QC team. And two of them are particularly important when managing a quality control team in China: Rotate inspectors among factories, as professional relationships very quickly become personal, too. And there is a strong, very strong expectation of reciprocity -- "I gave you a nice lunch, you should overlook this tiny imperfection". Have a manager, or a regional supervisor, who does a good job of being a leader -- technically … [Read more...]
Undetected QC Issues: 7 Common Failures of Chinese Inspectors
Quality inspectors are human like the rest of us, and while it's usually unlikely that they will let major QC issues slip through the net, it can happen. Let's examine why and how this happens, and how to mitigate or stop these mistakes... … [Read more...]
China: forecasting and preventing production problems
Most importers are pretty bad when it comes to assessing the probability of quality problems with a given supplier. There are two reasons for this. The first one is that they might not know the factories that work for them. The solution is not always simple, especially when a trading company is blocking information about the manufacturing facility/facilities it uses. So it is important to avoid this situation from the beginning, by requesting to approve the factory. The second reason is … [Read more...]