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...]
What Is the Confidence Level when Working with AQL Tables?
A reader wrote to me and asked the following question about sampling plans by attributes: What is the "Confidence Level" when using the AQL Tables? How can we determine what the confidence levels are, and are there formulas we can use? That's a valid question. When playing with statistics, one often mentions a confidence interval. For example, "90% of the time, the value will be between 34.5 and 66.0". In theory, I guess one could do the same with the values in the AQL tables. There is a … [Read more...]
How to Avoid Frightening a Factory with a Quality Inspection
Chinese suppliers are often quite flexible when they want a new customer's business. But they often refuse small orders, or orders with a low price, if they are afraid they will be "problem orders". One thing that frightens them is the word "inspection". They had bad experiences in the past -- for example customers that found poor quality products and cancelled orders, or very time-consuming re-work. And, generally speaking, no one likes to be controlled. So, how can small importers make … [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...]
The 4 types of quality inspection services
Four types of quality inspection services are usually distinguished. Each one corresponds to a particular step in the production process. They are all part of the toolbox of every importer when it comes to buying in China and other low-cost Asian countries. … [Read more...]