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What Supplier Development Process Makes Sense For Your Company?

January 26, 2022 by Adrian Leighton

What Supplier Development Process Makes Sense For Your Company?

If you purchase large amounts of products from supplier companies, you can have an influence on those companies. If you can get them to improve their performance using a supplier development process, for example, improve their quality or cut their costs, you will benefit greatly. The process of getting suppliers to improve is usually called supplier development. And most large companies have set up their own supplier development process, at least for their key relationships.  The question is, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Supplier Management Tagged With: improving cost, improving quality, supplier improvement, supply chain improvement

How To Push Key Suppliers To Reduce Defects? [Podcast]

August 27, 2021 by Adrian Leighton

How To Push Key Suppliers To Reduce Defects? [Podcast]

In this episode… Renaud is joined by manufacturing industry experts Clive Greenwood and Max Phythian to discuss what it takes to drive your key suppliers to cut out defects. You'll hear their opinions on the Cost Of Quality, the value of building a solid partnership with a supplier rather than having a purely transactional relationship, what buyers need to do in order to support this initiative with their suppliers, a number of really interesting real-world examples from their decades of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Quality Control Tips Tagged With: assessing suppliers, common problems with Chinese suppliers, managing suppliers, manufacturing defects, reducing defects, supplier development, supplier development program, supplier evaluation, supplier improvement, supplier KPIs

How To Improve Supplier Performance? [Podcast]

June 25, 2021 by Adrian Leighton

How To Improve Supplier Performance? [Podcast]

In this episode... Renaud talks you through a common query that we get on a regular basis when customers ask us: "How do I get my suppliers to improve?" A recent survey of importers found that 70% said that their biggest challenge was working with suppliers to improve performance. So, with this in mind, Renaud goes through the topic based on training that he gave for European Chamber of Commerce in China members on improving suppliers with a focus on product quality, delivery times, price, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Supplier Management Tagged With: improving quality, podcast, process improvement, supplier improvement, supply chain improvement, tips for importers

Tips For Continually Getting Good Results From A New Supplier | Vetting Chinese Suppliers (Part 11) [Podcast]

December 10, 2020 by Adrian Leighton

Tips For Continually Getting Good Results From A New Supplier | Vetting Chinese Suppliers (Part 11) [Podcast]

You've successfully vetted and started working with a new Chinese supplier. What's next? In our mini-series on vetting Chinese suppliers, you will already have learnt about due diligence, factory audits and visits, exploring testing facilities, and much more when it comes to vetting suppliers. If you follow through this process logically, perhaps with the help of local factory auditors and quality inspectors in China, you will be well-placed to find reliable suppliers who reach your … [Read more...]

Filed Under: China Supplier Vetting Tagged With: China, chinese suppliers, podcast, sourcing suppliers, supplier improvement, supplier management, supplier performance, supply chain kpis

How To Manage Chinese Suppliers based on Facts & Data

November 28, 2019 by Renaud Anjoran

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

Two Preventive Maintenance Examples: Go for More Structure

November 14, 2019 by Renaud Anjoran

Preventive Maintenance Example: a Structured & Visual Approach

As I wrote before, preventive maintenance helps cut costs and improves quality. That's an extremely important element of good manufacturing and it doesn't get much coverage. Simply put, it extends the lifetime of the equipment, it prevents downtime that prevents production from taking place, and it ensures the equipment is ready to make good products. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Process Improvement Tagged With: improving cost, improving quality, preventive maintenance, process control plan, process improvement tools, supplier improvement

8 Elements of a Low-Risk Supply Chain in China [Free Webinar]

July 9, 2019 by Renaud Anjoran

8 Elements Of A Low Risk Supply Chain In China webinar

Clients often ask us for assistance in improving their supply chain in China. For instance, it's common to hear that they aren't satisfied with poor quality, with missed timelines, or with unethical practices. If your supply chain is giving you issues like this, and it is causing your business unnecessary risk, you might not have taken all the necessary steps. How to lower these risks and build a low-risk supply chain in China? Over at Sofeast, we've created a free webinar for you about … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Supply Chain Tagged With: buying from china, chinese suppliers, supplier improvement, supply chain improvement, supply chain management

Continuous Auditing to Keep Pressure on a China Factory: How it Works

June 12, 2019 by Renaud Anjoran

Continuous Auditing to Keep Pressure on a China Factory: How it Works

One of the questions our clients ask most often is "how to keep the pressure on our supplier's factory so they improve and they don't make the same mistakes again". Continuous auditing is an answer to this, but how does it work? … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Process Improvement Tagged With: auditing suppliers, audits, continual auditing, continuous auditing, factory audit tips, factory audits, supplier improvement

How To Ensure your Chinese Factory Purchases Good Components?

May 8, 2019 by Renaud Anjoran

How To Ensure your Chinese Factory Purchases Good Components

One of the most common ways Chinese manufacturers enlarge their margin is buying substandard components. Any time a lot of money can be saved this way, the temptation is very strong. What can you do to avoid this risky behaviour from happening? … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Supplier Management Tagged With: controls in the supply chain, ensure good component usage, substandard components, supplier improvement, supplier management, supply chain management, wider supply chain

Helping a Chinese Factory Improve While Still Holding Them Accountable

May 15, 2018 by Renaud Anjoran

Helping a Chinese Factory Improve While Still Holding Them Accountable

You might discover that helping a Chinese factory improve makes sense if you have quality requirements that are challenging to one of the factories you work with, or if you are working with them to develop a complex new product. Actually, it sometimes makes very good business sense. Spending 10,000 USD might save your company 1 million USD in the end! And yet, there is a point where you can't keep "helping" them all the way, as they start to take the habit of being "baby-sat" and they … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Sourcing New Suppliers Tagged With: chinese factories, chinese suppliers, new product launch, pilot runs, supplier improvement


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.

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