QualityInspection.org

Quality Assurance, Product Development, and Purchasing Strategies in China

Why You Need To Know Who’s In Your Supply Chain [Podcast]

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In this episode… Consider this: If you don't know who's making your key components or product itself, or even where they are, how can you be sure that your product will be of acceptable quality or compliant with market regulations? More importers than you might think do not have visibility over their supply chains, and there are a number of reasons for this. Renaud and Adrian discuss how to improve your visibility over your supply chain. You'll learn why new regulations are making … [Read more...]

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

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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...]

Strategies For Reducing Lead Times From Suppliers In China [Podcast]

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In This Episode… We discuss reducing lead times from suppliers in China or other countries in Asia like Vietnam. Lead times are the time you can expect the process of getting your order from a supplier to take, from placing the purchase order, for the supplier to obtain and check materials, manufacture the goods, and then ship them to you. There are many separate elements involved here on the supply chain and manufacturing sides and so plenty of opportunities to make improvements and reduce … [Read more...]

Importer’s ‘Supply Chain Spring Clean’ Checklist To Find Risks & Opportunities [Podcast]

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Got some time on your hands during Chinese New Year while your suppliers are on holiday? In this bumper 43 minute Chinese New Year episode to keep you entertained during the holiday, Renaud & Adrian discuss tasks importers can perform to spring clean their supply chains during the CNY holiday when you might have a little extra time on your hands. The point of this episode is to provoke some thought and help you to face some of the more difficult questions and tasks that often get put … [Read more...]

The Impact Of Chinese New Year On Importers & Tips To Prepare For CNY 2021 [Podcast]

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The Phenomenon of Chinese New Year Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival, is an amazing time of year in China and several other Asian countries who also place a lot of importance on the lunar calendar (such as Vietnam, Taiwan, Japan, and others). In China, it is the greatest human migration with more than a billion people travelling around the country to visit family and friends and have a well-deserved break this February coming. China's fairly unique reliance on migrant labour, where … [Read more...]

3 Vertical Integration Benefits: Transparency, Control, Speed

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Last year I wrote about a very common problem in China Supply Chain Transparency and Monitoring: Not Getting Easier… and this year we are still lamenting that same problem: Further down the supply chain, unauthorized subcontracting is still very, very common. We noticed this is particularly true of metal surface treatment processes that are done outside of the “main factory” (which would typically do casting and CNC lathe/milling). A few examples: Plating Polishing Painting, … [Read more...]

The End Of Just In Time Manufacturing? [Podcast]

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A number of blog posts, such as this one, have been popping up lately casting doubts on whether just in time manufacturing can survive post-coronavirus. They share some pretty strong words: Recent trade tensions between the US and China, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic, have highlighted that this supply chain model is increasingly untenable. Listen to this episode of the podcast to hear my take... … [Read more...]

Supply Chain Risk Management, Part 3: A Purchaser Supply Chain KPI Scorecard’s Benefits

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Most purchasers pay too much attention to the price of what they buy but fail to take risks into account. That's a very widespread issue. One solution to this might be developing a supply chain KPI scorecard, to force buyers to report on how risky the supply chain they are building really is. After all, setting up a solid supply chain is an important objective isn't it? This is what we are going to cover here. … [Read more...]

Supply Chain Risk Management, Part 2: The Business Continuity Plan

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In this post, let's focus on disaster prevention, and more specifically on the business continuity plan, with a simple example. We will also provide you with a free template. This is the second post in our series of Supply Chain Risk Management, which will come out gradually over the next few months. … [Read more...]