About 6 months ago, I wrote how Chinese fabric suppliers and dyeing houses were giving headaches to the whole supply chain. It had a serious impact on Chinese apparel suppliers (many delays, higher costs, higher MOQs for fabric...). And, in turn, those suppliers got more rigid when dealing with their oversea customers. The attitude was "that's the way it is and we can't make miracles, so just get in line". That's actually an overall trend, in many industries, from what I have heard. And … [Read more...]
KPIs and IT Tools of Purchasing Departments (Expert Q&A)
I had the opportunity to ask a few questions to Alexandre Godvin, who has particular perspective on the KPIs and IT tools of purchasing departments. Alexandre is the founder and CEO of Winddle, a turnkey, modern, and collaborative solution to manage product development and sourcing operations for the retail and consumer goods industries. Q: What are the main objectives and KPIs of well-managed purchasing departments? In 2016, it still holds true that the margin rate is the main performance … [Read more...]
The Remarkable Inflation in China
The French Chamber of Commerce in China just released the videos of most of the excellent presentations given in their big sourcing event, Made in Asia. I just watched the presentation by Ben Simpfendorfer from Silk Road Associates, a strategic consultancy. His presentation on Youtube is here, and his presentation slides are here. Here is one graph that got my attention: The rest of Ben's presentation revolves around these topics: The implications on China's market share (vs. other … [Read more...]
What to Do When A Supplier Can’t Provide Product Certificates?
As I wrote in How to Check Lab Test Certificates/Reports?, I guess that 10-30% of the certificates given by Chinese suppliers to their customers are fake. A "fake" certificate is often a real certificate that was issued regularly by an accredited testing laboratory and that was later "photoshopped" to show another product and/or supplier name. Another popular method is that of obtaining a "real" certificate that doesn't correspond to actual tests (in other words, the result is always a … [Read more...]
Getting More out of your Chinese Suppliers
Here are some interesting or useful articles that I found recently. Levels of China Sourcing (Infographic) Etienne Charlier gives a roadmap to companies that source industrial products/equipment and that want to get more out of their China supplier relationships. The takeaway for buyers of consumer goods: leveraging more supplier capabilities, as well as investing in supplier development, can pay off in a big way. China NNN Agreements. Watching The Sausage Get Made Dan Harris provides an … [Read more...]
Factory tours in China: what to watch out for
Here are some interesting or useful articles that I found recently. Supplier Evaluation: What should I look for during my visit? Etienne Charlier gives an excellent overview of what criteria buyers should take into account when evaluating factories: Ability to make the products; Consistency in producing at the required quality level; Maturity (not relying on one key manager, but on a system and a competent team); Formal documents: business registration, licences, … [Read more...]
The five types of product TESTING laboratories in China
A few months ago, I wrote a list of testing labs that has proven helpful to many importers. Today I want to give a bit of perspective on the different categories of laboratories. Let's start with the ones you have probably heard of. 1. The big third-party laboratories Who hasn't heard of Bureau Veritas, SGS, Intertek, or TUV Rheinland? Their consumer testing divisions tend to focus on big retailers and on the importers that sell to these retail chains. They are the best option in these … [Read more...]