Quality control in China | Inspection blog

Statistical quality control tool: get a valid sampling plan

17 February 2010

What is the difference between statistical quality control and unprofessional inspections? A professional inspector will follow a valid sampling plan.
A sampling plan should take care of three fundamental concerns:

There should be a clear limit between acceptability and refusal,
This limit should be set before inspection starts (actually, even before production starts) and be transparent for the [...]

Pros and cons of sourcing products in India vs. China

15 February 2010

What are the relative advantages of China over India, when it comes to sourcing products? The China Law Blog came up with two different posts covering this question… And a reader called Joel Waldman came up with very interesting comments that I am going to reproduce in this post.
From what he wrote, he has been living in India for 30 [...]

How to do QC inspections by yourself

14 February 2010

A sourcing agent working out of Shenzhen recently asked me for some advice. He just moved to China and he is going to do his first QC inspections for one of his clients.
Going through all the details and all the possible situations would be too long. But a lot of valuable tips have been published, [...]

Delays and re-inspections: what impact on delivery dates?

9 February 2010

I got an interesting email this morning from a reader from India, working on some kind of thesis for her professional training program:
I want to know more about how delays and re-inspection affects delivery dates and how can it be controlled?
This is a straightforward question, and I think it might also be of interest to [...]

Partnering with a Chinese factory: a sweet dream?

6 February 2010

Most new buyers coming to China want just one thing: to find one or two good manufacturers that they count on, and partnering with them.
They think “if I were a manufacturer, I would try to find a few stable customers and make their lives easy, and everybody would win”. Unfortunately, they do not understand their [...]

When Japan envied China

2 February 2010

Everybody seems to have an opinion. I am of those who thing China will find its own path, as it has done until now, rather than following a specific model. Japan’s example is interesting, but the comparison has its limits.
Last week I read Toyota Production System by Taiichi Ohno, who literally gave birth to what we [...]

Why is Wal-Mart developing business with Li & Fung?

29 January 2010

Two weeks ago Wal-Mart announced a push to more direct sourcing. And I wondered if the trend was still toward direct sourcing (and the elimination of sourcing/trading agents).
Then yesterday Li & Fung, the largest sourcing company (who owns zero factory), announced a new deal to supply Wal-Mart:
The arrangement, signed yesterday, may generate an additional $2 billion of [...]

Getting to the root cause of a quality problem

28 January 2010

The root cause is what must be addressed to eliminate any quality problem. Getting to the root of a quality problem is seldom the concern in Chinese factories. They prefer to point fingers, and find responsible people.
The China method: the “5 whos”
There is no concern about the root causes of problems. The short-term mentality focuses attention on [...]

Re-inspections: the key is to manage corrective actions

26 January 2010

This post is about re-inspections following a rejection for quality issues. Not about second inspections that are booked because the first inspection was impossible to carry out (e.g. because a last-minute problem delayed all production, and nothing could be checked).
Sometimes re-inspections show the same results as first inspections, suggesting that no corrections were performed. Why? It can come [...]

Getting quality products from China: it takes time and effort

24 January 2010

As I wrote in my last post, it is possible to find good manufacturers who don’t play games and ship good quality products out of China. I see this type of situation with some of my buyers, who have narrowed down on a few good factories.
How do I see if a manufacturer is truly up to [...]

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