Quality Inspection services in China: advice for importers

Adapting to the mentality of your Chinese suppliers

27 March 2012

I recently read How to Win Friends and Influence People. It was written by Dale Carnegie, an American author, in the 1930s. And I kept thinking “this is a good description of how to adapt to the mentalities of Chinese suppliers!” Here are a few excerpts from this book: Fundamental Techniques in Handling People Don’t criticize, [...]

A good analysis of Apple’s China scandals

23 March 2012

I am tired of reading newspaper articles and random commentaries about Apple’s problems in China. The situation is complex, and most people don’t fully “get” it. One person who “gets” it, though, is Richard Brubaker, Founder of Shanghai-based Collective Responsibility. I just read Interview: Richard Brubaker on Why Apple’s Problems Go Beyond Foxconn on the Asia Society website, and [...]

Clarify your product specs!

21 March 2012

Some importers are totally disorganized, and they don’t give clear instructions to their Chinese manufacturers. Here is a funny drawing that gives a good idea of the general process: Source: OnQuality.

Directories of Chinese suppliers & manufacturers

19 March 2012

Over the past 8-10 years, the emergence of supplier directories on the internet has made sourcing in China more efficient for importers. It is easier to identify exporters and to have a quick idea of the market price for a given product. You can find manufacturers, trading companies (often pretending to operate a factory), freight forwarders, etc. [...]

How to select the cartons to inspect in a factory

16 March 2012

Let’s say you intend to conduct a final random QC inspection, after all the products are packed. (I already explained why the whole order should be ready for final QC). You need to select a few cartons at random. What are the best practices to ensure that the samples you will check represent the whole batch? 1. [...]

Top 10 mistakes when outsourcing your China sourcing

14 March 2012

Some importers don’t have the expertise, or the time, to find and manage Asian manufacturing partners. They typically need help from an external sourcing agency to handle these tasks: Identifying, screening, and qualifying new suppliers; Help in developing new products/styles with suppliers; Ongoing management of the supplier relationships (communication, quality control, shipments follow-up). What are [...]

Useful tips for visiting China trade shows

11 March 2012

Many importers are preparing their visits to the April trade shows in the Hong Kong & Guangzhou area. I thought it would be useful to reproduce these excellent tips for visiting trade shows. (I found these tips in a past edition of Fiducia‘s newsletter. Fiducia is a German-owned accounting firm based in Hong Kong and China, and [...]

The 4 ways of checking product quality before shipment

8 March 2012

I can see four solutions for checking product quality before the goods are shipped out (remember, it is extremely hard to send a container of defective products back to China). Inspections by external inspector(s) in the factory This is the most common type of quality inspection service. An inspector goes in the factory, takes some [...]

Fulfillment and drop-shipping from China: Q&A with an expert

5 March 2012

My friend Michael Michelini is an ecommerce expert. He was kind enough to answer a few questions about fulfillment and drop-shipping. He runs an international ecommerce consulting agency in China / Asia and services clients in the complex world of international ecommerce, logistics, fulfillment, SEO / internet marketing. Q: Most importers purchase under FOB terms, and ship a [...]

Training an internal inspector in a Chinese factory

29 February 2012

We provide more and more training sessions for inspectors of factories and trading companies. I don’t know anybody else who provides this service in China, but I think it responds to an enormous need. The training can be about the product itself (what to check, how to check it…). Or, if we focus on an [...]

The Chinese approach to quality assurance

27 February 2012

I spent part of last week with one of my clients’ quality assurance manager. I recognized certain patterns that are widespread in factories and buying offices here, and that are very detrimental to quality. Here are the two bad habits that I see over and over again: 1. Failing to set up a system The Chinese [...]

Avoiding scammers in China

25 February 2012

I recently wrote Scams by Chinese suppliers: what to do? because many first-time importers are afraid of falling victim to a scam — paying money upfront to a supplier that deliberately won’t ship the right products, if they ship at all. I found an excellent list of suggestions in a recent article on the China Law [...]

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