1. Find suppliers on internet
Now that most factories show their information on their website, it is not difficult to find factories of interests. It is easier than visiting tradeshows in China. But the problem is that you do not know the real situation at these factors. When you visit China, you might find that the factories are not what you were looking for, so you wasted your time and money. It’s better to ask the factory to provide you some photos or related information before you head to China.
2. Visit the factories personally
In the past, a lot of importers were going through brokers or trading companies because they did not know the factories in China, and they did not have the ability to manage quality. One of the big pushes these days is to go direct. One reason is that some brokers were charging a 10–15% fee, which substantially reduced the profit potential of sourcing in China. Another reason is that you will have a much better understanding of the company after a face-to-face visit.
3. Use supplier evaluation
The most critical step is to select the right suppliers You need to check references and verify that the suppliers have adequate capital, quality systems, and capacity. Then you need to find out what the priorities are for the suppliers’ factory. For example, some are focused more on quality, some on price, and some on fast production.
4. Manage your suppliers
If you think, after you place an order, that you can receive a good shipment, you are wrong. New problems are likely to arise. If you are not in the factory, you do not know the production conditions. It is better if you have an agent who can follow up on your orders and keep close communication with the factory. You may also need to help the suppliers solve their problems because many factories are not proactive due to poor management.
At any point in time, you ought to keep a few good suppliers as alternative providers of your products. One reason is that you should not be held hostage to only one factory. The other reason is that your suppliers need to compete with each other.
Once you select suppliers, you have to treat them as though they are next door to you, and you need to have your own people over there to make sure they are doing what you need.
5. Build relationships with the factories
It is known that building and maintaining a strong relationship with suppliers is more important in China than most anywhere else in the world. The reason being that in China, business is based more on relationships than in most countries.
For example, in the US you can call almost any supplier and ask for a quotation. This tends to be a straightforward business activity. In China, you first have to establish a relationship. Only when the factories know you are likely to become a serious customer, will they offer you their best quotes.
Wednesday
“Poka Yoke” in Quality Assurance
The term “Poka Yoke” was coined in Japan during the 1960s by Shigeo Shingo, an industrial engineer at Toyota. Dr Shingo is also credited with creating and formalising Zero Quality Control (poka-yoke techniques to correct possible defects + source inspection to prevent defects = zero quality control). He also contributed to the Toyota Production System and developed the SMED (Single Minute Exchange of Dyes) and the Just in Time (JIT) concepts.
Poka Yoke is based on the premise that everyone must work together to achieve zero defects. It assumes that the quality of products starts from product design and must be built into the manufacturing process.
Traditional engineering processes are designed to increase the efficiency of an operation by enabling people and machines to work faster. Poka Yoke doesn’t violate or negate good engineering practices. Instead, it expands on those practices to include ways to help people and machines do the job right as well as quickly. Error proofing must be implemented to prevent human errors. In a weld shop at Rojee Tasha Stampings, during the welding of a bracket, it was observed that the nut plate was welded in the reverse direction. This problem was highlighted by a customer complaint. A fixture was then designed with fixed locations, thus avoiding reverse/opposite side bracket welding. While this was a small improvement, it led to error proofing, saving time and reduction in customer complaints.
Poka Yoke relies on source inspection, detecting defects before they affect the production line and working to eliminate the cause. Statistical quality inspection will ultimately no longer be required, as there will be no defects to detect – “zero defects”. When a Poka Yoke is designed in a way that it helps the operator recognise the defects before it is about to occur, it is called prevention or prediction type of Poka Yoke.
Prevention-based mechanisms sense an abnormality that is about to happen, and then signal the occurrence or halt processing, depending on the severity, frequency or downstream consequences. In many situations, it is not possible or economically feasible to prevent defects, particularly where the capital cost of the Poka Yoke mechanism far exceeds the cost of prevention. For these situations, defects are detected early in the process, preventing them from flowing to downstream processes and multiplying the cost of non-conformance. Such Poka Yoke is called detection type Poka Yoke.
Following the Poka Yoke philosophy requires an organisation to build a strong foundation in total quality management. Organisations must learn to place the customer before everything else. They must promote quality ownership at the source, and need to ensure that their people are truly empowered. They must adopt pre-, self-, and post-inspection at source. Poka Yoke requires real-time feedback and corrective action. All these are the building blocks of an effective Poka Yoke effort. After installation, the functioning of the Poka Yoke must be verified according to the prescribed standard method and predefined frequency using a Daily Poka Yoke check sheet.
Mistakes happen in organisations for many reasons, but almost all of them can be prevented, if people make the effort to identify when problems happen, define root causes, and then take the proper corrective actions. The objective is to prevent, or at least, detect and weed out defects, as early as possible in the process. The use of simple Poka Yoke mechanisms and other safeguards can also prevent mistakes from becoming catastrophic events.
Poka Yoke is based on the premise that everyone must work together to achieve zero defects. It assumes that the quality of products starts from product design and must be built into the manufacturing process.
Traditional engineering processes are designed to increase the efficiency of an operation by enabling people and machines to work faster. Poka Yoke doesn’t violate or negate good engineering practices. Instead, it expands on those practices to include ways to help people and machines do the job right as well as quickly. Error proofing must be implemented to prevent human errors. In a weld shop at Rojee Tasha Stampings, during the welding of a bracket, it was observed that the nut plate was welded in the reverse direction. This problem was highlighted by a customer complaint. A fixture was then designed with fixed locations, thus avoiding reverse/opposite side bracket welding. While this was a small improvement, it led to error proofing, saving time and reduction in customer complaints.
Poka Yoke relies on source inspection, detecting defects before they affect the production line and working to eliminate the cause. Statistical quality inspection will ultimately no longer be required, as there will be no defects to detect – “zero defects”. When a Poka Yoke is designed in a way that it helps the operator recognise the defects before it is about to occur, it is called prevention or prediction type of Poka Yoke.
Prevention-based mechanisms sense an abnormality that is about to happen, and then signal the occurrence or halt processing, depending on the severity, frequency or downstream consequences. In many situations, it is not possible or economically feasible to prevent defects, particularly where the capital cost of the Poka Yoke mechanism far exceeds the cost of prevention. For these situations, defects are detected early in the process, preventing them from flowing to downstream processes and multiplying the cost of non-conformance. Such Poka Yoke is called detection type Poka Yoke.
Following the Poka Yoke philosophy requires an organisation to build a strong foundation in total quality management. Organisations must learn to place the customer before everything else. They must promote quality ownership at the source, and need to ensure that their people are truly empowered. They must adopt pre-, self-, and post-inspection at source. Poka Yoke requires real-time feedback and corrective action. All these are the building blocks of an effective Poka Yoke effort. After installation, the functioning of the Poka Yoke must be verified according to the prescribed standard method and predefined frequency using a Daily Poka Yoke check sheet.
Mistakes happen in organisations for many reasons, but almost all of them can be prevented, if people make the effort to identify when problems happen, define root causes, and then take the proper corrective actions. The objective is to prevent, or at least, detect and weed out defects, as early as possible in the process. The use of simple Poka Yoke mechanisms and other safeguards can also prevent mistakes from becoming catastrophic events.
Tuesday
Trust, but verify
When you receive shipments from your suppliers, you may discover that it is totally different from the samples they sent you before production. This does not happen often, but when it happens it may be damaging to your business. Every importer wants a good partner and a trusting relationship; however, if you do not check on things, it is more likely to go bad.
A simple but complete quality monitoring program, either conducted by a third party or your own company's personnel, is essential to ensuring that your products meet all the specifications that were agreed to. One bad shipment can do serious damage to the procurement department's credibility and quickly wipe out projected savings. You not only loose one bad shipment, but your reputation in the industry may also be damaged.
Based on our experience, you need local presence so you can visit the factories on a regular basis. Relationships matter, but it's more than just that. It is an issue of control. You need to qualify the actual pieces of equipment and tools used to produce your products. If you discover the problems at the beginning of the process, you usually have a good chance of recovering. At that point, you have enough time to direct your suppliers to correct it; however, it is often too late when the factory reports the problems to you. If you don't have your own eyes on these potential problems, you really don't know what's happening. If you often send an inspector to visit the factories, they will reduce the probability that some information is hidden from you. Regular inspection will make sure your production is running smoothly. This is very normal in China.
A simple but complete quality monitoring program, either conducted by a third party or your own company's personnel, is essential to ensuring that your products meet all the specifications that were agreed to. One bad shipment can do serious damage to the procurement department's credibility and quickly wipe out projected savings. You not only loose one bad shipment, but your reputation in the industry may also be damaged.
Based on our experience, you need local presence so you can visit the factories on a regular basis. Relationships matter, but it's more than just that. It is an issue of control. You need to qualify the actual pieces of equipment and tools used to produce your products. If you discover the problems at the beginning of the process, you usually have a good chance of recovering. At that point, you have enough time to direct your suppliers to correct it; however, it is often too late when the factory reports the problems to you. If you don't have your own eyes on these potential problems, you really don't know what's happening. If you often send an inspector to visit the factories, they will reduce the probability that some information is hidden from you. Regular inspection will make sure your production is running smoothly. This is very normal in China.
Monday
Manage your suppliers in China
You need to keep in close communication with the Chinese suppliers so they will do a good job.
There are some cultural differences between western countries and China that may cause problems for your business. Normally, Chinese factory management is not as efficient as in western countries. When they promise you something, they are likely to break the promise, even without any apology. In china, Guanxi (relationship) is a very important factor in conducting business. You must set up a good relation with the factories so they will support you. Normally the big importers hire their own staff to stay in the factories. An alternative is to deal with Chinese trading companies because they will manage the Chinese suppliers to make full use of their location advantage. They can keep good communication with the factories. If the importers give incentives to the trading companies, they can make 100% sure the work will go well.
So most big importers hire their own staff in China to manage the suppliers. But if you do not purchase much, hire your own staff in China is not cost effective. JitVerify can meet most small and medium importers’ needs. We have staff in major Chinese cities, especially in the Guangdong and Shanghai areas. We can help you manage your suppliers in China and we can be your representative to solve the problems in China.
On your request, our inspectors can visit your suppliers and take photos of production facilities so you can know the real situation regarding your orders and your suppliers. Although you are far from China, our inspectors can report the real information based on independent perspective. Once the suppliers realize that you pay much attention to their production, they are much less likely to cheat you.
Especially when there are problems with your suppliers in China, our inspectors can quickly visit the suppliers to solve the problem on your behalf or just report the real information to you whereupon you can take the proper action.
There are some cultural differences between western countries and China that may cause problems for your business. Normally, Chinese factory management is not as efficient as in western countries. When they promise you something, they are likely to break the promise, even without any apology. In china, Guanxi (relationship) is a very important factor in conducting business. You must set up a good relation with the factories so they will support you. Normally the big importers hire their own staff to stay in the factories. An alternative is to deal with Chinese trading companies because they will manage the Chinese suppliers to make full use of their location advantage. They can keep good communication with the factories. If the importers give incentives to the trading companies, they can make 100% sure the work will go well.
So most big importers hire their own staff in China to manage the suppliers. But if you do not purchase much, hire your own staff in China is not cost effective. JitVerify can meet most small and medium importers’ needs. We have staff in major Chinese cities, especially in the Guangdong and Shanghai areas. We can help you manage your suppliers in China and we can be your representative to solve the problems in China.
On your request, our inspectors can visit your suppliers and take photos of production facilities so you can know the real situation regarding your orders and your suppliers. Although you are far from China, our inspectors can report the real information based on independent perspective. Once the suppliers realize that you pay much attention to their production, they are much less likely to cheat you.
Especially when there are problems with your suppliers in China, our inspectors can quickly visit the suppliers to solve the problem on your behalf or just report the real information to you whereupon you can take the proper action.
Friday
Finding the best Chinese suppliers that works for you!
We have worked with Chinese suppliers over many years, we have learned lots of things, and some of the most important things are often the simplest. The quality of your supplies needs to be consistent - your customers associate poor quality with you, not your suppliers.Value for money.
You need your suppliers to deliver on time, or to be honest and give you plenty of warning if they can't. The best suppliers will want to talk with you regularly to find out what needs you have and how they can serve you better.
A strong relationship will benefit both sides. You want your suppliers to acknowledge how important your custom is to them, so they make every effort to provide the best service possible. And you're more likely to create this response by showing your supplier how important they are to your business.
Remember - if they let you down, you may let your customer down.
It's always worth making sure your supplier deliver what you want, when you need it. A site visit will help reassure you that they won't go out of business when you need them most.
You need your suppliers to deliver on time, or to be honest and give you plenty of warning if they can't. The best suppliers will want to talk with you regularly to find out what needs you have and how they can serve you better.
A strong relationship will benefit both sides. You want your suppliers to acknowledge how important your custom is to them, so they make every effort to provide the best service possible. And you're more likely to create this response by showing your supplier how important they are to your business.
Remember - if they let you down, you may let your customer down.
It's always worth making sure your supplier deliver what you want, when you need it. A site visit will help reassure you that they won't go out of business when you need them most.
Thursday
Beware of “fly by night” in China
Recently we had a client who wanted us to visit a supplier in China and check their products before shipping. We called the cell phone provided by our client, but there was no answer. We assume the supplier did not answer because they could see that the call was from China. Later, our US colleague called them and pretended to be a potential customer. He asked if his friends could meet them in their office. They made excuse by saying that they needed to discuss this and asked our colleague to call back later. When he called later, nobody took the phone.
This is a typical case where you have to be cautious. We call it “fly by night” operation. They are likely to disappear after they receive your prepayment.
Here are some points for you to consider to avoid losses.
1. Be aware if the only contact is a cell phone. In China, cell phones are not registered, so you cannot find people by their cell phone number.
2. Be aware if they sell brand name products with a very competitive price, such as cell phones, laptops, Nike shoes, LV bags, etc.
3. Be aware if they ask for prepayment and do not accept sending people to check the products.
4. Be aware if they use a personal bank account or Western Union.
If you find suppliers that meet the above situations, you should be very careful. We cannot be 100% sure they are fraud, because there are some good businessman who use cell phones and personal bank account. But just be extra cautious.
The best way is to have a trusted person to visit the supplier and to check the products. We can offer such a service to save you cost and make sure you purchase good products.
This is a typical case where you have to be cautious. We call it “fly by night” operation. They are likely to disappear after they receive your prepayment.
Here are some points for you to consider to avoid losses.
1. Be aware if the only contact is a cell phone. In China, cell phones are not registered, so you cannot find people by their cell phone number.
2. Be aware if they sell brand name products with a very competitive price, such as cell phones, laptops, Nike shoes, LV bags, etc.
3. Be aware if they ask for prepayment and do not accept sending people to check the products.
4. Be aware if they use a personal bank account or Western Union.
If you find suppliers that meet the above situations, you should be very careful. We cannot be 100% sure they are fraud, because there are some good businessman who use cell phones and personal bank account. But just be extra cautious.
The best way is to have a trusted person to visit the supplier and to check the products. We can offer such a service to save you cost and make sure you purchase good products.
Friday
Give us your comments!
The intention with this blog is to have an open discussion of issues related to doing business in China and how you can avoid scam, fraud and other illegal business practices that drives up the cost of doing business. We will share our experiences with you and let you know how we can help you deal with the various situations you share with those who read this blog.
Thank you. Keep it coming!
Thank you. Keep it coming!
Thursday
Don't get caught by surprise!
If you plan to import products from China from a company you have not dealt with before, beware that there are many fraudulent offers made via the Internet. Many of these services offer Silver or Gold "seals of approval." However, we know that many fraudulent sellers register a real company name and then use a trading address different from the registered address. They are very sophisticated in convincing you and they use all the tricks of web cloning to make a good presentation. You send them your money and you get nothing in return!
Don’t get caught by surprise!
There are two ways to help safeguard your valuable funds:
1. The best way is to personally visit the company. However, this can prove very expensive when you get there and you find that they cannot be found.
2. A cheaper alternative is to send a Chinese speaking local auditor to visit the company for you.
We offer you the second option for a low price. We have local auditors in most main Chinese cities. You get a written report in English by our local Chinese speaking on-the-spot agent who checks out the local government business license of your proposed supplier. He will also visit and report to you on the supplier's facilities and products together with digital photos. This is usually completed within a few days.
Don’t get caught by surprise!
There are two ways to help safeguard your valuable funds:
1. The best way is to personally visit the company. However, this can prove very expensive when you get there and you find that they cannot be found.
2. A cheaper alternative is to send a Chinese speaking local auditor to visit the company for you.
We offer you the second option for a low price. We have local auditors in most main Chinese cities. You get a written report in English by our local Chinese speaking on-the-spot agent who checks out the local government business license of your proposed supplier. He will also visit and report to you on the supplier's facilities and products together with digital photos. This is usually completed within a few days.
Sunday
Welcome to the JitVerify Blog!
Welcome to the JitVerify Blog!
Our mission is to help overseas companies to save cost. You can use JitVerify as your Chinese representative or partner to perform your Chinese business operation. You can use our manpower, facilities and expertise to save your cost; especially when your business is small or just starting in China. Because we have a talented team that can support you in China, you do not need set up your own office in China.
JitVerify is a China-based company that specializes in verification and product inspection services in China. We have inspectors in most major cities in China. We can assist your business and help you get background information on companies in China at a fair price. We protect the interests of Western companies by providing a full range of high quality verifications of claims by Chinese companies.
As a China-based business, with operational reach across all of China, and as a result of our knowledge of local culture and laws, we are able to obtain the information you need for any registered company in China. If you are interested in visiting the Chinese company, we are able to set up meetings for you or provide advice as to how this company compares to others in its peer group or simply provide you with a site visit report.
Send us email to info@jitverify.com or fill in our online contact form.We will reply within 24 hours.
Our mission is to help overseas companies to save cost. You can use JitVerify as your Chinese representative or partner to perform your Chinese business operation. You can use our manpower, facilities and expertise to save your cost; especially when your business is small or just starting in China. Because we have a talented team that can support you in China, you do not need set up your own office in China.
JitVerify is a China-based company that specializes in verification and product inspection services in China. We have inspectors in most major cities in China. We can assist your business and help you get background information on companies in China at a fair price. We protect the interests of Western companies by providing a full range of high quality verifications of claims by Chinese companies.
As a China-based business, with operational reach across all of China, and as a result of our knowledge of local culture and laws, we are able to obtain the information you need for any registered company in China. If you are interested in visiting the Chinese company, we are able to set up meetings for you or provide advice as to how this company compares to others in its peer group or simply provide you with a site visit report.
Send us email to info@jitverify.com or fill in our online contact form.We will reply within 24 hours.
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