supplier

When sourcing from China, one of the most important things you as a buyer need to do is to make sure you are working with the right supplier. So, where do you start? Define your ideal supplier. This is unique to each buyer and depends on a number of factors, including price, quality and lead time. Define your location. Where factories are based should also play a role in supplier evaluation. While factories in China’s northern and western provinces have lower manufacturing costs, the quality is often lower. Those located along the coast and in the southern region have higher production outlay but the quality is generally better. Note as well that the farther inland you go, the more expensive your logistics costs will be. Look in the right places. B2B websites can help buyers find suppliers, but it’s highly recommended meeting suppliers face to face. Further, always do your due diligence and verify…

Regular, consistent and independent quality control is possibly the most important part of the buying-from-China experience. Some key points: Write it, confirm it, repeat it, and confirm it again with someone in authority. Get things repeated back to you from the people responsible for each step. Get things signed. Determine what is essential, what should happen, and what would be nice to have. But do not tell your supplier anything is less than mandatory. Safety, industry and customs standards are mandatory. Product features are crucial. Specific attributes that are not defined by law or function are important. QC essentials In-house QC is not independent. It is profit insurance for the supplier. Either do QC yourself or pay a third party to do it for you. But do it no matter what. Check incoming materials/components, semi-finished goods, packaging and finished goods. Unless you can wait for a complete product re-do with no financial penalties,…

After a new factory is sourced in China, most buyers will choose to perform a factory audit, as it is a cost-effective way to make sure the factory is reliable and offers quality products. Based on the ISO 9001 standard, supplier evaluations include many additional benchmarks, giving you robust insights to the way the factory is managed. Before you place any order, learn why a factory audit can save you from making a huge mistake by choosing the wrong factory. Verify Supplier’s Legitimacy Working with suppliers in China comes with risk, but a factory audit from a reputable quality control firm minimizes uncertainties. It’s difficult to verify a supplier’s claims from a distance, in particular without having industry knowledge. A factory audit can ensure that the factory is legal and has all the necessary certification and licenses to be able to sell and export goods. Confirm Supplier’s Product Expertise A factory audit…

With tools such as Alibaba or Global Sources, it’s a simple matter of an internet search to find a supplier in China, so you have the opportunity to take advantage of a large number of competitive factories in a country with low labor costs, rising productivity, advanced infrastructure, and increasingly sophisticated production capabilities. Unfortunately, though, once you have found a supplier online that claims to be able to produce your product, it’s not always smooth sailing from there. In my experience as many years in the industry, I have met with plenty of buyers that have ended up getting frustrated because they have been communicating with suppliers in China for months, without any measureable progress having been made. Often this has to do with the factory in question not actually being able to meet the buyer’s expectations or standards. To successfully find a suitable China supplier, you need a strategy,…

Third-party inspection is important for success of importing business. However, some factories may resist third-party inspection. You might hear a supplier say something like “we don’t need them” or “we have our own quality control staff”. And it’s hard to blame them. They’re being asked to allow a stranger to come into their facility and check their work. Understandably, some suppliers feel they’re being subjected to unfair scrutiny from an outsider. So how can you put your supplier at ease with the inspection process? You can take specific steps to address the problem based on the symptoms presented. But there are also some measures you can take to prevent resistance from the factory in advance. 1). Clarifying the need for inspection when placing an order Although third-party inspection is fairly commonplace, it can catch your supplier by surprise if you advise them of your requirement only shortly before shipping. Letting your supplier know…

It happens often, you, as a buyer, after hours or days searching on Alibaba, has found a promising Chinese supplier, and sent out a RFQ (Request For Quotation). The next day, and next few days, you check your mailbox but nothing happens, you have not heard back from the Chinese supplier at all. Why Chinese suppliers ignore your RFQ? When sending the RFQ, do you fall in below bad situations which quenching the fire of the supplier motivation? 1-  Wide-open RFQ shows you do not know what exactly you look for. These broad inquiries are heavy on generalities and low on specifics. If the supplier is responsible and not too busy, they may come back and ask the buyer questions, in hopes to nail down some specifications. Otherwise, the supplier simply puts your RFQ in low quality category and ignores it. 2- No indication of time frame. An indication of time frame…

During my daily work of helping western businessmen purchasing goods from China, I’ve seen many back and forth negotiations between supplier and buyer. But in fact, much negotiation time could be saved and the process could be less frustrating if the buyer could perhaps understand things from the supplier’s point of view before you start contacting them. Types of supplier In China as with the rest of the world, this can vary hugely. One supplier might be a factory with thousands of staff and at the other end of the scale you might have a mother of one working from home to try and pay the bills, along with many middle men in between. The difference in China is that it might not always be that clear exactly who you are dealing with. The mother is as likely to tell you that she is a factory as the factory itself. The…

The most important factor in determining the success or failure of your sourcing program will be finding the right supplier. It sounds obvious, but making detailed comparisons and verifications of vendors at a professional level can be daunting. By following below procedures, things may turn easier. Your sourcing feasibility study and supplier identification research should have a clear methodology for defining and measuring the desired attributes of the ideal supplier. Step One “Defining”: The “right supplier” is unique to each buyer, as the relative weight placed on price, quality, lead time and other attributes differs from project to project. Step Two “Measuring”: Focus on those factories that can clearly show production experience with your particular product or production method. Be aware that polished English skills do not reflect production skills. Often the most polished websites are set up by trading companies. Review the candidates’ websites and brochures against your desired attribute…