Manufacturing and Quality Control blog

Indicating to the supplier that you care about the relationship is a step in the right direction to improving it. But just saying you care is not enough. Time and well-placed effort are ultimately what create strong supplier relationships. Here are a few tips to help you foster a stronger business partner.

Topics: Manufacturing Tips & Advice

It’s easy to trust your suppliers to do the right thing. But in doing so, you might end up running into common China sourcing mistakes that harm your firm.

Topics: Sourcing

Rework sometimes comes at a considerable cost, can delay shipping and can even create more defects than it fixes. But sometimes it can also fix minor, major, or critical defects affecting your order. The final decision to rework or not depends on your situation and ultimately rests in your hands.

Topics: Manufacturing Tips & Advice

The hazardous potential of lighters makes QC inspection by professionals all the more important before your product reaches the hands of the end-consumer. These five tests for lighters will help you determine if your product is safe enough for distribution to the public. Ensuring there are no issues with components and assembly will help protect the people that ultimately use your product and help you avoid a product recall.

Topics: Special Inspection Tests

A non-compete agreement can safeguard the relationship you have with your vendor and also give you the factory access you desire to improve your products.

Topics: Manufacturing Tips & Advice

Sometimes you are lucky and find what seems to be a perfect Chinese factory. Their prices are reasonable and you haven't noticed any defects - at least not yet. While everything might appear fine on the surface, a recurring (and usually hidden) issue that plagues factories in China is social insurance violations. This problem might not seem significant at first, but it could be a red flag to your clients' social compliance programs and signify other problems with the supplier you are trying to work with.

Topics: Social Compliance

Eliminating disruptions to manufacturing in China is not always entirely possible, but armed with this information they are at least less severe.

Topics: Manufacturing Tips & Advice

Have you ever needed to get a wrist watch repaired after condensation fogged up the watch face? Did you ever give a watch to someone as a gift only to have the leather wristband fall apart just weeks later? Ensure that your customers are receiving the level of quality they're paying for by carrying out these five on-site tests during your next watch inspection.

Topics: Special Inspection Tests

If you’re looking for advice on negotiating with Chinese factories, you’re not alone. Negotiating with suppliers is an important part of manufacturing in China. Early negotiations and meetings set the tone for how the rest of the buyer-and-seller relationship will play out. If you want that relationship to begin on solid footing, it’s important to be prepared ahead of time. Effectively negotiating with Chinese factories can help you not only to reach a lower price, but to receive higher product quality and avoid unnecessary shipping delays as well.

Topics: Sourcing, negotiating with chinese factories

Whatever your perception of corruption in manufacturing, you probably haven’t considered some of the many other issues that might challenge QC auditor integrity. These days, corruption often takes more subtle forms. Whether you’re working with a third-party inspector or hiring your own auditors, ask them to explain how they deal with and avoid potential integrity problems. Do they have a strict policy against accepting gifts, payment or other compensation from factory staff? Do they rotate auditors to avoid any one auditor becoming too close with a factory?

Topics: Manufacturing Tips & Advice