Manufacturing and Quality Control blog

If you’re like most savvy manufacturers, you know to watch out for changes in labor laws that could affect you in countries where you have factories, or where you sell your products. Now we want to bring your attention to legislation that could put you at risk as a manufacturer or retailer. The law is called the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act. Since taking effect in 2012, this law has forced many manufacturers to be open about their products and supply chains. In this bulletin article, we’ll tell you how to know if you’re affected and what you can do to make sure you’re compliant.

Topics: Social Compliance

Have you ever sent an approved sample to a factory for your QC inspector to have during inspection? In this article, we’ll walk you through the simple process of sealing samples to prevent tampering and when it matters.This simple yet key preventative measure is often overlooked by many new buyers. Sealing samples protects buyers from innumerable headaches and tons of unwanted costs, which eventually come about when they receive a substandard order.

Topics: Manufacturing Tips & Advice

If you’re hiring a QC company to carry out product inspection, how can you trust that they’re staff is familiar with exactly how you want your product to be shipped? How can you be sure they’re actually verifying your specifications point-for-point? For answers to these pressing questions, I met with InTouch Managing Director Andrew Reich to discuss the kinds of procedures that are vital to a quality control company.

Topics: Manufacturing Tips & Advice

Have you ever received an inspection report from your China QC team and not been clear about the severity of a particular quality defect found in your order? If you’re like most buyers, you’ve probably had trouble being sure about a defect just by looking at a photograph in a report. You might have wished you could actually look at the defective product in person to be sure about whether or not it’s serious. Having samples of defects sealed on-site during inspections can be an invaluable resource to you as the buyer.

Topics: Manufacturing Tips & Advice

Have you ever been on a business trip to China? Traveling to China is an experience unlike any other, no matter from what corner of the world you find yourself coming. That’s why we wanted to cover all the major arrangements you should make in a simple four-step checklist in order to help you get the most out of your next business trip to China.

Topics: Travel Tips & Advice

China is known to be one of the pioneering states of the bullet train, also known as the High Speed Rail (HSR). China’s first type of HSR, beginning in 1999, was named the Qinhuangdao–Shenyang Line. Today, the High Speed Rail of China is the world’s largest such network with 16,000 km of high speed railway.

Topics: Travel Tips & Advice

What is a supplier review and what sets it apart from other types of factory audits? You know that factory audits are a recurring topic throughout our articles because we’re a QC company and that’s our bread and butter. However, we have never gone back to the basics and covered what a supplier is, and why it is so important. That’s why in this article, we will give you an introduction to one of most common types of factory audits in China.

Topics: Quality Q&A

You’ve contacted a supplier, ordered samples and possibly flown to China yourself to meet with your supplier. Finally, most importantly, you’ve placed an order – now what? Here are InTouch’s own four steps to make the scheduling process as easy and stress-free for the you as possible.

Topics: Manufacturing Tips & Advice

What’s it like to work in a Chinese factory? Most of us that haven’t visited a factory in China probably have a less than flattering impression of what life might be like working in one. And the difficulties of working in a Chinese factory are often compounded for women. Here we look at two types of challenges women commonly face throughout their time while working in the manufacturing industry in China.

Topics: Manufacturing Tips & Advice

You’ve placed a few orders with a new factory, and things are going well. You’ve got the makings of a healthy supplier relationship, but what can you do to maintain and further grow the relationship in the long term? A lot of buyers if Chinese-made goods struggle to get the products they want at the quality their customers expect. Learn about four ways to work better with your supplier, not against it.

Topics: Manufacturing Tips & Advice