China is without a doubt the world’s leading export hub, with the country exporting a staggering amount of exports worth over $1.99 trillion worth of goods in 2016- the highest value recorded all over the globe. However, for many importers in business with Chinese companies, the transaction may be nothing short of an extremely complex and tedious task, especially when it comes to managing their supply chains in a foreign country with very different culture, norms, language- and just about everything else too.
Just to make this task a whole lot easier for you, we have compiled advice that you must consider in order to make sure that you effectively manage your supply chains in China, thereby cutting down on your hassles and headaches while running up your profits.
• Make sure to have a sound supplier qualification process in place
Are you making thorough investigations about your supplier before deciding to work with them? Think of it this way: is the final criterion for hiring a supplier just the final product that they send to you, or are you carefully examining the management and processes that it undertakes to manufacture those products?
• Make sure your contracts are fully in-line with your expectations
You must formalize your expectations clearly in your contract; this includes mentioning your standards for quality, lead time, maximum tolerances for errors etc. You should specify upfront that you wish to have the right to conduct an impartial best Quality Product Inspection Services by hiring your own team that is able to hold the supplier accountable for defects. Always ensure that you have clearly outlined any penalties that you wish to impose in case of noncompliance with the contract, such as delayed shipments. It is always beneficial to have all of these things in writing, even if you and your supplier have agreed to them verbally. This will cause you a lot less disagreements if any issue arises in the future, and you can also hold the supplier legally accountable according to the contract. The contract will act as a reference point for your supplier to look at when finalizing your order.
• Redefine your supply chain management process particularly for China
As mentioned above, Chinese culture and work ethics are very different from what you experience anywhere else in the world. You must refine your management process in such a way so as to include more frequent routine mentoring and monitoring of the supplier performance- unless this is done, there are high chances that the supplier might slack off and not fulfill your requirements exactly how you asked. It is vital that you keep a strong check at every stage along the production process so that there are no major quality concerns at the end.
• Have a wide supplier base
Do not blindly relay on only one supplier for all your needs. China is an extremely competitive market, so always be on the lookout for other suppliers who are able to offer you a better deal and provide you with what you require with less of a hassle involved.
As with any occupation in the world, it takes a certain set of skills to establish you as a successful importer. However, these skills become even more critical when dealing with manufacturers in China. The most important skill that you'll need knows how to adapt to the dynamic market: making sure your business processes and managerial approaches are changing as the environment there changes.
Some important aspects of quality management that you may not know about
Everybody wishes to manufacture great quality products that stand out in the market, products that give your business an edge over your competitors. However, this goal is (sadly) easier said than done. There is so much more that hides behind the word ‘quality’ than what we might think, such as fully understanding acceptable quality levels (AQLS), Six Sigma, the essential stages to limit defects in your products and much more.
In addition to these aspects that you may have heard about previously, and even tried to impose due to the immense importance given to them, here are a few areas of quality that are often overlooked- but are crucial to the success of your business:
• Document control
This is where you standardize all the official documents within your team. It is integral to make sure that your entire ATI team is on the same page when it comes to managing major quality concerns, such as providing manufacturers and teams with product specification for a particular item. Just imagine the trouble your business would get in if two members of your team wrote entirely different product specifications for the same product. Something you definitely wish to avoid!
• Nonconformance management
It is essential for you to make a standardized code of conduct in cases where a product problem is discovered. How does the staff go about in conveying and addressing it? Who is supposed to take responsibility for fixing the problem, and who is to oversee that the problem has been eliminated completely? These are some of the questions you must ask yourself if you wish to be able to solve problems, rather than just forgetting about them without any follow-up which considerably increases the chances of reoccurring in the future.
Becoming an agile manufacturer

Customization is the future of the manufacturing industry. It is no longer the mass-produced low-cost items that attract customers; they wish to add a touch of customization and personality in everything that they own. This presents a critical opportunity and a rather difficult challenge for the manufacturing industry.
In today’s day and age, customers are increasingly demanding products that fit their desires, and the best approach to achieve this is through producing in small batches of goods that are popular with a particular niche of customers. However, producing for small niches is often difficult in factories considering the issues encountered in producing small batches such as changeover times and high batch wastage.
This is where agile manufacturing comes to your rescue
Agile manufacturing aids manufacturers in responding to customer demands very quickly- by producing what they want, when they want. To put simply, imagine you produce a product that is popular in a certain color currently, let’s say yellow teddy bears. Within the next few week, the trend changes to children demanding blue teddy bears. As an agile manufacturer, your business can take swift advantage of this changed trend and make huge profits for itself while competitors are struggling to even begin manufacturing.
Here are a few agile manufacturing suggestions that are very useful for you:
• Make use of ‘at-the-nozzle’ mixing products
These products are made closer to a dispense nozzle, which will cut down changeover time for you and result in lesser product wastage.
• Pair a robot system with vision systems and intelligent decision making algorithms
These robots can help you drastically in accelerating production
• Install linear motor platforms
These enable flexible movements and motion control on your production line.