WOW, lead paint on a children’s giveaway toy.  WOW, a computer mouse that can seriously shock the user.  It seems that every new day brings a wave of product recalls and safety alerts in regard to product coming from China.  Promotional product importers and distributers are just as susceptible as retailers to the disastrous effect on business and reputation that distributing a dangerous product will bring.  As more of us in the promotional product industry deal with China suppliers on a daily basis, the following strategies can serve as a guide to ensuring you receive only the highest quality product from overseas.  

10.   Find Out Who You’re Working With – When you’re buying product from China it’s often hard to tell if you are working with a factory, a trading company, or something in between.  When it comes to product and quality issues it is key that you know exactly who you’re working with, and that the relationship is transparent to all parties.  If you are not working with the factory directly and the supplier can not provide you satisfactory answers about the product, then they are inhibiting the sourcing process for you and you should reconsider the relationship. If you’re having a tough time putting your finger on who you’re working with you should contact a company specializing in China Supplier Verification.

9.       Send Short Emails, Sweet and to the Point – I have great respect for how much English the local Chinese staff uses having never lived in an English-speaking country.  However, from my experience doing business in China for over 7 years, I will tell you that your China-based supplier most likely understands only about 50% of what you write in emails.  Keep this in mind the next time you start a long-winded explanation or suggestion to an overseas supplier.  English is not this person’s first language. Keep your emails simple and your directions clear.

8.        How To Pay Chinese Suppliers – Wire Transfer (W/T) or Letter of Credit (L/C)? – Having a safe and well-communicated payment arrangement in place before you place your order is beneficial to both parties and one of the parameters to a relationship that encourages quality.  Unless you have a long-standing relationship and trust with your supplier, then L/C should always be your preferred method of payment.  If you haven’t used a L/C before then contact your bank’s business department for assistance.

7.        Reduce Costs and Headaches with a 3rd party Quality Check (“QC”) – Working with a 3rd party QC company in China allows you to draw on the experience of firms whose entire mission is to ensure a products quality meets certain standards.    These companies provide services such as product inspection, factory auditing, and lab testing. The service is usually available at a fixed rate which can offer a great value relative to the total cost of your purchase (approximately $350 to inspect a shipment of goods).  The most well known companies in China that provide QC services are InTouch Services, Bureau Veritas, and Intertek Testing.

6.         Validate you Production Schedule – Don’t Get Bumped! – Receiving your order from China on time is just as important as receiving the right product.  Chinese factories are notorious for bumping less important (to them) production when a more profitable order comes in the door.  Issues with quality are more likely to occur as a result of the supplier rushing to  catch up on the schedule that they promised you. So, make sure you are asking the right questions and getting answers in email.  These questions include: a)         When will production start? Be 50% done? Complete? Ship out? (Confirm that these milestones are being reached) b)        Have all the raw materials for this order already arrived at the factory? How about all the packaging materials?

5th Be Bold phone – you can only be so many communication via e-mail. If it appears that the to and fro with suppliers overseas, sometimes they just do not like the “it”? The time difference can be a pain, but does not prevent them from organizing a conference call of its foreign suppliers. Online phone such as Skype, which almost everyone in China knows, easy and free friends list you can communicate with China. Although it does not work at a low level of English proficiency of the supplier, I have never suggested that, if you have had at least one phone call.

4th Get the approval of raw or risk everything – It is essential that the quality of your product that you know exactly what materials to use and require documents to the supplier of the materials is safe. U.S. continues to point out that the market for products that were made of poor materials. For example, if you buy a cell is made of white plastic, you should make sure that the white plastic meets the flammability standards in general. If the item is likely to come into contact with food, so the food quality. You should expect to buy a factory in China to use the cheapest materials possible, if you specify otherwise. Insist that your suppliers you with a written exam. FDA and other organizations are the U.S. regulations, in which plastics, metals and other materials can be safely distributed. If your supplier can not control, then contact the third party QC company.

3.        Definitely Ask For Samples And Photos – When working with China you must insist on getting samples as often as possible.  Don’t accept excuses unless there is a serious obstacle (i. e. no existing mold).  Make sure to label and store these samples properly, and each time you receive a new sample compare it carefully with the last one you received.  Never confirm to a factory in China that production can go forward until you approve a pre-production sample.  You will be able to catch a great number of quality issues before they happen just by putting this process in place.

2.        Do away with just Expecting, Inspect! – Just about the simplest, least expensive, and most efficient way to eliminate quality issues with your China-made product is to have it inspected BEFORE it leaves the factory in China.  The best way to arrange such an inspection is with a 3rd party QC company (mentioned above in #7), but it may also be arranged with your own staff in Asia, or that of your agent.  You should insist on seeing an inspection report in English (including photos) that documents the process.

1st Point your product QC Checklist – Poor communication during the ordering process is undoubtedly the real cause of most problems in the quality of Chinese suppliers. This Communication is a sure way to improve dramatically the product QC checklist. QC checklist has several-page document that details all the essential aspects of the writing of the items you buy. It is best to use a 3rd Party QC, a company that provides this service created specifically for, but you can have a simple and effective solution for creating its own the following items. More on the creation of a checklist of QC Quality Wars, which is a QC check on my blog. The main points that should be included in this checklist:

a)        Item details (item number, SKU description, etc. )

b)        Contents and Packaging 

c)        Color 

d)        Barcodes

e)        Appearance and Function

f)         Specifications and Special Requirements

g)        Photos  

Ensure that you have this document professionally translated into Chinese, and make the QC Checklist the starting point for discussing production and quality with your supplier. You may find that you don’t have a lot of the details that the QC Checklist calls for.  If that’s the case then I suggest you make up the template and send it over to your supplier to fill in.     There’s no shortage of promotional product companies who now work direct with overseas suppliers.  With all of the horror stories we hear about import orders gone bad, you can distinguish yourself by being able to consistently deliver excellent quality. Your customers will no doubt appreciate your due diligence, and ability to speak intelligently about your focus on quality 


Article Source:China Sourcing Blog

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