The consulting company I worked before introduced this US client into China market and found a local Chinese manufacturing partner to start OEM mode at the end of last century. But at the beginning the cooperation was very bumpy and the client become uneasy about the big variation in product quality which brought in risk to its 150+ year old brand. The client needed someone to watch over the production and quality of the products made at the Chinese factory. Here I came in as an independent auditor on the client’s behalf in the early 21 century.
With the quality improved and stabilized, the client put more products into the factory and then gradually expanded to more suppliers in our area and then all of China. The client put into Made-in-China many of its products and parts made of steel, aluminum, fiberglass, carbon fiber, rubber, plastic, vinyl/PU, nylon… We had to look for all the candidate suppliers, audited each of them, performed though check of prototypes, PO management and container consolidation. The client puts everything on our shoulders. Products are as big as that only two can be shipped in a container and as small as the cap of a coke bottle.
Factory Visit, 2024
Naturally I have been working with many suppliers, as big as 600 employees and as small as under 10 workers. The suppliers vary not only in size but also in the ways of doing business and in the types of typical manufacturing issues and quality problems. One of the suppliers is a State-owned company and the typical problems with them is carelessness, loose management and low efficiency. But you never needed to worry about the quality of raw materials because very rarely did they buy in inferior materials. And they did not play with you. Working with them took lot of my time, energy and many of my Saturday. I had to take care many, if not all, details. There were very nice people that I really enjoyed working with while also other people who openly showed the gesture that you were not welcome, which you would never see in a private company.
This is a very good client, always keeps its promise, takes the responsibility for any change originated from his side, pays in agreed time and visits its suppliers every year. The client is welcomed by all his suppliers, open, honest, humorous and fun to work with. They are open to very weird Chinese food too and they can drink. Great fun time for both the client and the suppliers. I personally also enjoy driving them around and making jokes of each other.
The challenges the client has encountered with Chinese suppliers are often small purchase quantity, far below the MOQ and low priority in some factories, again due to small quantity particularly during peak seasons, Chinese New Year holidays and the pandemic years (called the Mask Period in China). So it is always our job to make it happen. This is something far more than an online or emailed PO and it has to be done in Chinese way. Simply put the key is honesty and personal relationship.