Boogeyman

China is opening up to the outside world.  Everybody and their brother know China is the place for manufacturing.  

The days of marketing China as a big, mysterious, scary beast are over.  If you are a company that touts itself as a China manufacturing expert and you do it under the blanket of how “scary” and “unreliable” it is to buy from China, then your days of marketing in that fashion may be numbered.

Chinese New Year Build-Up

For all practical purposes, it’s here.  The Chinese New Year;  Year of the Tiger is going out with a whimper and Year of the Rabbit is coming in hopping! 

JLmade’s last day at the office was last Friday.  A good portion of our team even cut out before then.  Those last few work days; we were organizing, prioritizing and planning for the post-New Year madness – “battening down the hatches” before the storm of yearly relaxation, you might say.   

Communication Decreases Quality Issues

Your supplier may be helping you "in letter"
but dangerous when not "in spirit"

Working in China with a team that is daily handling factories, it is hard for me to fathom how companies, in different time zones, in a different language, do it from abroad.

JLmade is made up of mostly Chinese teammates. 

Before & After Chinese New Year: Manufacturing Talking Pts.

Talking points atmosphere “out East” from JLmade’s perspective; focusing on the promo and retail industries.  

Labor Scarcity / Sourcing / Be Selective in your Projects

Holiday approaching & these folks have more
on their mind than just your low-cost merchandise

A Breakdown on Trade Companies_ The Good

Good Trade Companies: Better than Working Factory Direct

Vendors in the overseas promo industry, whether in USA, UK, Australia, S. Africa, when buying from China, they normally buy from a trade company.  Many people label these types of companies as traders, brokers or agents.  Technically there is a difference in the 3 terms and this article is primarily focused on trade companies. 

My weathered opinion is if you are an overseas supplier or distributor in the promo industry and you want a solid China contact, then you need to rely on the trade companies.

Know What’s Happening with Your Order

Typical Holiday Door Coverings

Chinese New Year:  for all practical purposes it’s here if not knocking on the door. 

We had an order to be rushed out, ahead of schedule because the workers were hurrying to rush home.  I don’t blame them.  The workers in factories, for the most part, work very hard for very low pay.  This is the time of year, they want to kick back, go to their hometown and slip away to a time period that was simpler, easier… They spend time with family, play cards, share memories with loved ones and for 20+ days forget about production lines, money issues and the obstacles they encounter day-to-day. Most of them have the basic goal of providing for their families that are usually in a distant city.    

Factory Communication 101: Read, Analyze, Feedback

If pics from factory not presentable to your customer (like this one):
instruct factory on what you need to see

I noticed a key cause to a lot of production problems.  It may not be a root cause, but a cause nonetheless.  An avoidable cause at that. 

Who’s Controlling Your Supplier’s Supplier?

Imagine:  there are a total of 3 suppliers providing input into your offshore project. 

Color Mixing is Sensitive: Good to be on-hand
to assure proper matching

Your supplier is only…let’s say…assembling the item.  He’s buying the material from a material vendor (dyed and specified to pantone color) and print isn’t done in-house.

The delivery time is urgent and quality, of course, is important.  You’ve hashed that out with your supplier, you’ve seen samples, and confirmed them and now ready to go with production.  You feel like your supplier has a clear understanding on the important issues and will tightly control the production time and adhere to delivery requirements.  

Then you hear one of the following phrases or receive an email with one of these phrases…

Inspiration and Motivation is the Key…More so in China?

This morning, Leeds (wife and head honcho at JLmade) took a boot that had a buckle to pop off, to the shoe-repair shop.  When she first took it inside and presented it to the “Master” 师傅, he told her they couldn’t fix it. 

With such a large labor force in China, you interact
with many more people on a daily basis .

 She then explained to him that it only requires a small such-and-such type tool and if he’ll just look at it, then perhaps he can see what the job takes.  The guy then looked at it, spent about 5 to 7 minutes repairing it, now it’s as good as new.  Not only did he fix it, but when she went to pay, she only had 100 bank notes, so he waived the fee and graciously said “next time”. 

Educate your Supplier on the Product

Although fine production line workers, these ladies are not
up-to-date on the latest trends

“Educate the factory on the product???  Is that a typo?  Shouldn’t they be the ones educating the customer?”

The following are areas where your Chinese supplier / factory may be in-the-dark and it’s up to you to shed some light.

Use

Target Market

Life-after-Production 

Skip the Stock Sample Jazz

They're busy producing, not fishing for orders w/stock samples. 

Samples:  You need them.  Without a sample, how will know you the quality?  How can you signoff on the deal with your brand or your retail customer without presenting them with a physical item to hold in their hands? 

Obviously there’s not a sample vending machine inside the factory (although many customers talk as if they think there is one).  The following scenario is not likely to happen.

Customer:  “We’re going to need samples to further confirm the order”

Factory: “Please tell us what size, shape and color and we’ll get those to you right away;  we definitely understand how important samples are.”

Proceed with Caution in Asking for Lower Price

If you want quality, it comes with a cost. 

Keep in mind, for the majority of the time, especially in the promo, branded, retail merchandise industries, when you tell a factory you need a low price;  that directly translates into “I need low quality”.

Lasting First Impressions

Visit factories as often as you can; watch them run samples,
implement changes and show understanding of production requests.

When dealing with a factory be especially watchful when a change comes into play.  (This article is promo / gift industry specific but the concept holds true in any basic dealing with a factory)

Nobody is Willing to Quote?

Factories include real people, doing a real job.
You send an inquiry, you're connected to every worker in there.

Quoting, purchasing and importing from overseas can be tricky business.   There are many factors involved in closing an order and making that sale.  Some of the contributing factors of success or failure can be on the production-side but just as many can be on the purchasing-side.  In this day and age of globalization and offshore production, it’s imperative that any importer maintains solid contacts with his overseas suppliers and potential suppliers. 

Promo Products: Should you Narrow Down your Item Range?

As an overseas promo item importer (supplier, distributer); you know that unless you work specifically in one material, you will not find one or even a handful of factories that can handle your inquiries and production.

Why is Your Inquiry (RFQ) Important to a Chinese Factory?

News flash** Just because you brought an inquiry to a factory or supplier doesn’t mean they are going to fall all over themselves to quote you. 

Many overseas buyers act as if there is an empty factory over here, all the machines are turned off, all the workers are playing cards, leaning against the wall and sleeping.  The boss is wringing his hands and pulling his hair out.  As soon as your email comes through, somebody blows the steam whistle and everyone runs into action, diligently working to make sure you get a perfect, detailed and exact quote as soon as possible.  Of course we all obviously would answer that we know that’s not how it works….. 

1st Entry on a Monday in Suzhou China

Why I’ve been itching to start a blog….