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Is this your factory?

An article by Andrew Reich from ChinaSuccessStories (h/t Dan Harris of Chinalawblog) highlights five straightforward but oft missed steps in assuring the quality of product from your China manufacturer.  Dan Harris, added a sixth point, and Global Sourcing Specialists is chiming in to add a seventh key to quality when when working with chinese factories: Source a quality manufacturer

First, it should be noted that these steps need to be taken together.  Accomplishing one or a few of them will not suffice to assure your product quality, and will likely only delude you into a false a security about what is coming off the production line and potentially making its way into the hands of your customers. 

ChinaSuccessStories's first five points:

1. Detailed documents: The number one key to quality when working with factories in China is documentation. Having bi-lingual, detailed, factory agreed upon checklists in place that document an item’s specifications and the criteria for inspecting the product before shipment, is essential to controlling product quality. One can not say for sure, but I would be willing to bet that the factories responsible for products recently recalled for lead paint did not have bi-lingual documentation on hand from their customer stating the type of paints that could and could not be used. Sure, this type of documentation takes time and hard work to create, but putting such processes in place is the first and most important step in avoiding quality issues. QC Checklists should describe in detail:

   a)     Item Packaging

   b)    Item Defect Classification (what is considered an defect and at what 
           severity)

   c)    Item Size and Other Specifications

   d)    Item Functionality and How it is Checked

2. Factory Presence:  Having a presence at the factory ensures that both factory staff and management really know who you are. Either through a 3rd party QC company or your own staff, ensure that you are being represented at the factory in person on a regular basis, and that the factory clearly connects your presence there with your production. Success in China is all about relationship (Guanxi), and dealing with quality is no different. Work towards a state where the factory has a personal commitment to you and your products.
3. Inspection:  Perform regular product inspections (either with your staff or a via 3rd party), not only on the final product shipment, but also during production (otherwise knows as DUPRO). Ensure these inspections are consistent and based on clear inspection criteria. Always review the inspection results with factory management and their own QC team.
4. Keep Approved Samples:  Some say that a picture is worth a thousand words. I say that a sample is worth a thousand headaches! Items often get revised and modified several times in the sourcing process, and then again after production begins. Keeping an approved sample in your office, and also one in the factory that can be used to verify the production product by the QC team, is essential in seeing eye to eye with your Chinese suppliers.

5. Take Responsibility:  Nothing will alienate your Chinese suppliers more than a mistake on your side for which you take no responsibility, and blame their misunderstanding. I’ve seen hard-headed buyers make this mistake more than once, to the demise of their hard earned factory relationships. So, make sure you have all the facts before you start to blame. Recognize when it’s possible that a mistake or production issue may have been caused by your own fault, or your own team’s mis-communication. Take responsibility when this happens, even if it means a financial loss. If you are working with the factory on a long term basis, the credibility you will gain will outweigh what you have given up.

   The message here is don’t take anything for granted. You and your suppliers most likely come from two vastly different cultures, have different values, and see quality differently. By making sure quality standards and procedures are in place and clear to all parties you will definitely avoid costly production issues.

Dan Harris' 6th Point: Legal Contracts

Our 7th Point:  Sourcing of Quality China Manufacturers

Really, this point might be placed first, only because the sourcing process takes place before any of these other steps are taken, AND, if you work with the wrong China factory, or any factory for that matter, these other steps may be very difficult to accomplish and/or ineffective.  It's similar to following all of the cooking instructions with great meticulousness to bake a world-class cake, and then baking your cake in the Easy Bake Oven.

Thus, to ensure supplier sourcing sets the other 6 steps up for success, one would do well to locate several potential sources, receive manufacturing and cost feedback from each of them, and select one or two that seem best able to support the project's and company's needs based on qualifications, engineering and QC support, product lines, and customer service.  Assessing a supplier for these qualities will likely, and should, involve auditing the factory production line, as well as meeting with management and key personnel.  Do this--and the rest will be much easier.