Always Check Yourself

This is the second posting from SRI's current Intern, Eric Luker, from BYU's Kennedy Center for International Studies.Quality, quality, quality. Quality equals money, which is most likely why it is the hardest thing to get. Over the last few weeks I have learned that you should never trust a factory’s quality control and you always need to check the product yourself. Here is one experience that helped me come to this conclusion.Our factory was getting close to the shipping date of a product that was not packaged. The factory that we had contracted with couldn’t finish the packaging and was sending our product to multiple other factories to help with the packaging so we could meet our deadline. A co-worker and I went to one of the new factories to make sure that the packaging went smoothly and that quality was being maintained. We spent the whole day teaching the floor managers about the quality we were looking for, how to check for bad material, and how to package the product so it doesn’t get damaged. We felt confident that things were going smoothly and that we were going to get good product. The factory was going to have more people come and work through the night so we could get the product shipped the next day. Before we left the factory we made sure that the floor manager knew our quality requirements and that she would make sure all the new lines packaging at night knew them as well. When we came back the next morning to check the product we expected to find the quality as we left it but what we found was far from that. The lines at night had not maintained the quality like we taught during the day. We ended up not being able to ship the product. What is even worse was that when the product was moved back to the original factory their quality control personnel checked the product and tried to tell us that it was fine. They said after checking over 10 cases they didn’t find any bad product, we then checked and found bad product in every case. We ended up having the factory go through the product and pick out the bad items. They then had to make more to replace the large amount that was wasted.I can only imagine how much extra money the project cost the factory because they didn’t maintain quality. It seems counter-productive for factories to cut corners to save a little money when it costs so much more to fix the problems if they are caught but they still do it hoping you won’t find out. The bottom line is trust yourself. If someone tells you it is fine, check it, if you weren’t there check it, even when you were there, check it again to make sure.Notes from DavidNotes from New to China Buyers Seminar at the first phase of the Global Sources China Sourcing Fairs at the Asia World Expo in Hong Kong.  I'll be speaking again this next week at the Gift and Premiums Show and then again next week at the Garments and Textiles show.1. Charles Kirmuss of Kirmuss and Associates Consultants says that  buyers need to build relationships with manufactures because you’ve taken away the QC and the professional middleman that was guaranteeing product quality.  If you go factory direct to China you are now responsible for ALL the professional services that were previously taken care of by others (QC, logistics, testing, importing, project management, etc.)2. In China there are very few managers with more than 10 years of experience.  There are a bunch with less than 10 and then there are a ton of guys just out of college (who have NEVER EVER even had a part time job before).  That’s pretty much it.  If you’ve graduated from a Western University, if you had a part-time job in high school and/or college or fixed your own car (or stereo) you are the new middle manager and you have more experience than most of the people you’ll work with here.  If you went to graduate school and/or have been working for more than 15 years in your profession/industry you will be the undisputed expert in just about every factory you visit over here.3. Mike Bellamy of Passage Maker said: Choose you lawyer and location carefully.  1. Make your contracts enforceable in China first, and a nearby locality or the main city of production preferably. They only time when you wouldn’t want to do this is when the town is so small or the manufacturer is so large (% of local employment) that you’ll not be guaranteed a fair trail.  In that case make the juristiction the nearest big town/provincial capital.  2. While you may be better/more familiar legal services and a better court system in the US you’re not likely to ever see your Chinese supplier in the US--and that means you’ll never be able to actually take him to court.Here's a link to a very good  article about the N0be1 Pr1ze from Cal Poly that references SRI (blocked in China).  What will the Chinese government do when some Chinese person they agree with wins the N0be1 Pr1ze? (Yes, I'm paranoid about getting blocked.)  Will they count past Chinese winners?  Will they let a Chinese ever accept the award?  What if it's a government official?On a related note, of course the events of the past week are blocked in China.  Even with the fact that there were issues with busses and marches in SZ on Monday, no one in my office knew anything about them other than there was traffic problems.  Isn't this is like lying to get something and then realizing that the lie may ultimately prevent you from getting what you wanted after all!