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Thread: A newbie's question:How do you think the quality of Made in China stuff?

  1. #11
    Full Member yuemax's Avatar
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    As an old Durbanite, now stationed in China, and deeply involved with quality control in China, I'd like to offer my 2c's worth...

    Personally, I have little sympathy for people who complain about bad quality. The quality you get, is directly related to a number of factors directly in your control:

    1. Price - if you "nickle and dime" your Chinese supplier to the point where they are making virtually nothing out of the deal, you are asking for trouble. I have a side business where I manufacure very high-end baseball caps - I am happy to pay a bit extra, because then the supplier is happy with his margins, and my products come out PERFECT everytime (sigh, shameless punt: www.PandadStuff.com for the caps).

    2. Specifications - if you lax about product specifications, then they will be lax about production standards. You have to (!!!!!!!) have very detailed spec's on your product - even down to raw materials.

    3. Samples - usually the samples the supplier will give you will be of excellent quality. Ensure that the factory give you pre-production samples also - based on factory-floor output - not from the sampleroom dept. Seal the sample up securely - keep one at the factory, give one to your client, and keep one at hand - that way all parties are "eating off the same table".

    4. Inspect - Pls see my previous "China for Dummies" post this morning. If your product is high value, high risk - have a third-party inspection company (shameless punt: www.TopInspection.com) perform a DUPRO inspection - it will protect your quality. Make sure my inspectors have full access to specification documents - AND - the approved pre-production sample. Then, prior to shipment, have an AQL-based final random pre-shipment inspection done.

    5. Payment Terms - make it very clear from the beginning that the shipment and subsequent payment will only be done on an approved inspection report. If by L/C, make it an official condition, that an approved inspection report/certificate by us will need to be issued.

    6. Contracts - OK, this is getting interesting now in China, as recourse to the legal system is getting stronger. Ensure that your contract with the Chinese supplier is in English AND Chinese, and that it is signed and chopped by them.

    7. Relationships (Guanxi) - if you intend on doing a lot of orders with factories/suppliers, be sure to maintain and develop a good relationship. It is important to visit here regularly, and to build that relationship. Never ever let any senior management loose face - I made that mistake once, and it took 6 months of hard work, whisky & KTV to get back to a reasonable relationship.

    Anyways, the above are just my observations as an old South African living in China....

    Cheers,
    Max

  2. #12
    Site Caretaker Dave A's Avatar
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    I think the challenge that faces the "Made in China" brand is differentiating between the cheap Chinese knock-offs and quality products. Quality products and components have been coming out of China for years already, predominantly in association with "well known Western brands".

    I suggest the biggest obstacle these quality Chinese operations face is overcoming the harm that has been done to the Made in China brand by the cheap knock-off industry, which up until now has been the more public face of products out of China.

    It is clear China has companies with the capacity to produce quality products at highly competitive pricing (at least for now). The trouble is how does the prospective consumer know they're dealing with one of these companies as opposed to a cheap knock-off operation that doesn't produce a quality product?

  3. #13
    Diamond Member Blurock's Avatar
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    One of my clients are importing SABS approved products from China. Very good quality and with very low failures.

    There are always risks with imports, which ever country you buy from. What we still need to learn is that the cheap imports from China is just that; cheap! If you order crap you get crap.
    (this is the cheap imported PC from India)
    Excellence is not a skill; its an attitude...

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    Full Member Upstairs's Avatar
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    I think China is where Japan was in the sixties. I believe the quality will come, but yes, they are flooding the market with cheap and nasties. However, there are good quality starting to flow from China.

  5. Thanks given for this post:

    yuemax (25-Sep-11)

  6. #15
    Full Member yuemax's Avatar
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    Hi Upstairs,

    No Chinese supplier will ever release goods without a Purchase Order from a second-party. "Flooding the Market" is not in the dictionary here - there is always someone else involved in the deal...

    @Blurock - yes, if you have reliable partners in China, you can achieve really good quality results so long as you have good relationships, and control the quality independently. For solar products, ShenZhen is a really leading the way in terms of innovation and costing.

    Cheers,
    Max
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    Ensuring Quality from China: www.TopInspection.com
    Custom Fitted Caps: www.PandadStuff.com

  7. #16
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    Yuemax,how do I get hold of you?

    I need to bring in a few containers from the Qingdao area over the next 2-4 months.I need quality checks done to ensure the product is correct.

  8. #17
    Full Member shani's Avatar
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    Thanks for all good impression you say. I think most of Chinese exporter are reliable, and want to make win-win situation to others.

    I understand what Newretailer said.
    Frankly speaking, i have complained to a big company for their products problem, havenot got a satisfactory answer. when i searched online i find many people complain to them. I think if more and more people donot trust them, how can the company survive on the world?

    But very interesting ,at the this day i complained. I received another company's products fittings just for free. they send fittings every year on August as a after-sale service to me.

    So, we can not say they are all bad or they are all good. Just part and part.
    http://yihaolamp.com
    professional in indoor lamps manufacture

  9. #18
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    Well even I agree with you all. In India, we have so much of stuff coming in from China, but in a way I feel the quality is way to bad. I recently brought few toys for my kids and they actually broke in few days. It is very sad to see that just because we as consumers do not really know what would really turn out to be good, we just go and purchase anything.

  10. #19
    Full Member yuemax's Avatar
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    Hi all,

    Just as a reference for you, about 40% of our inspections are failed.

    This is generally due to the three main aspects within a third-party inspection: 1. Product non-conformity to specifications, 2. Function test failure/non-conformity, 3. Beyond AQL on the random pieces inspected (typically AQL is set at 0/2.5/4, Level II).

    Of course, the client can decide what to do if a report is failed, but it does give the client significant leverage to push for a discount, or to get the factory to re-work/retro-fit the product. After that, we generally perform a re-inspection (which the client gets the factory to pay for).

    So, sometimes, if you do encounter crap products, it's may well be that the buyer managed to get a good discount out of the factory, and wants to offload it and make a quick buck.


    Cheers
    Max
    --

    Ensuring Quality from China: www.TopInspection.com
    Custom Fitted Caps: www.PandadStuff.com

  11. #20
    New Member mffireworks's Avatar
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    Nowsdays international trade is hard to deal with for thousands of industries, companies, factories in China.

    After the price quoted, there would be bargain always. In order to seize the business opportunity, never letting the clients to be their competitor's clients. Business man has to make concession, lower the price and make the business with little profit. But the price would still be high to the inquirer, so the factory has to use some cheap materials to make the products. Then leads to the result: made in China equals to poor quality!

    What is the main reason for the issue? It think both the Buyer and seller should take this question into deep consideration.

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