February 4th, 2008 by China Business Success Stories
By Dylan Blankenship
“Private label products or services are typically those manufactured or provided by one company for offer under another company’s brand.” –Wikipedia. This is the name of the game for China and for the most part, the products you buy here in the United States are not really manufactured by the name on the label. In some instances most of the big box or clothing stores you frequent have an inventory almost entirely made up of their own products under their own brand or multiple unaffiliated brands. This is not just a game for the big boys, this can be accomplished with the same everyday products under your own company’s label. Welcome to the club, we are about to pull back the curtain to reveal what you need to know in developing your own private labeled line of products.
Take notice that every manufacturer has its own guidelines, requirements and procedures for producing a private label product. Not all manufacturers offer this service or have the capability to laser-etch/carve logos etc. The first step is to source the product you like and then follow-up with the manufacturer opening a dialog about private label opportunities.
Read the rest of “Private Labeling & Criteria for Selecting the Right Manufacturer” or post a comment
December 20th, 2007 by China Business Success Stories
December 20th, 2007 by China Business Success Stories
By Omer Abdullah
In the aftermath of the recent recalls of tainted and toxic China-made products, more than a few have speculated that manufacturers who have outsourced production operations there are no doubt rethinking their sourcing strategies and quality control processes, and, if some of the, shall we say, ‘more aggressive’ pundits are to be believed, even rethinking their continued presence there altogether. However, according to the results of a proprietary survey just completed by the smart cube, the pundits appear to be very much mistaken.
In fact, the majority of manufacturers surveyed are confident their supply chains are more than adequately secure to ensure the safety of their products. Indeed, nearly 80% of respondents (all of whom were manufacturers who currently manufactured their products in China) reported that they felt no need to review their supply chain activities in the wake of the well-publicized toy and toothpaste recalls. Further, these global manufacturers believe that the recent recall issues, while serious, are aberrations and not symptomatic of some more fundamental issue inherent within Chinese manufacturing. They appear to be on solid ground, as Mattel itself has apologized for initially putting the blame on its Chinese suppliers.
Read the rest of “Survey: Global Manufacturers Staying Put in China” or post a comment
December 12th, 2007 by China Business Success Stories
Sourcing to China can be cost effective, but if something goes wrong, it could have a dramatic effect on your bottom line — and negatively impact customer opinion of your business. Can we trust domestic producers and distributors to control quality with fervor equal to their pursuit of low wages? Cheap labor is the easy part; the quality thing is a much tougher nut to crack.
Read the rest of “Is Sourcing in China Safe?” or post a comment >>
December 12th, 2007 by China Business Success Stories
By Rebecca A. Morgan
Sourcing to China can be cost effective, but if something goes wrong, it could have a dramatic effect on your bottom line — and negatively impact customer opinion of your business. Can we trust domestic producers and distributors to control quality with fervor equal to their pursuit of low wages? Cheap labor is the easy part; the quality thing is a much tougher nut to crack.A product recall is a very visible and expensive sign of a serious quality problem. The life threatening potential of some problems long ago led American government and producers to develop recall and reverse distribution systems.
For the most part we’ve become good at figuring out which product is at risk, where it went, and executing the recall process with limited harm to life. But lately faith in American product-based businesses has been shaken by the apparent lack of due diligence in assuring low-wage Chinese suppliers meet the same standards as our own. Read the rest of “Is Sourcing in China Safe?” or post a comment