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.
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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.
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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
December 4th, 2007 by China Business Success Stories
I recently had the opportunity to visit two factories in the southern China town of Kaiping that produced denim jeans for a major discount retailer in the United States. Considering that the only reports of Chinese textile factories that I had come across had been critical, the visit was a (pleasant) surprise.
Working conditions were orderly and tidy, the air was cool despite scorching heat just beyond the concrete walls, generous lighting flowed from large bay windows, …
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December 4th, 2007 by China Business Success Stories
By Katherine Don
I recently had the opportunity to visit two factories in the southern China town of Kaiping that produced denim jeans for a major discount retailer in the United States. Considering that the only reports of Chinese textile factories that I had come across had been critical, the visit was a (pleasant) surprise.
Working conditions were orderly and tidy, the air was cool despite scorching heat just beyond the concrete walls, generous lighting flowed from large bay windows, and healthy employees casually chatted above the hum of the machines barely noticing the presence of the factory owner leading us through. A sense of respect and camaraderie passed between the management and employees, ages 20-40, while the atmosphere was calm yet efficient for a Sunday afternoon without a sense of employee exhaustion or oppression. Read the rest of “Made (responsibly?) In China” or post a comment
