Believe or not Quality Control should be deeply embedded in your manufacturing process, although Manufacturing in China has improved significantly its standards when talking about Quality, if not applied an adequate QC regime, the full production can result into a manufacturing nightmare. Below we mention the several different alternatives that exist for undertaking QC activities when Manufacturing in China.
The Alternatives
No independent product quality check during the manufacturing process.
Relying on factory only quality verification is a recipe for disaster particularly with a manufacturer who is new to your product or you as a business.
While you may have a long-term manufacturing trusted partner or even a tier one supplier in place you still run the significant risk of ‘quality fade’ or systemic failure of the factory’s own internal quality procedures. A well-defined and independent quality inspection program gives you true control over your manufacturing activities and eliminates the risk of costly product issues on arrival.
If major product failures over the past few years with some of the world’s largest brands have taught us anything it is that no one is immune to product quality issues. If you wait for them to arise it is often too late to save the damage to your reputation not to mention the crippling financial impact of a product recall on a business. The best approach is always to be proactive rather than reactive and minimize your risks through the implementation of a strategic independent quality program inside your manufacturing facility before your products leave China.
Fly to China and verify product quality yourself in person.
Taking on the responsibility for quality yourself can be a tempting and potentially useful approach in the infancy of any Asian manufacturing project however frequent factory visits quickly become unfeasible from both a time and cost perspective asproduction quantities and frequency of orders increase.
On top of the direct costs of visas, flights, hotels, in-country travel and translation services your time costs spent on the ground also need to be considered. These costs can quickly spiral particularly if issues are identified and additional time on the ground to solve problems is required.
Hire your own QC personnel in China directly.
This approach carries a range of major risks.
Firstly and importantly such an approach would be illegal with regards to Chinese labour law employment regulations.
Most critically is the honesty and integrity of your operative; with no on the ground support system or direct monitoring from a legitimate management presence you must rely on blind faith that your operative is working at all times with your best interests in mind.
Utilize an alternative third party inspection service.
While a range of alternative similar third party organizations where they can speak you language and explain you all the complicated terms in easy words, for this option you need to be sure that their services are flexible and can be tailored to your specific China Manufacturing needs.
Although many 3rd parth QC companies exist at C2W we feel our experience and setup provides a service level that cannot be matched. Unlike our competitors our services are 100% flexible and will be customized to meet your exact needs.
The qualified and experienced C2W team goes the extra mile to become fully familiarized with you, your products, manufacturing processes, project history and full supplier network. At C2W we understand that every project and client is different and a cookie cutter inspection template may not be the best fit for your specific China inspection requirements.