Quality Control Techniques

There is a terrific article in the Shanghai Business Review on Scrutinising Quality and Control. Chip Chaikin, Managing Director of Blue Point Capital Partners, Asia explains:

Today Blue Point frequently surprises the shop with visits. "Now they're sort of running fine," he says, "but if we started to stop sending the supply engineers in we'd probably have a problem in six months."

Kathy Shepard, Social Responsiblity Manager of Affiliates New Balance Athletic Shoe Inc., builds on Chaikin's statement with:

"Know your suppliers, develop strong relationships with them and, visit them often. Test everything."

The successful sourcing guys in China are rarely in their offices. They are at the factories and plants continually supervising quality, and they have people under their employee who are at the plants when they can't be.

The Chinese will substitute materials if they can, regardless of the impact on the product. They will resist quality control managers on site because it makes substitution much more difficult. Long term business relationships are not something they understand, no matter what they tell you in face-to-face meetings. They understand profit now.

Clients regularly pour into our office with the same stories: We've located a manufacturer who thinks like we do and we want to form a business relationship with them. The owner is a great guy; he ran a test product for us and we've sat down and worked out the quality issues. He understands them. Going forward we should have no issues.

A recipe for getting your clock cleaned.