Many international buyers have experienced inconsistent quality with suppliers in China. The factories usually look good, proper certifications are in place, samples are acceptable and qualities of the first few shipments are satisfactory. However, quality issues, some quite serious, quickly become notable from the same suppliers.

Why?

○ Profit maximization is every company’s ultimate goal. In order to attract new customers or orders in tough competition, the first few shipments are typically produced with special quality control resources and supplied at basically no margin;

○ As orders continue to come in, some factories begin to cut costs by reducing the material grade; and

○ Compliance to TS16949 becomes lax in quality and process control, resulting in quality issues not being effectively identified and addressed.

What can the international buyers do?

○ Establish clear, precise criteria for quality acceptance with the suppliers, assuming technical and quality engineers are available on the buyer side;

○ Set up China offices or hire experienced technical or quality engineers in China for quality control;

○ Contract 3rd party organizations in China to regularly assess the risks of the suppliers’ quality management systems and/or help continuously improve their quality capabilities.

This article was first published in March 2017