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Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Buying LED Bulb Lights from Chinese Manufacturers: A Complete Guide
Monday, March 21, 2016
Electronic Products Quality Control in China: By Renaud Anjoran
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Renaud Anjoran is a leading quality assurance expert, based in Shenzhen. Renaud, a regular contributor to the ChinaImportal Knowledge Base, is the co-founder of two companies; Sofeast Ltd – a leading quality inspection agency, and China Manufacturing Consultants (CMC) – a company specialized in improving internal manufacturing and quality assurance procedures from top to bottom. In this article, he explains what you must know about Electronic product quality control when buying from China. Keep reading, and learn more about common quality issues, and how these can be prevented.
Based on your experience, what are the most common quality issues, that Buyers of Electronic products must be aware of?
There are a number of aspects that come to mind when it comes to quality issues with electronic products, maybe the most common being poor workmanship. The effect of poor workmanship could be a premature product failure, intermittent faults with the functionality of the product, decreased performance levels, and even making the product dangerous for users to use (with the potential of electrical shock).There are different causes for poor workmanship, one of which could be a result of pressure to deliver the goods to a deadline set by the buyer. In that case, the factory would rush the order through consequently making mistakes during production.
Another common quality issue to look out for would be the use of substandard components, which is generally a result of the factory trying to reduce its costs in order to increase profits, all of which is carried out behind the buyer’s back.
Other elements to take into consideration would be:
- Poor or inadequate design
- Material quality issues, substandard quality, sub-contracted production, cheaper second-grade components
- Lack of manufacturing specification
- Poor product specification
- Lack of understanding of safety regulations
- Fake certification
- Lack of full functionality
What do you think are the main causes of these quality issues?
The main cause of quality issues is the fact that the buyer does not work with the manufacturer closely enough throughout the new product development process. If there is early engagement with suppliers, they are able to act as the buyer’s manufacturing expert. They would be able to provide input during the design and development stages, thus allowing a product that has been designed for manufacture right from the start, as opposed to designing a product in isolation from any suppliers and then expecting perfect products to be produced from day 1. In reality, this will not happen.Another key success factor is generating a detailed product specification and technical design file for the supplier to work to. This should include product, component and material specifications, technical drawings and instructions, as well as all the test procedures required to test the product either during manufacture or as a final test before shipping.
What sort of tests and quality checks are essential in Electronics manufacturing?
There are a number of key tests that should be carried out on electronic products. They include functionality checks, reliability testing, safety tests and verification (certification may be required depending upon the product and the country that product will be sold in).a. Functional checks: it is essential that the product manufactured meets the product specification in order to satisfy the customer’s expectations. The functional checks should be carried out against the product specification document.
b. Reliability testing: this is generally carried out on random samples taken from the production line and subjected to various tests. A common method of testing electronic products is HASS (Highly Accelerated Stress Screening). HASS is implemented at the production stage – production samples are subjected to stress testing beyond the product specification limits.
Early product failures on a new product are often attributed to variability within a manufacturing process. Therefore, identifying these potential production failure modes as early as possible is paramount to the success of a product launch and this is where HASS comes into play.
c. Safety Tests and Certification: different countries have different regulations that must be met in order to sell a product within that country. For most consumer electronic products there would be a minimum requirement from a safety testing point of view. A few examples of the other regulations you should consider are:UL Certification for the US market – Product Safety Testing.
- UL Certification for the US market – Product Safety Testing.
- FCC for the US market – All commercial electronic devices (unintentional radio-frequency radiators) are regulated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). This includes almost every product that contains a microprocessor.
- CE Mark for the European Union – The CE-marking is the manufacturer’s statement that his product complies with all relevant CE-marking directives. (And make sure not to put this mark on products to which it does not apply.)
- C-Tick for Australia – The Australian Communications Authority introduced an EMC protection framework requiring EMC compliance for electronic products.
Should Buyers draft Quality Inspection protocols on their own, or rely on their Inspection partner to do so for them?
It depends on the level of technical knowledge and experience the buyer has. If they have completed a number of product development projects in the past and have experience in drafting out their QC protocols then that would be fine. However, many buyers do not have that depth of knowledge.In this case, it would be best to work in conjunction with their inspection partner in order to get the correct level of detail into a QC inspection plan. We touched on this in a previous article.
What sort of product information must the Buyer provide to the Inspection company?
I explain the basics below.- Product functionality (I assume there is a user manual that can be used by the inspector on a few samples, but what are the few critical functions beyond on/off that need to be checked on many samples?)
- Safety issues – a quality assurance agency should know this, but you should already have researched it and communicated it to the supplier so you might as well let inspectors know about it.
- Product appearance (e.g. color, how the components need to fit together…)
- Labeling on the product and on its packing (including barcodes, shipping marks…)
- Unit packing (artwork if any, type of material…), inner packing, export packing.
What kind of equipment is needed to carry out the inspection?
I will have to go with the “it depends” answer here. A few basics such as a hi-pot tester (which allows checking if there is current leakage that might hurt the user somewhere on the product) are required in most inspections of electrical products. This type of equipment is usually provided by the factory since it is a bit heavy to carry around. It is shocking that many Chinese manufacturers don’t have the basic safety testing equipment in their premises, but this is the reality here… and it means the buyer needs to confirm what equipment they have in advance.Let’s take another example. When checking a smartphone, obviously we need the right type of SIM card with a data plan and we are often unable to reproduce the final user’s environment in a Chinese factory. In some cases, the purchaser is better off getting a few samples picked from production during the inspection for performing his own tests.
Is a Pre-Shipment Inspection enough when importing Electronics, or should buyers also consider one or more inspections during production?
I will assume your tolerance to risk and your quality standard are about average compared to European and American importers. I will also assume you import electronics from a new supplier (with whom you have no prior business relationship). Then NO, it is not enough! Let me list a few other services that will get the risk down.a. Technical process audit (before you issue the order): identifies risks in process controls and quality systems. Suitable for relatively large and professional buyers.
b. Technical quality audit (before you issue the order): identifies risks inquality systems. Suitable for average orders (above 10,000 USD) and most buyers.
c. Inspection before production starts – to check the components before they are embedded in the product. Suitable if there is a substantial risk of cheating on the part of the supplier, or if there is no visibility on who the sub-suppliers are.
d. Inspection during production – before the whole order is finished, try to find issues before it is too late. The problem with a final (pre-production) inspection is that any serious issue means the whole batch needs to be sorted, reworked, and repacked… and this is costly to both sides (in money and in time).
How can Sofeast help importers prevent quality issues when buying Electronics from China?
Since we try to fit the buyer’s needs when it comes to quality assurance, we provide all the services I listed above. With the exception of the technical process audits of EMS (Electronics Manufacturing Services) suppliers, this offer is quite common across all inspection agencies.
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Monday, March 14, 2016
6 Common Mistakes Importers Make With Asian Suppliers
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Tuesday, March 8, 2016
Buying Bulk Stock Products (Off Shelf) from China
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Planning to buy bulk stock products from wholesalers in China? Depending on your industry, and target market, buying off shelf goods may be a dead end. ‘Make to order’ is the standard mode of operations when outsourcing production to manufacturers in Asia. Manufacturing is a risky and time consuming process, so wouldn’t it just be a lot easier to buy goods that are already available in stock?
The answer is sometimes yes, but mostly, no. Whether or not off-shelf procurement is a viable strategy, depends on various factors, including the type of product, and your market. This, and much more, is explained by Zhu Jing, Co-founder of Jingsourcing.com. But first, I’ll get you updated on the basics.
Part 1: What Importers Must Know About Buying Bulk Products
Manufacturers in China, and most other places in Asia, operate according to a ‘make to order’ principle. This means that the supplier doesn’t keep products in stock. In fact, most suppliers don’t even keep raw materials and components in stock. Instead, they procure the necessary raw materials, from their subcontractors, as it’s needed to produce goods for their own customers. At least, this is how it works for goods made for export markets.But what about all those online wholesalers and traders, selling bulk stock products? Yes, they exist. However, they are primarily selling goods made or the domestic Chinese market. This is problematic, for the reasons explained below:
1. Off shelf products, made for the domestic market, normally don’t comply with overseas labelling requirements. In the United States, for example, all products must be marked with the Country of Origin (i.e., Made in China). There are other labelling requirements that apply to specific categories. For instance, apparel importers must ensure that care labels, sizes and the fiber descriptions are compliant with local labelling requirements.
2. Products, made for the domestic market, are not made to comply with overseas safety standards. While China has it’s own product compliance marks (i.e., CCC mark) and standards, these are not interchangeable withforeign compliance marks (i.e., FCC and CE) and safety standards.
Part 2: Interview with Jing Zhu of Jingsourcing.com
You are working with small buyers worldwide. Are they normally interested in buying custom made products, or ‘off shelf’ goods?
People have different definitions for what a “small business” really is, so I’d like to start out with clarifying what we consider being a small business. Here it comes: We define “Small volume buyers” as a business with a total order value of less than US$2,000. That includes different SKUs. Thus, different products, not just one.For these buyers, they normally have no other option but to buy, what you now call, bulk products. That’s because customization results in a higher Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ), not only for the product itself, but also for the packaging. There are also tooling costs. If you need your own design for, say, plastic products, you’ll need to invest thousands of dollars in an injection mold.
So, what is the ‘breaking point’ for when you should consider buying ‘newly produced’ goods?
Other small businesses that buy more than just US$2,000 per SKU (not mixed orders), tend to at least procure custom printed packaging, with their company information and artwork. Sometimes, they may also buy custom designed product. These products are “newly” made to order, which is how it usually works.How common is it that Chinese factories actually keep a stock of products?
In my honest experience, and I am born and raised in the factory landscape in Zhejiang province, factories don’t keep more than goods worth a thousand US dollars. However, say that it’s a really low value product (like $1 per pc), most suppliers will not have 1000 units ($1000 worth of goods) in stock. There are, however, two exceptions to this rule:1. The supplier may have ‘over produce’ from previous orders. Thus, they may want to sell this to other buyers.
2. There are defect products in stock, that has been refused by previous buyers.
Editor’s note: There are some exceptions, with suppliers that are to a certain degree specialize in offering “off shelf goods”. However, tread carefully, as I certainly agree that the vast majority of off shelf goods belong to the two categories above.
But, aren’t most off shelf products made for the domestic Chinese market?
There are “stock” products, made for both the domestic Chinese market, and overseas markets. Off the shelf products are often daily usage commodities, that aren’t subject to much development. These are products that stay the same. Hence, the produce can in some cases be used for both the domestic market in China, and export.Are importers in some countries more prone to avoid “Off shelf” products, than others?
Yes, there are trends. For example, Importers from the United States and Europe are more likely to order custom designed products. At the very least, US and EU importers design their own packaging, with their own artwork, logo and company information. It’s also common that they brand the product, even if it’s not their own design. It’s called private labelling, as you might already know. This is the case even for small businesses.Buyers from Asia, South America and Africa might be a bit less focused on branding. In my experience, mass produced products are mainly exported to developing markets. Maybe because it’s still possible to run a good import business in these countries, selling generic goods, without branding or customisation. But, I think in the years to come, more and more businesses from these emerging markets will realize the benefits of customisation and branding. They will start thinking in the same terms.
Now, take a ‘ready made’ toy for example. Children’s products and other toys are regulated, for example, by CPSIA in the US and EN 71 in the EU. Toys ‘made for China’ are not manufactured according to these regulations. Hence, this makes it practically impossible to buy, for example, off shelf toys from China?
Yes, that is correct. Please let me develop this further. Product safety standards and procedures exist in China, but it’s an area that is still developing, and moving quite fast. It can be hard to keep track sometimes. So, what this means is that toys, for example, are not always reaching the substance and safety requirements in the EU and USA.I can tell of an example. Inflatable rubber horses. Those that kids like to ride on in the pool. The very same design, ‘newly produced’ for the EU or US market, is 35% more expensive than a unit made for the Chinese market. It’s not that the quality, in terms of what it looks or feels like, is different. The difference is that US and European importers cannot buy products made of materials that is, for example, phthalate free. Or, heavy metals free.
As of now, EU and US safety standards are higher than domestic ones. This is important, because a lot of off shelf products out there are made for the domestic Chinese market.
So, when is it right to buy Off shelf products, and when should buyers consider other options?
Products that are not as strictly regulated, like packaging, gifts, crafts, household goods. These are far “easier options”. Products that are strictly regulated, like electronics and toys are very hard to buy in small volumes. There is a risk that importing these products can result in the shipment being seized by customs in the buyer’s country, if they don’t have the valid compliance documents, like certificates and test reports.You are the co-founder of Jing Sourcing, based in Yiwu. What can your company do for businesses looking to buy Off the shelf products?
From our office in Yiwu, we help buyers, from the whole world, to source products from both manufacturers and the local market. As some of you may know, Yiwu is famous for its wholesalers and ‘off the shelf’ bulk product traders. As such, we can serve the needs of many types of buyers, including those that are looking to buy for less than US$1,000 per SKU.However, our methods are of course very different when it comes to products that are more regulated, for example Toys and Electronics. In these cases, we assess the supplier’s capability to ensure compliance with relevant safety standards and regulations. We can also manage other procedures, for example administering samples and compliance testing.
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Wednesday, March 2, 2016
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