Everyone is concerned about how to control quality in China. In fact I often have new clients say to me “I don’t care about the price just make sure the quality is OK”. This is actually pretty wise, you are much better worrying about China quality assurance management or production issues than a 5% discount on the production cost.
Imagine your shipment is delayed from China, your product has defects which reduce customer satisfaction or in the worst case require a total product recall.
This happens all the time and even to the big boys, obviously Toys come to mind with the cases of lead paint but also Wal-Mart has had massive product recall cases where they failed to effectively manage their quality assurance processes in China.
What does China quality assurance and quality control involve?
Factories will generally expect some sort of quality assurance process to be employed by the buyer.
Either a full blown quality assurance control or a sampling process. Whatever the case you need the skills to carry out an quality assurance and quality control inspection relevant to your product.
When ChinaFind carries out quality assurance control we look at the following factors:
1. Product factors
a. Size
b. Quantity
c. Technical nature
d. Materials
e. Production process
f. Packaging requirements
2. Situational factors
a. Factory location
b. Weather
c. Language
d. Seasonal
e. China National Holidays
3. Technical Factors
a. Labour skill requirements
b. Tools, testing equipment requirements
c. Certifications required
Product Factors:
We need to know these because they can greatly impact the type and number of quality assurance inspections we carry out.
For example, an order of 1million poker chips would require a different quality assurance inspection than a single wind turbine.
Technical Factors
Such as do we need an engineer, or a person with a specific skill set, or will they be someone capable of looking for scratches on a sheet of glass for example.
The technical nature of the product and the production process often determines the type and level of the quality assurance inspection required.
Situational factors are often overlooked. A factory in central China will incur greater travel expenses, be harder to reach and require overnight stays compared to a factory near a major city.
During some seasons factories will be on skeleton staff while they could be closed or key personnel are away during national holidays.
Does your product need to be certified? I have another article which covers certifications however know that some products are required by law to be certified – are you qualified to carry out these tests or arrange someone that can?