China Manufacturing Decoded

In This Episode... Andy Bartlett, an experienced British product designer who has 25 years of experience in product design, development, and working with manufacturers in China, returns to the podcast to join Sofeast's CEO Renaud for a lively discussion about the kinds of issues and common pitfalls that can come up when developing, approving, and maintaining tooling for your plastic injection molded products. You'll learn why supplier selection is key, how to protect your IP, tooling...

In This Episode... Sofeast's CEO Renaud and Adrian from the team explore an important part of the new product launch process: pilot runs. What is a pilot run, why is it so important when bringing new products to market, and what are the benefits we can expect when performing them before going into full production? These and more questions like this answered in this episode! Show Notes 00:00 - Introducing the episode 00:51 - Why the pilot run is such an important activity when launching...

In This Episode... Adrian asks Renaud the questions: "Is Investing In Process Automation In The Factory Worth It?" and "What are the best practices to follow to smoothly transition into more automation?" In China especially, there's a trend to replace staff with equipment, and part of this automation drive comes from the government itself who is steering the manufacturing sector towards higher-tech products. As staff costs rise, the temptation to use equipment and robots due to the...

In This Episode... Renaud interviews Simon Caballero, a Hanoi-based purchasing manager and expert on manufacturing in Vietnam, to discuss the manufacturing industry in Vietnam, common risks and issues you will face when manufacturing garments there, and the relationship between developing new products and manufacturing in Vietnam and China. Simon has a background in logistics and over a decade of experience in sourcing all kinds of products in Asia, with particular expertise in China and...

In This Episode... Design For Quality is a process we follow in order to design good quality into products at the early concept and prototyping stages during the new product introduction process. You will probably be surprised as to how many design points need to be considered in order to have a mature product design that can be mass-produced with the minimum of quality problems, defects, safety issues, and more. Our CEO Renaud has worked with clients on numerous products over around 2...

In This Episode... Preventive maintenance in the factory is a topic of interest for many Sofeast customers, and manufacturers who rely on machinery in the factory and choose to put in place a preventive maintenance plan tend to keep operations running smoothly and keep ahead of equipment maintenance, repairs, and routine part replacements. This gives them numerous advantages, not least fewer quality problems, less cost sunk into inventory, higher labor productivity, and much more! In this...

In This Episode... Interested in setting up a factory of your own in China (or perhaps other countries in Asia, too)? Renaud and his business partner Fabien have been there and done it, so let's explore how they set up our Chinese contract manufacturing subsidiary, Agilian Technology, and how they've tried to implement best practices learned over decades in China to offer something better than other Chinese factories. Show Notes 00:00 - Introducing the episode 02:10 - What's the story...

In This Episode... Adrian and our CEO, Renaud, discuss how the current political tensions between the USA and other Western nations and China are affecting manufacturing and provide some more general observations on the 'Cold War' trends of containment and decoupling that seem to be gathering strength. This topic stemmed from this recent Forbes article which suggested that Americans polled would be prepared to pay 20% more for goods manufactured in democracies...No prizes for guessing which...

In This Episode... Adrian and Renaud, Sofeast's CEO, return in this special Chinese New Year 2021 edition of the podcast! 🧧🧨🐂 During the CNY period manufacturing in China (and other parts of East Asia) is effectively on hold for several weeks, so during this time importers have a chance to 'Spring Clean' their supply chain, finding and eliminating risks and also looking for untapped opportunities to make improvements, costs savings, and more. So, based on his decades of experience in...

In This Episode... Adrian interviews Richard Barnett, CMO of SupplyFrame, an AI-based SaaS solution which enables sourcing insights and decision support that improves the performance and resilience of electronics supply chains. US-native Richard has decades of experience in the electronics field and has clocked many years in Asia, so he was an ideal person to discuss supply chain risks faced by today's importers of Asian electronic products and components in 2021 and risk-management...

In This Episode... Adrian and Renaud discuss the rising number of COVID-19 cases in China barely a week or so before the Chinese New Year holiday is set to happen where tens of millions of people will travel home around the country. The outbreak is centered on the North of the country at present, but if it were to spread this could lead to lockdowns throughout the country and the authorities are already raising alertness and preparations to suppress its spread as much as possible. If you...

In This Episode... Adrian catches up with Andy Bartlett, an experienced British product designer who has 25 years of experience in product design, development, and working with manufacturers in China to discuss project management best practices when dealing with Chinese suppliers with a special focus on Andy's take on this from a product design perspective. He covers project management tips and techniques, building good relationships, IP protection, and much, much more! More about Andy...

In This Episode... Adrian and Renaud discuss the topic of product reliability testing. What is this type of testing, when do we carry it out, what are the risks of not doing the testing, and what does it cost? These questions and many more are answered, because today, more than ever, it's so important for importers to protect themselves against expensive recalls and lawsuits which may occur if your products don't reach expected reliability, quality, and, as a knock-on effect in many cases,...

In This Episode... Adrian and Renaud kick-off 2021 with Renaud's thoughts on how the coronavirus pandemic will continue to affect manufacturing this year and how things might change once vaccine use becomes more widespread, and then get into the main topic: How to validate a supplier's production capacity, especially if you're a buyer abroad who isn't able to travel to China (or elsewhere in Asia) to do this on-site yourself. Given that a supplier over-promising on their capacity could land...

In This Episode... Adrian and Renaud talk about the current trend of moving manufacturing operations away from China, either partly or completely. This really started to gain pace due to the US/China trade war and the punitive tariffs imposed by the US government on some 'Made-In-China' goods, and, in some ways, the coronavirus pandemic hastened it, too, as companies sought to diversify supply chains to reduce risk. So is this exodus from China going to continue into 2021 and does it affect...

In This Episode... You've tuned into part 11 of our mini-series guiding you through effective vetting of Chinese suppliers that will help you to find the best possible manufacturer for your products (listen back to the entire mini-series on vetting Chinese suppliers here 👍). In fact, this is the final part of this mini-series! In this mini-series, you will already have learnt about due diligence, factory audits and visits, exploring testing facilities, and much more when it comes to...

In This Episode... Sofeast's CEO, Renaud, and Adrian from the team discuss the 'Bill Of Materials.' Why is this document SO important for importers, what does it contain, how does it help the development and manufacture of products, and why and how must it be kept confidential where possible? These questions, and more, are all answered in this episode! Show Notes 00:00 - Introduction. 01:22 - What is the BOM? A rough introduction to the document and its purpose. A list of the...

In This Episode... Sofeast's CEO, Renaud, and Adrian from the team discuss the forthcoming Chinese New Year holiday which is officially between Feb. 11th to 17th 2021 (CNY day is Feb 12th). We'll look into how and why this holiday has a serious impact on lead times, quality, supply chain risk, and managing suppliers; greater than at any other time of the year. Renaud also shares some tips and strategies that importers can implement to plan and prepare for CNY, as well as mitigating risks...

In This Episode... Sofeast's CEO, Renaud, and Adrian from the team discuss everything buyers should know about quality control plans. A QC plan lists all the quality-related checkpoints to be passed during/after a production run. Depending on the buyer's situation (which include factors like order size and value), it can include process, product, or legal checkpoints. Approving QC plans is an essential step before production is allowed to start as you'll see as we go through the...

In This Episode... You've tuned into part 10 of our mini-series guiding you through effective vetting of Chinese suppliers that will help you to find the best possible manufacturer for your products (listen back to the entire mini-series on vetting Chinese suppliers here 👍). If you've been following this mini-series, you will already have learnt about due diligence, factory audits and visits, exploring testing facilities, and much more when it comes to vetting suppliers. But if you're at...