posted by Mathieu Labasse
Quality Control is a crucial part in the process of importing from China. Pressure on production costs, distance, time and cultural differences make it unavoidable.
Implementing Quality Control allows the importer to :
• Minimize the risks (and associated costs) linked to quality, loading, warehousing or non-compliance issues : “My products have been rejected by customs because the labelling done by my Chinese supplier does not comply with European standards.”
• Make sure contractual obligations are met (specification, packing, printing, delivery) : “My client rejected my delivery because the colour code of his logo has been wrongly printed on the production lot.”
• Spot the potential issues before the shipping, rather than upon delivery in Europe : “I have a container of glasses sitting in a warehouse in Europe, waiting for the products to be sorted and cleaned before I can sell them.”
• Create and maintain a reliable supplier pool and reduce costs: “I have setup an annual audit and regular inspections with this Chinese factory, and I can now work directly with them and run my productions confidently…”
3 different solutions can be implemented and combined, depending on the importer’s needs :