Companies will need a proper quality control system in place for importing goods manufactured in China. Checking of quality has to happen in China before the goods are dispatched. Once the products have been dispatched from China after you make the full payment, then it becomes entirely your baby.
If you find any quality issues after receiving them in your country, then nothing much you can do about it. That can also cause a serious setback to your business. Most Chinese companies will not refund your payment or accept back the rejected items. The best way is to have a quality control partner in China itself, who can oversee the quality of the manufacturing process.
It is always safer to work with a reliable sourcing company if you are planning to import manufactured products from China. Not only will they help you find manufacturers in China they will also ensure quality checks all through the manufacturing, packing, and dispatching of your goods.
However, if you don’t have anyone to do the quality check during the manufacturing stage in China, there can be chances of serious quality lapses. Some of the quality issues that you can find in the Chinese products can be as silly as the following:
- Dirt
- Marks
- Scratches
- Minor cosmetic issues
A few other serious quality issues can be as follows:
- Damages
- Incorrect colours
- Incorrect design
- Incorrect labels
- Loose parts
- etc
One thing that is unique about importing anything from China is that you just cannot return the items once they have been dispatched to you.
So, then what you should do?
As already mentioned above, you must have a representative who is present in China. They will have to inspect the products during the manufacturing stage as well as before the items are dispatched to you.
Over the years, few dedicated sourcing companies in China have equipped themselves to take up the complete responsibility of quality checks on your behalf. Therefore, finding a suitable sourcing partner in China to ensure quality control of your goods becomes critical.
Some importers do not take help from sourcing agencies. They adopt other methods to find manufacturing companies. They take help from various resources like –
- Foreign and domestic product release conferences
- Foreign and domestic news media
- Internet
- Online business directories
- Foreign and domestic product exhibitions
- Meetings related to commodity orders organized by the government
- Foreign and domestic industry associations
- Statistical reports and publications published by the government
All those methods might sound like a cheaper option to find manufacturers in China, but they will end up relying on the factories to take care of quality. When you are investing so much money in manufacturing your products, it becomes imperative for you to have someone to check the quality
Professional third-party sourcing agency –
Firstly, you must make sure that the sourcing agent has a real office in China. They must have an experienced team to take care of all your sourcing requirements, right from finding the factories, doing the factory audits, shortlisting, and negotiating. They should have a good database to find the right factories based on the type and volume of your goods.
How they provide expert assistance all through the manufacturing and shipping process
Once the manufacturing process starts, they should send personnel on an everyday basis to check the progress and quality of production. If they find any flaws in the process or products, they will take it up with the manufacturing unit to get the necessary rectification done.
Inspection during the pre-production is important so that all the possible errors can be identified in the initial stage itself, which is before moving on to mass production. That will help in preventing bigger losses because only a few samples will be manufactured at this stage. If there are any mistakes, they can be rectified without spending too much.
Then they take care of the sampling stage, where they send a few sample pieces to the clients. Now the clients can see the physical products to see if they are manufactured as per their specific requirements, or not. They can give feedback and instructions to make the changes if they feel are necessary.
After the client approves the final prototype, the factories will move on to the mass production stage. Your sourcing agent will send inspectors to the site to monitor the progress and quality. They will pick random products to check if they meet all the specifications.
Most importantly, your sourcing company should keep in constant touch with you and provide you with the progress report. They can also make video calls from the factories so that you will get to see if everything is going on as agreed.
Inspectors from your sourcing agency will also monitor the quality of packaging. These agencies make a reputation for themselves by being able to handle many orders successfully. Therefore, they take extra care to ensure that everything is done in the right way. It is the only way for them to attract repeat business from their clients.
They also have good networks with the best warehouses to store your goods. If you are using the services of multiple factories, they will also help with the consolidation of all the goods in the warehouses before being shipped. In addition to manufacturing, they also assist with other aspects of China manufacturing like getting licenses, payment protection tools, and legal assistance if needed.
As you can see, there are many benefits of hiring the services of sourcing agents, rather than you exploring the China market yourself. Having an own office in China will be expensive, and not many importers will be willing to spend that kind of money. It will simply eat into their profit margins.
Hiring sourcing agencies can work out as a cheaper and more effective option if you wish to manufacture goods in China and import them back to your country. Make sure you choose the right agency that has a good reputation and credibility in the market.
