How to choose a manufacturer to work with. This is a very important question, and it must not be ignored.
We will present how we do it.
You should do the same or at least similar if you work independently or with another agent.
The main and basic question when choosing a Chinese manufacturer is determining whether the manufacturer is real or not.
Chinese companies are masters of deception and disguise. They use the internet to make themselves look much better than they are.
But they can also hide the real state of things even if you are in the factory, on site.
So you have to find an efficient way to get to you as quickly as possible real data.
The general procedure we follow and the one you should follow is as follows.
First,
you or your representatives must visit the factory in person.
It is shocking how much difference there is in production systems even in developed areas like which are Dongguan, Guangzhou and Zhuhai.
Factories producing an almost identical product can range from those using primitive manual techniques from the 1930s to those using state-of-the-art German or Japanese automated equipment.
No you can trust what the factory says about their drives and systems and you can't trust the photos they show you.
You have to go and see for yourself.
Secondly,
when visiting factories you must use your time effectively.
Your goal must be to determine if the factory is real or if it is all fake, imaginary, a movie set put together just for you .
What you must know is that any factory owner can create the illusion that he is strong in his business by putting on a show for a foreign customer. , an active factory with all the production lines moving at full speed.
As soon as the customer leaves, the place shuts down again, the workers disperse, waiting for the next victim to arrive.
Don't fall for something like that!
You, as a buyer of their goods, must be their main focus. During the visit, they should meet you and show you all the parts of the factory that interest you.
In order to get to the real situation, our work system is such that we first refuse to visit the factory itself.
The Chinese side is always upset about this decision.
We make it clear to them that we must first inspect some other things.
The first place we visit is the raw materials warehouse.
Is the warehouse full or empty? An empty warehouse is almost always a sign of a struggling manufacturer.
If the warehouse is full, we look to see what material is in the warehouse.
Are the materials consistent with what the manufacturer says they produce?
Are the suppliers local, national or international?
Do we recognize any of the suppliers? Are the suppliers known?
The next place we go to visit is the shipping or shipping warehouse.
If the export warehouse is empty, this is an obvious signal that the manufacturer is currently out of business.
If the warehouse is a lot, we check whether the deliveries are made for the domestic market of China or for export.
If it is for export, then we check what are the destinations of the products.
Are they directed to countries that mainly have customers who do not care about product quality or does the product go to the USA, Germany, etc.?
We also pay close attention to product packaging and the loading process.
You can tell a lot about a company by the way the workers load the product into the containers.
The next visit should usually be to the financial offices of the manufacturer.
If you are with an agent let him talk. You just sit.
Just by sitting on a chair and observing what is happening around you, you can conclude a lot.
If there is no activity, it means that the company is dead.
If there is activity, then you observe it.
If you have a chance, find out what money goes in and out of the company?
A company that relies on cash transactions is usually not part of the international sales market.
Reliance mostly on cash payments indicating a local player with little Chinese national and international business.
The next stop is the sales department.
Again, the first thing to look at is whether the department is busy.
Are the salespeople taking orders and working with purchase orders and invoices or do they drink tea and stare out the window?
Which language do they speak?
Do they speak Chinese or English?
If they don't speak English, they don't have international business.
All you have to do is sit and listen.
This can be very valuable.
If you are visiting the factory with one of the agents (who is assumed to speak Chinese) and you trust him, tell him to pay attention to the phone conversations.
For example, if most of the phone calls to the sales department consist of from customer complaints about late delivery, insufficient quantity of goods at delivery, incorrect delivery and faulty or bad product.
This can tell you a lot about that company.
After all these visits to the back office, you are ready to look at the factory.
However, you may need to further frustrate the factory owner.
Instead of inspecting the factory, visit the quality control department first.
If there is no quality control department, that tells you everything.
If there is a quality control department, more once take a chair in the corner, let the agent do the talking for you and you watch.
The goal is to determine what happens when a product quality problem is discovered.
Do the people responsible for production come to see what happened?
Do they just pull out the defective item without any further action?
Or do absolutely nothing?
What happens to the damaged item?
Is it destroyed or is it left behind? on the side, probably for sale in the local market.
After all, visit the factory facilities and see how they work.
By then you already have a picture of the complete company and know if you want to work with them.
This review principle We use factories when we need to get to know a factory.
You should use the same or similar steps if you work without us as an agent if you want to start a collaboration with someone that should be successful and long-lasting.
Good luck in business!