China is the world’s largest economy and the fastest growing consumer market. Thus, there are many opportunities to succeed when selling in China. And if you’re already manufacturing in China, it probably seems logical to sell there as well.
China is sending a message to its local economy—hurry up and build it.
It’s official, the Trump administration has postponed raising tariffs (again), citing “substantial progress” in talks between the US and China. The US-China trade war has no end in sight.
Clients with China interests are wondering where to hedge their bets, given these circumstances of uncertainty.
Experienced a factory abruptly closing in China? This may be your chance… The downturn is real. Environmental regulation enforcement, over capacity, competition, and just plain old lack of demand are all driving this trend. It requires some diligence to know if your China supplier is in trouble. Time to make a visit… Here are 10 red flags your China supplier is going bankrupt.
The trade war wages on. Although there is much speculation about the duration of the trade war, we at Complete Manufacturing and Distribution expect it to continue. With an unpredictable future, we recommend that our clients prepare a Plan B.
Tariffs imposed by China and the US continue to have an impact on supply chains creating uncertainty on the feasibility of successful product launches. Many companies are caught like deer in the headlights hoping the car will stop. Hope is not a plan. In this article, we cover things to consider when launching a product during the trade war, because we have an inkling the car won’t stop.
On October 9, 2018 the National Committee on US China Relations hosted their 12th Annual China Town Hall in Tampa Bay, Florida. The National Committee is a private, non-partisan, non-profit organization whose purpose is to promote understand and cooperation between two of the world’s great nations.
At the 12th Annual China Town Hall, Secretary Condoleezza Rice along with industry experts discussed the rising US-China tensions, the US-China business landscape, and what comes next. I spoke with David Alexander, CMD’S USA Partner and CEO of Bay Source Global who participated as a panelist to collaborate on a summary. Here are the main takeaways:
This year, we are refreshing our understanding of the manufacturing landscape in Thailand. Through extensive sourcing efforts followed by visits to dozens of facilities on behalf of clients, we are establishing relationships with the most relevant factories. The top takeaways: A solid industrial base, on par with China's manufacturing landscape, is well established. Quality and capability is high (including IATF and TS for automotive, thanks to a Japanese influence on manufacturing). A culture of customer service is refreshing, despite the challenges with English. And the biggest concern is capacity: many plants are 60-90% utilized, and more investment will be needed to support additional volume. The bottom line: get in now, get in early…
As the trade war heats up, supply chain managers with China interests have been fighting it on two fronts: 1) asking suppliers to absorb some of the tariff-related costs, and 2) attempting to pass along price increases to customers. Both are a tough sell. So it's not surprising that we're spending many an evening talking to leaders about alternative countries beyond China. The six you'll read about here are the candidates most often discussed, and each has pros and cons.
You'll often hear quality assurance (QA) used interchangeably with quality control (QC). In practice, they are very different.
Quality assurance is proactive. The entire cradle to grave product life cycle is considered, and specifications are crafted for not only the customer-driven product requirements, but also specific processes that result in a quality outcome. The outcomes are both physical and perceived experiences that are essential to the brand. The goal of QA is to build a cost-effective, repeatable product that delights the customer.
Quality control is reactive. QC is about checking parts, validating specs are met, and catching defects before they ship to the customer.
No longer a war of words, the trade situation between two of the largest economies in the world has escalated into a full-blown trade war. With the US imposing substantial tariffs on Chinese goods, and China responding in kind, experts agree that this trade war is not blowing over anytime soon.
If you’re still taking a wait-and-see approach, the risks are rising. We believe the time is now to start strategizing contingency plans.