Author Archives: Renaud Anjoran
10 Nasty Surprises For Small Buyers In China
Be warned, numerous nasty surprises await small buyers in China! But don’t worry, I’ll outline some of the common ones so you can either be prepared to face them or avoid them completely!
Quality System Audits vs. Process-Specific Audits
In this article, I want to contrast conventional quality system audits based on ISO 9001, and what I call process-specific audits. Why are each beneficial to importers, and what are the drawbacks you might find with them?
How Factory Audits, Inspections, and Lab Tests Fit Together
I am often asked questions such as “what is the difference between audits and inspections” or “why are lab tests necessary if you send an inspector”. In this article, I will show how these three types of solutions from Sofeast … Continue reading
How A Tooling Transfer In China Works With Sofeast (13 Steps)
Negotiating the tooling transfer process can be really hard for importers who are moving to a new Chinese supplier. And making it work in practice takes some planning. It is far more complex than picking up and delivering a package. If … Continue reading
How To Bring In Quality Inspectors Without Upsetting Suppliers
Many buyers are fed up with quality issues that went unnoticed and ended up being shipped out, and they know something needs to change. One obvious way to contain issues is to bring in quality inspectors to check product quality … Continue reading
How To Find Suppliers In China [Importer Tips]
Are you looking for assistance to find suppliers in China? Sofeast can help you with that. Keep reading to see our suggested sourcing process and how we take the pain out of sourcing new suppliers for importers:
What is the AQL (Acceptance Quality Limit)? An exhaustive guide
What Does AQL Mean? ‘AQL‘ stands for ‘Acceptance Quality Limit‘, and is defined as the “quality level that is the worst tolerable” in ISO 2859-1. It represents the maximum number of defective units, beyond which a batch is rejected. Importers … Continue reading
Why Checking Quality During Loading Is A Bad Idea
In this post, I’m going to address whether checking quality during loading, if it’s even possible to do it at that time, is a good idea. I don’t think so, and here’s why…
What is an inspection level in ISO 2859-1 and ANSI/ASQ Z1.4?
This article introduces the different options available to buyers when it comes to the representation of product inspection findings. Inspection level II (under “normal severity”) is appropriate for most random quality inspections. But it is sometimes necessary to increase–or reduce–the … Continue reading
IP Protection For Manufacturers. Keep Component Suppliers In The Dark
There are two complementary approaches to improve IP protection for manufacturers and reduce the risks of your IP being infringed when developing and manufacturing products in Asia. Use legal methods, such as an NNN agreement. Use strategies outside of the … Continue reading
