Supplier Assessment

Sourcing of Suppliers during Travel Restrictions (1 out of 4)

Regardless the industry, scale or magnitude of your international purchase, the first stage of the project is to have a supplier that manufactures your products at competitive prices, with the delivery times that you expect under the desired quality standards. However, the main challenges and questions that international buyers face are: How do we find potential suppliers for my purchasing projects in China? How do we know that the identified supplier is a reliable source and does not represent ...

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Wrist Watches Factory Inspection

Good Morning Everyone! Ever heard the saying “clock watchers never seem to be having a good time”? Clearly, the One that said that never went on a wrist watches factory inspection! Let me tell you more about this! WHERE: Shenzhen, Guangdong Province WHEN: August 15th WHAT: Wrist Watches SBE TEAM: Jason – Engineer, Valentina, Teodora and Ade – Interns  Our journey started at Huangbeiling Station and it took almost 45 minutes to get to Qinghu Station at the end of...

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The Chinese Freight Forwarders Scam

In the last few years we've witnessed a sharp rise in the frauds made by scammers in the freight forwarding industry in China. These frauds are done by small international freight forwarding companies in China with the focus of sea freight shipments - EX China main Sea ports.   These companies often contact importers around the world through targeted E-mail marketing campaigns, Advertisments in B2B websites and other online platforms, and they offer really low rates for sea freight operat...

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10 Tips to Survive in Guangzhou Canton Fair

If you want to make direct personal contacts, identify suppliers, and find out the ‘ins and outs’ of doing business in China, attending trade fairs are a great first step. However, it is important to bear some points in mind to get the most out of your business visit to China. For many Westerners, China is definitely not the easiest place to travel in.   How to survive in Guangzhou then?   Here are 10 points for your to keep in mind when attending the Canton Fair in Gua...

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5 Whys – Problem Solving Techniques

The 5 Whys is a simple among many of the problem solving techniques that helps you to get to the root of a problem quickly. Made popular in the 1970s by the Toyota Production System, the 5 Whys strategy involves looking at any problem and asking: "Why?" and "What caused this problem?" Very often, the answer to the first "why" will prompt another "why" and the answer to the second "why" will prompt another and so on; hence the name the 5 Whys strategy. Benefits of the 5 Whys include: It h...

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Why to check suppliers for a slave labor?

Just half of UK manufacturing companies are auditing their first tier suppliers for child workers, slaves and conflict minerals, according to researches. It found fewer – 38 per cent – are auditing tier two vendors on the same criteria; and one in five said they are confident in suppliers’ ethical compliance purely because of personal relationships. The study revealed 80 per cent of UK manufacturers said they were “very confident” their tier one suppliers did not use slave labor,...

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Where did the product come from?

A certification scheme won't work – data should move through the supply chain as efficiently as the goods themselves How did the everyday things that we buy get here, and from where? It seems a simple enough question and yet for the vast majority of things we buy it is completely unanswerable. The label may say "made in China", but normally that's just where the bits and pieces were put together. So where do the bits come from, and how do we find out? Why should we care? The total val...

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4 key elements that will transform B2B

2014 will be the "Year of E-Engagement" for B2B Commerce, Driven by Explosive Growth of Social, Mobile and Cloud. Use of Business Commerce Networks, E-Invoicing, E-Payment Solutions will Rapidly Rise as Companies Seek Better Cash Flow. 1. 2014 Will Be The Year Of ‘E-Everything’ In today’s real-time social, mobile and cloud-based environment, business users are demanding access to information and the ability to process tasks in a matter of seconds or minutes. Finance and procureme...

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Top 10 problems in International Trade

The most common issues you can face doing international trade: 1. Distance: Due to long distance between different countries, it is difficult to establish quick and close trade contacts between traders. Buyers and sellers rarely meet one another and personal contact is rarely possible. There is a great time lag between placement of order and receipt of goods from foreign countries. Distance creates higher costs of transportation and greater risks. 2. Different languages: Different lang...

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Kinds of inspectors in China

When you want to hire a team to perform your quality inspections in China, you have a wide choice of profiles. We have done a lot of trial-and-error over the years, and here are the types of inspectors that we have come across. I have listed the profiles in my order of preference.   fffff 1. The employee with experience in a trading company She used to be a purchaser, a salesperson, a merchandiser (as they are called in the garment industry)… in some kind of office role, but she often...

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