China Plant Tours: Why You Have to See for Yourself

By Leanne in 'The China Sourcing Blog'

All international purchasing managers try to minimize import risk. As a China sourcing expert, in order to achieve this goal we will always recommend you to undertake plant visits to China before you place an order, for the following reasons:

• It makes sense to meet the people who you will be working with before you place an order. You will get to know their personality and will start building a relationship with them. As we know, good relationships (or guanxi in Chinese) play a crucial role in business in China - hence the value of a face-to-face meeting can never be underestimated.

• You can inspect manufacturing areas to get an idea of raw material quality, workers' skills, production capabilities and the internal QC process of the manufacturer. There is nothing better than to see it with your own eyes.

• You can find out to what extent your manufacturers subcontract their production to other plants by checking their work areas and warehouses, or by asking them during meetings.

• You can experience the working environment and meet the workers to be sure that your suppliers are not using child labour and are providing protection masks etc.

• By making the trip to China, you can give your suppliers a sure signal that you are really serious about quality issues, and more so if you emphasize quality during your meeting. When they produce and deliver products, they will put you in a 'Picky clients' list and will therefore be more careful with your products.

Some extra benefits you can gain from visiting your China plant:

• You may find out that you can actually source many other products in China besides those in your current plan. I had a client before who saw good packaging material during his plant tour in a steel tube plant and finally ordered some packaging materials as well.

• You may see your competitors' products in a production line during your plant tour. This happens a lot in the top equipment manufacturing plants of China as they get orders from all major international players.

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Readers have left 5 comments.

 1. sales manager
7506kelly, Unregistered

Good article. It shows the writer has worked in foreign trade for several years at least. Thanks for her sharing.

 Posted 2009-04-21 06:42:33

 2. Production Manager
Sam, Unregistered

All of these are good points. However, be AWARE that there will be many Chinese plants that show you one thing but then when you're gone (maybe this order, or the next or the next), change the specs, change the materials, change your requirements. It's crucial to have someone on the ground that you can trust full time to make sure what you want is what you get. That's what we do every time with our suppliers. Being a custom manufacturer with our own plant, we know very well how suspect the goods you get from suppliers. www.3cinterglobal.com

 Posted 2009-05-05 22:26:48

 3. Export Import Manager
amber jajodia, Unregistered

thanks for sharing your views, it was nice

 Posted 2009-05-13 12:23:28

 4. Managing Director
Michael, Unregistered

Thanks for the information on plant visits in China. To help people do their plant visits more easily, our site has produced a directory of industrial zones in China. If you are interested, please take a look at our industrial zone directory at http://www.rightsite.asia.
I hope this can be helpful

 Posted 2009-05-18 16:23:39

 5. Business Development Officer
Sudhir Bhatt, Unregistered

A very good eye opener for importers of Chinese goods. I also feel Government of China must strictly impose certain manufacturing standards so the manufacturers maintain internationally acceptable quality of goods.

Government of China must establish complaints desk at their embassies and in China to hear importers complaints when they are cheated. If the chinese manufacturer / supplier is proved to have cheated stiff fines and penalties must be imposed and licences revoked.

This is all possible because China has the technology and able human resources to produce goods of excellent qualities at reasonable prices.

 Posted 2009-05-25 22:41:43

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