Working With Your China Supply Chain Management, Not Against it

As a China supply chain management company, we get asked about efficiency issues all the time. There are vital steps in the China supply chain management process.  For instance, there is a wide range of quality control issues from quality inspections to ensuring that, from sampling to shipment, your product meets or exceeds your expectations. All of which requires a team that will complement your existing process and not slow it down.  A team that works with you, not against you. It should not feel as though you must control every step of the process and every painstaking detail.  Your China supply chain management team should do that: they should be the team that you can depend on to handle any issues that might arise from product development to delivery.

Directives must come from you, the importer, but the execution should be delegated to the China team. There are countless steps that take place from production to the delivery.  From the initial sourcing process to making sure all the specifications are up to your standards and expectations, from prototypes to samples, to final approval; it can be overwhelming for any importer, experienced or not, to painstakingly monitor all of those.  Then you need to keep up with your quality assurance team and make sure they are on top of the factories at all times ensuring your products are being made accurately and safely. They need to make sure the quality of the product itself as well as the packaging meets your (and the US gov’t) standards, make sure all safety issues are addressed, and the list goes on and on. Is your China supply chain management up to the task?

There are many more parts to this puzzle that all need to be put in the right place at the right time. All this before logistics when you need to make sure your goods get delivered on time and efficiently, as you required.  As you can see it takes a complete team working together to get this done completely, correctly and on time.  With the right team in place, your confidence level should be such that you can relax and concentrate on the US side of your business and let your China supply chain management team manage the China side.

So how do you work WITH your China Supply Chain Management Team, not against it?  You provide them with clear, well-defined, measurable goals.  They should be annual goals, quarterly goals, monthly objectives etc. that they understand and agree with.  Then let them execute and be accountable on a regular basis.

How much of a management burden is your sourcing program right now?  What would be your ideal china supply chain management solution?

by Susan Timpe