"Made in China" is often associated with low quality products. This has prompted more and more foreign entrepreneurs to focus on the quality of the products that they manufacture in China.

High quality production is not only the responsibility of the suppliers but also the buyers. Manufacturing with higher quality often involves higher cost, because better materials are used and a stricter quality management procedure is implemented. Therefore, in order to keep the product prices as low as possible, some buyers accept lower quality goods.

Another cause of low quality manufacturing is short lead-time. This can be a risky behavior and it is more reasonable to agree together with the manufacturer on the lead-time.

On the other hand, buyers that are concerned by the quality of their products could establish strict controls of their productions. One of the first steps that one should perform before starting production is establishing written specifications (both in English and Chinese) of the product. This document could contain technical information such as drawings, measures and colors. Once both the buyer and manufacturer agree on the specifications, production could start. It would be preferable to get the specifications document signed and approved by your manufacturer, in order to avoid misunderstandings in the case of quality issues.

In order to assure the quality of their products, most of the foreign entrepreneurs perform quality controls (QC) at the end of the manufacturing process, which is often called "pre-shipment inspection(PSI)." These controls are performed either by external or internal inspectors. Caution should be exercised when external inspectors perform PSI.

Indeed, a large number of companies providing quality controls have contracts with local agents (that are not full-time employees of the company) to perform inspections. The problem with this type of inspectors is that they are less strict on the quality and in many cases they could even accept an extra fee from the factory where they perform the inspections, in order to be less exigent during the QC. This has now become a common practice among the Chinese factories. Therefore, one should take the time to choose a reliable QC service provider.

Because of these issues, the reliability of this type of inspection is often questioned. Therefore, pre-shipment inspections could be considered as necessary but not sufficient in high quality manufacturing.

A better solution would be to establish a quality management process (QMP). Unlike simple quality controls such as PSI, QMP starts before the production and supervises the quality all along the manufacturing process.

The first step in the approach of QMP is the definition of the quality requirements and the control process in the document of product specifications (mentioned earlier). During the production, several inspections would be necessary. Usually the first inspection is performed at the beginning of the production to audit the production capacity of the factory, to explain the quality requirements to the workers and to control the raw materials (if any). If necessary, samples of the raw material could be collected during this first inspection for laboratory testing. Another inspection could be performed when 50 percent of the production is completed. During this inspection several samples should be collected and controlled in the factory and some could be sent to laboratory for testing (depending on the product). The last inspection could be a PSI that is performed when 80 percent of the production is complete.

Quality management of the production is a process that has to be developed and implemented by the buyers, because in many cases the same factory could produce both high and low quality goods. Thus, strict supervision by the buyer could result in a higher quality.

Column prepared by Milad Nouri, Managing Director, China Consultants International Limited

www.china-consultants.biz