AsiaInspection Q1 Barometer: China - This Dragon Isn’t Sleeping

Shenzhen, China, April 08, 2014 - AsiaInspection, a leading provider of quality control services for businesses importing from Asia, Africa, Southern Europe and Latin America, today announced its Q1 2014 Barometer, a quarterly synopsis of manufacturing outsourced services and quality control industry.



China exports reach all time high

Due to the seasonality of Chinese New Year, February export figures plummeted 18% compared to 2013. The media has been reporting that the Chinese economy is on the brink of recession.

What is not mentioned is that China remains the dominant region sourcing huge volume. December and January set new records for total exports, exceeding $ 207 billion as months.1 Fit for Chinese New Year holiday, comparing November to January 2013/2014, the total Chinese exports rose 9% compared with the same period in 2012/2013.

ChinaInspection figures topped this with a growth of 12% for ordered inspections in China. More revealing perhaps a leading indicator of export figures of wine, advancing 26.2% in March compared to the previous year.

Why the increase? In Q1 the Chinese Yuan was the first big break of currencies since 2005, depreciation of 2.7%. For companies looking to emerging markets for manufacturing, this has been little more than a "China plus One" strategy: manufacturing has remained behind in China. China has continued to maintain a healthy balance of wages, a developed infrastructure and the world's largest labor force.
China and One More

The countries of South and Southeast Asia have offered opportunities to reduce labor costs. Although their economies are much smaller, emerging markets were the clear winners in percentage growth. Inspections ordered in Bangladesh increased 70% compared to 57% and Vietnam. Cambodia increased 32% despite the unrest in the garment industry, which has led to protests across the country, climbing in January, when police fired on demonstrators, killing at least four people and wounding 38 more.2 in Indonesia, where the textile industry is set to become the largest segment of the country's exports, inspections increased 22%.
Brands and retailers take control of their supply chains

there has been a growing awareness and consumer demand, not only for high quality product, but a supply chain of high quality.



AsiaInspection Q1 2014 data shows an increase by 156% yoy in ethical audits and manufacturing in Asia. Rana Square highlighted how factories often illegally sub contract out the orders after major retailers reported that their products were never allowed to manufacture there. An increasingly common practice is to weave ethical audits programs with on-site product inspections to ensure manufacturing actually takes place in a factory approved.

"There are remarkable traction grip to supply chains around the world: corporations who put their money where their mouths are and governments to advance the legislation," said Sebastien Breteau, CEO of AsiaInspection.

The American Chamber of Commerce surveyed 400 member companies that buy in China and found that 40% plan to spend considerably more ethnically based companies compliance.3 EU face more stringent guidelines that require them to report on their policies regarding ethical issues, corruption and the risks they pose to human rights throughout its supply chains.4

China has not been without problems of ethical compliance. In Q1 16 workers died in a fire at the factory Hangzhou5 and 11 died in a factory fire off Shantou in Guangdong Province province.6
Africa, a region Electronic Up-and-coming



Labor intensive manufacturing low cost is increasing in Africa. ChinaInspection ordered inspections increased 65% year over year. The American Apparel and Footwear Association reports that companies are choosing to invest in manufacturing for markets like South Africa closer to the intended consumer market, rather than Asia.7 Africa also represents the greatest potential for population growth in the next 20 years, providing both business and end customers to companies that think in the long run. Ethiopia, a leader in terms of foreign investment, is targeting a goal of U.S. export $ 1 billion in 2014, as part of a four-year growth and transformation Plan.8

About AsiaInspection - Your Eyes in the Factory ™
AsiaInspection is a provider of quality control that is associated with leading international brands, retailers and importers to secure and manage their global supply chain. With a unique quality control management web based, AI provides Product Inspection, Factory Audit and laboratory services to over 3,000 clients worldwide.

7 Mistakes Chinese Factories Make In Production Planning

Anyone who has imported products from China can attest that the planning process of most manufacturers is not exactly under control. The sad reality is that buyers are usually happy when a shipment is "only" 10 days after the promised date.

But where does this lack of precision is? Is it the result of over-enthusiastic salespeople? Not only.

In this article I listed the 7 most serious issues that I have noticed in many Chinese factories.

1. The lack of stability

there are always emergencies - customers who shout louder than the other, that is. So the boss puts his orders at the top of the priority list. As a result, the production people are constantly telling them to "streamline it" and then "oh really this is even more urgent," and so on.

Why is it a problem? Since it causes a serious loss of production efficiency.

A long term planning, by contrast, allows the factory to minimize the number of changes to keep staff fully utilized, to minimize confusion, etc. In the end, this means lower costs.

2. No standard timing for recurring operations

how can a serious manufacturer quote a new product? In reviewing the cost of the BOM, and estimating the time spent on one piece each process. This process can be relatively accurately by monitoring the time it takes to make samples and by applying some rules of thumb.

Once production runs regularly, it is also good to have an industrial engineer perform time studies, simple movement. The main goal should not be to refine the number of workers should get paid, but to allow finer planning process. (And also allows the department to calculate production efficiency.)

But what about the vast majority of Chinese factories that make the effort to provide the processing times in a scientific way? They are easily 20% discount on any given operation - and sometimes more than 100% off! (Ever wonder why prices go up so often after it has begun production?)

3. Excessive batch sizes

Owners of Chinese factories are obsessed with paying low price all they can to components, and often are pushed to buy large quantities at a time - sometimes we see 6 or 8 months of inventory for certain components or accessories.

Unfortunately, these large lots often take longer to do. So a couple of days (or weeks) are lost here. And then what happens internally after the components are in stock? The factory is to gain efficiency in production, doing lots are larger than the orders on hand. Same logic.

Not only saves money, but means the production takes even longer.

4. Without understanding the whole system

If you want to see if a production manager is smart, ask him if he has identified bottlenecks (there is always at least one), and what actions it has taken to increase its capacity.

Similarly, production managers usually have no knowledge of the effects of WIP (work in process) inventory on the production schedule. A mathematical relationship dictates most WIP means longer delivery times.

Finally, sometimes there is no buffer. Many factories added 4-8 days in the planning, because they know that "shit happens", but some manufacturers unsophisticated even think about this.

5. Lack of monitoring

Good factories operates, at least, a weekly review of all orders for delivery in the coming days. The idea is to review the situation and take appropriate action if delays are likely. But many factories have no regular meeting. That's a mistake.

In fact, I've found that people love meetings. Meetings called unstructured ad hoc to discuss a hot topic, that is. But regular meetings to discuss the situation on the database? That's another story. It is often necessary for the CEO to force your personal schedule.

6. Sequential preparation by different individuals / departments

I recently reviewed the planning process of a factory have 7 days from receipt of order and confirmation of the order by a customer providers. The sales team needs a day to prepare the information in the correct format, then planning and buying the equipment needed several days to prepare the list of materials, check the stock, inform providers, etc.



Not only their internal processes need a strong dose of simplification and standardization, but each service waits until the previous one has finished his work. Part of concurrent processing solution is as shown below.


 
7. Neither coordination with the director of human resources

If orders to collect significantly, it is good to start hiring more production operators a few weeks before. This is common sense, but common sense, apparently not found in many organizations. The HR manager should receive a summary of upcoming orders at least once a week to adjust the template.

Auditing Wood Machining Processes Used For Making Furniture

We work more and more furniture related projects, so we thought that creating a specific checklist for these processes was necessary.


 
The difficulty encountered was the many types of wooden furniture. We were forced to make certain assumptions in order to limit the scope and make physical audit manageable:

•     All wooden furniture starts as raw material
•     All wood furniture has some kind of shaping process in order to get the wood that looks like the end product
•     All wood furniture has some type of finish applied to the wood
•     All wood furniture ends as a finished product, either a fully assembled piece or as a product in a kit form where the consumer meets the product when they get home

So, given these assumptions, we look at the process of making wooden furniture in more detail.

We cover topics such as wood moisture and drying processes and how we are controlled. It is very important to understand the moisture content of wood, particularly when changes in the moisture content may change the dimensions of the timber, which could cause serious defects in the final product.

Turning a piece of wood in a wooden cabinet requires a number of different steps: cutting, sanding, shaping, laminating, gluing, drilling, painting and / or varnishing, screws, staples, printing (logos or names), assembly and some cases as a sofa or chair that is like adding furniture covers foam and fabric.

We have reviewed these process steps, broken down into sections where we examine the operational elements to assess the risks to the client. It is at this level where we look at the attention to detail, the way the process is repeatable, the use of jigs and fixtures, and how safe working conditions are, for example.

The objective of this type of audit process is to allow the client to determine the risks associated with a particular manufacturer, and to make a list of high-priority improvements.

Sections covered in this audit are:

•     Welcome Timber
•     Drying of Wood
•     The wood cut to size - Shaping
•     Drilling
•     Sand
•     Glued
•     Painting / Spraying
•     Polishing / Coating
•     Assembly screw
•     Serigraphy
•     Pad Printing
•     Health and Safety
•     In Process Quality Control (IPQC)
•     Work in Progress (WIP)
•     Mount Upholstery
•     Packaging

Inspections And Audits In Bangladesh

ChinaInspection offers the # 1 online platform for quality control.

      Guaranteed onsite inspections anywhere in Bangladesh within 48 hours for $ 309.
      Inspection reports are delivered within 24 hours of the inspection and include detailed images. You see what he sees our inspector.

Inspectors on site assessments and provide troubleshooting as needed throughout the manufacturing process.
    ChinaInspection offers the highest quality inspectors in Bangladesh. Our inspector network is highly trained and skilled in their areas of expertise.

Quality control services in Bangladesh

    All audits of factories in Bangladesh are in accordance with internationally recognized standards of ISO 9000 for Quality Management Systems
    Customers can modify or cancel your order until 13:00 (Bangladesh Time) the day before the scheduled inspection of a center based in Bangladesh.

Obstacles to doing business in Bangladesh
Bangladesh map inspection

 
the 21st century has great things in store for Bangladesh, which has been named one of the eleven countries. This designation indicates that due to large investments, Bangladesh has the potential to become one of the largest economies in the world in the coming years. This has been a great blessing to the country, which has benefited from the participation in the international business community.

This investment trend has led Western based moving production facilities within the borders of countries Bangladesh. As a result, executives from U.S., European and Australian companies must be able to rely on ethical and reliable field inspectors throughout the production process. Finding the right staff for this vital work can be difficult. Quality assurance is critical to a company's reputation. Companies must be able to trust that their facilities based in Bangladesh are running correctly and efficiently in order to maintain its position and rise above your competition.

Inspection Agencies in Bangladesh

 
Companies based in Bangladesh can trust our agents OSI regional basis are achieving and maintaining appropriate levels of quality control. Each step of production can be regulated through the use of a reliable inspection service. Our inspection services in Bangladesh include evaluation of programs pre - production and plans to ensure timely results and materials.