Many importers are new to sourcing from China so we've been creating a mini-series of episodes that explores the sourcing process with advice and best practices from Sofeast's CEO Renaud Anjoran.
In this series of episodes, we’re exploring how to do your own sourcing from China, from finding suppliers for your products to getting them made.
We’ve moved onto soft skills, and last time in episode 92 we spoke about building rapport with your suppliers. Now, we’re going to look at how closely to follow production - either closely as a hands-on buyer, or with more distance as a hands-off buyer. Either approach might benefit you, but it depends on a number of factors, such as product type, the volume of SKUs being purchased, whether or not you're developing a new product from scratch, and more.
Listen and decide if you'd be better served by being more hands-on or hands-off.
Show Sections00:00 - Greetings & quick mention of Covid in China
01:42 - Introducing the topic: How closely to follow production?
02:41 - What is a hands-off buyer?
08:33 - Buyers who should be more hands-on, but aren't, and the risks they face
11:29 - What is the typical sourcing process for hands-off buyers?
17:59 - What is a hands-on buyer?
23:32 - Benefits of being hands-on.
30:06 - Is there a risk of the supplier taking advantage of long-term customers who're reliant on them?
35:10 - Wrapping up.
Related content...These resources will also help you understand how to build relationships with suppliers or improve (or end) those that you already have:
And, if all else fails and you need to ditch your current supplier and switch to a new one...
Get in touch with us
Subscribe to the podcast
There are more episodes to come, so remember to subscribe! You can do so in your favorite podcast apps here and don't forget to give us a 5-star rating, please:
Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 Near Disaster! Quality & Reliability Issues?
Cost Vs Quality - How Manufacturers Can Find A Balance
7 Key NPI Tasks To Do Before You Take Your Product Into Production
13 Strategies To Ensure Consistent Product Quality
How to add Surface Textures to Molded Plastic Parts (Feat. Paul Adams)
Do you need a sourcing agent to buy from China?
Should you be wary of the cheapest Chinese suppliers?
Getting Ahead Of The Upcoming EU Product Liability Directive (Feat. Clive Greenwood & Prof. Simon Choi)
How A Supplier’s Quality Can Be Evaluated & Validated
Sourcing Chinese Suppliers? 7 expert tips to get you better results!
China’s REAL business environment for foreign investors today + How to set up a manufacturing company there
18 steps for selecting electronic components the right way
Technology Readiness Levels: How can they help today’s manufacturers?
DFM lessons we can learn from Elon Musk
Testing To Failure For Your Product - Why?
7 Key Learnings From Manufacturing Organizational Charts
How to use reliability data to make better products & save money
Avoid Sending Immature Product Designs to a Chinese Manufacturer!
Building Better Systems & Processes For Importers (Feat. Gianmarco Meli)
The Benefits of a Feasibility Study (during new product development)
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Commercial Edge: Unleash the Power of People
The emPOWERed Half Hour
U.S Property Podcast
Aligned Money Show
Gorse Culture PODcast : The H.R. Detective Agency!
The Ramsey Show
Planet Money