Renaud welcomes Dan Harris, Partner of the Seattle-headquartered and globally officed Harris Sliwoski LLP and long-time writer of the China Law Blog, to the podcast! Over the years he has shared so much valuable information for importers who buy from and manufacture in China; a key topic being keeping IP safe when purchasing from Chinese suppliers.

So in this episode, we delve into Dan's decades of assisting Western companies navigate doing business with Chinese suppliers and get his tips on common IP risks and steps you can take to protect your business.

00:00 - Greetings and introduction

03:27 - What are the major risks to IP concerning working with Chinese companies that Western businesses should look out for?

07:58 - Western companies consistently underestimate the risks of their technology and IP being used against them.

13:39 - Has the Chinese legal system evolved for the better (or worse) regarding IP protection?

20:11 - Protection 1: The right partner.

28:11 - Protection 2: The right contract.

30:21 - Protection 3. The right protections.

38:26 - Wrapping up.

Great reads from China Law Blog:

• China NNN Agreements: The Ten Most Asked Questions Answered

You should also check out these resources from Sofeast:

• Sofeast's FREE guide: IP Protection in China when Developing Your New Product [Importer’s Guide]

• Connect with us on LinkedIn

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:

• Apple Podcasts

• • Connect with us on LinkedIn

Renaud hosts and is joined by Sofeast Group senior engineer, Paul Adams, to discuss how to go from a design to mass-producing your plastic injection molded parts, first following the proven pre-production pilot run approach to ensure risks are kept to a minimum. You'll learn what should be optimized and what should not be skipped, even if sometimes getting to market sooner seems tempting.

00:00 - Greetings and introduction

01:49 - Why is an injection molding pilot run important?

05:05 - What are the steps involved?

09:53 - Why 'metal safe' is your goal after the trials.

12:39 - The supplier still needs to optimize the tooling 

25:01 - Optimizing the injection mold press (machine).

34:55 - Keeping records of parameter settings helps to control the process.

39:04 - Wrapping up.

• The Plastic Injection Molding Process: Top Questions and Answers

• Connect with us on LinkedIn

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:

• Apple Podcasts

• • Connect with us on LinkedIn

Today Adrian and Andrew Amirnovin, our reliability and testing head, look at some of China's recent technology successes, what fuels China's tech dominance, and how technology is caught up in the middle of the US-China trade war. 

00:00 - Greetings and introduction.

06:18 - What is fuelling China's tech dominance?

12:40 - The success story of Huawei.

20:32 - Other Chinese tech success stories.

23:30 - Is Chinese technology a privacy risk for users?

26:22 - How does the US-China relationship affect technology?

33:43 - New technologies coming out of China to be aware of.

36:10 - More semiconductor manufacturing to happen in the USA?

37:16 - Wrapping up and closing questions.

• Tech Please rewind: China's top tech feats of 2023

• Connect with us on LinkedIn

• • Connect with us on LinkedIn

Adrian and Renaud get together to talk about 10 common problems that companies with Chinese manufacturing suppliers often face, AND how you can deal with them. Hopefully, you are not one of the unlucky ones, but being prepared with the knowledge to avoid issues is always helpful!

00:00 - Greetings and introduction

03:22 - 1. If your supplier refuses to ship the goods you paid for.

09:40 - 2. Your manufacturer tries to force you to accept poor quality that you’re uncomfortable with.

16:00 - 3. If the supplier has failed to prepare export packaging of your products for your scheduled quality inspection.

21:41 - 4. When your supplier has disappeared with your tooling and/or inventory.

25:33 - 5. Your supplier won’t provide important supply chain information.

29:30 - 6. You catch your supplier selling your products as their own!

34:59 - 7. Your ‘factory’ turns out to be a trading company.

39:00 - 8. Coping with an unexpected price increase from suppliers.

41:50 - 9. Your current supplier blocks the transfer of your mold tooling to a new supplier.

46:09 - 10. Worries about keeping sensitive product information secure.

48:26 - Wrapping up.

• We cover these cases: 10 Common Disputes With Chinese Suppliers And How To Overcome Them!

• Connect with us on LinkedIn

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:

• Apple Podcasts

• • Connect with us on LinkedIn

Adrian and Renaud discuss Quality Fade. This bad practice from suppliers sees them put their profits before your product quality, but the big problem is that you may not even know it is happening as it's a gradual process where quality declines over time, bit by bit.

Are you at risk, how do you identify it, and what can you do to combat it? We reveal all in this episode!

00:00 - Greetings and introduction

02:27 - What is Quality Fade?

09:25 - Is it still happening today?

12:15 - Actions to help you avoid quality fade.

18:30 - If you are a victim of quality fade, how can you catch it?

23:44 - Examples of products affected by quality fade.

28:51 - Ongoing reliability testing: Warn the supplier, or do it secretly?

35:28 - Wrapping up.

• ‘Quality Fade’: China’s Great Business Challenge

• Connect with us on LinkedIn

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:

• Apple Podcasts

• • Connect with us on LinkedIn

On this episode of the China Manufacturing Decoded Podcast, Adrian hosts and is joined by Andrew, our reliability and testing head who is going to explain why the PCBA in your electronic product is critical, and how to protect it both physically and through product design.

00:00 - Greetings and introduction.

01:45 - What is the PCB and why is it so important?

03:04 - How and why do we protect the PCB?

04:40 - Conformal coating.

08:51 - Other PCB protection options.

14:14 - The process of protecting a product from the inside out.

18:42 - The costs of protecting PCBs.

23:44 - The coating process.

25:05 - Wrapping up.

• PCB Prototyping Methods: 5 Favorites

• Connect with us on LinkedIn

• • Connect with us on LinkedIn

Adrian and Renaud are talking about traceability for manufacturers which provides a detailed record of how the products are manufactured and the supply chain, from raw materials to finished products. Having this mindset and system can help you to reduce risks and deal with problems quickly by pinpointing where they arise. It can also help you be a more compliant business. Plenty of benefits, but it takes a cultural shift to put in place, so Renaud will explain how.

00:00 - Greetings and introduction

03:53 - Traceability takes a conscious effort to put in place.

06:07 - Introducing traceability and the difference between batch level and unit level.

12:06 - Benefits.

24:01 - Is it expensive to run a traceability initiative?

25:35 - How does traceability relate to product passports in the EU?

27:44 - How to implement it?

35:41 - How to audit a supplier's traceability system?

40:47 - Wrapping up.

• Get help to audit your supplier's traceability system from Sofeast

• Connect with us on LinkedIn

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:

• Apple Podcasts

• • Connect with us on LinkedIn

Air travel requires an extremely high level of safety, so it's very embarrassing for Boeing that they have been dogged by quality and reliability issues lately, resulting in a near-disaster on a brand new Alaska Airlines 737 Max.

Renaud and Paul look at Boeing's recent troubles, based on information from news reports, that seem to have been caused by bad manufacturing habits such as accepting sub-standard parts from suppliers without pushing them to improve, not fixing issues in-process and 'leaving them for later,' an over-reliance on inspections and rework when planes were complete, and a business culture which placed financial results above quality.

They also explain the best practices that good manufacturers follow to reduce risks as your key takeaway from the episode.

00:00 - Greetings and introduction - where is Boeing going wrong?

06:15 - What do good factories do to avoid problems like travelled work?

10:08 - Investing time for training suppliers in the upstream supply chain to reduce quality risks

18:24 - What can we learn about dealing with in-process issues from the automotive industry?

27:14 - Why a focus on inspection and rework later increases risks.

33:32 - Summary: Good manufacturers' best practices.

37:46 - Wrapping up.

• Behind the Alaska Blowout: a Manufacturing Habit Boeing Can’t Break (WSJ)

• Connect with us on LinkedIn

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:

• Apple Podcasts

• • Connect with us on LinkedIn

Our CEO Renaud is joined by Marc Burban and Amanda Han, insurance brokers from Asian Risks Management Services. We get advice from these two China insurance experts, explore the typical risks that manufacturers and buyers in China face, and learn how you can use insurance and risk management to mitigate them. For anyone manufacturing in China, this information will help you understand your best options moving forward and how an insurance broker can assist you in making the right choices.

00:00 - Greetings and introduction.

01:54 - What are the major risks that companies who are manufacturing or buyers having products manufactured in China need to keep in mind?

06:04 - How can these risks be mitigated?

10:02 - How does insurance work?

15:07 - Why national safety regulatory compliance is not necessarily enough to save a business when the worst happens?

20:30 -  What kind of insurance policies are available in China for manufacturers and buyers?

25:12 - Changing EU liability laws will mean product liability insurance will be even more important in Europe.

26:34 - Why work with an insurance broker instead of going direct?

31:35 - Amanda introduces Asian Risks Management Services & wrapping up.

• Visit https://asian-risks.com/ to learn more about how they can help you with insurance in China.

• Connect with us on LinkedIn

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:

• Apple Podcasts

• • Connect with us on LinkedIn

Renaud is joined by regular guest, Clive Greenwood, an international product compliance expert based in China. They talk about the growing risks of Li-ion batteries used in Chinese e-bikes and scooters amid many high-profile fires in China, deaths in the West, and grave warnings from the FDNY. Clive also makes suggestions about how legislation can change to improve safety moving forward.

As these personal vehicles become more popular and importers around the world source them from China, it pays to understand the risks...spoiler alert, they're no joke!

00:00 - Greetings and introduction.

03:57 - Looking at the risks of Li-ion batteries used in micro-mobility in China.

09:21 - What is the Chinese government doing to combat the dangers of batteries?

17:53 - What if you're buying e-bikes and scooters, or batteries for them, from China now?

21:22 - Does China need new battery regulations to make them safer, or to just enforce the current ones?

25:42 -  Safety tips for battery buyers.

28:46 - E-bikes and scooters are a new source of risk people need to adapt to.

33:01 - Wrapping up.

• The Dangers of Cheap Li-ion Batteries and the Future of Compliance (Sofeast Podcast)

• Connect with us on LinkedIn

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:

• Apple Podcasts

• • Connect with us on LinkedIn