Sofeast's CEO Renaud Anjoran and senior compliance officer and friend of the show Clive Greenwood are back together and talking about the challenges of quality management in China. You'll learn about communication, supply chain transparency, cultural factors that affect quality, what an effective quality management system needs to include, and a lot more in this bumper episode!

00:00 - Greetings and introduction to our guest, Clive and this episode's topic: Challenges of Quality Management in China.

02:52 - Why do importers face challenges when trying to ensure consistent quality, reliability, compliance, etc, from Chinese suppliers?

03:20 - 1. Poor communication.

08:15 - 2. Working with the wrong kind of supplier that you cannot really trust.

13:26 - SMEs have 2 common due diligence & quality approaches when working with Chinese suppliers depending on the type of product development required.

16:45 - 3. A supplier who doesn't provide supply chain transparency negatively impacts quality.

20:48 - 4. Expecting the supplier to inform you about quality issues independently without you doing your own due diligence is a mistake.

23:19 - 5. There is no concept of separation of powers at many Chinese suppliers: "If the boss says it, do it."

28:36 - The role of factory audits.

32:29 - 6. A lack of supply chain transparency, traceability, and compliance.

37:37 - 7. Cheap and/or fast will usually come with a reduction of quality in the minds of Chinese suppliers.

42:59 - 8. Inspecting quality too late and not enforcing your quality standard.

44:37 - 9. A lack of risk thinking and acting on problems when they occur.

52:07 - If production is not ok, that failure is probably on you the buyer.

53: 58 - Summary: How to successfully manage quality in China?

54:35 - Wrapping up.

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