All Roads Lead to China: Business News, Analysis, and Insights from China

Last week we told you to call your accountant, and now we are telling you to call your forwarder. While I cannot take all the credit for breaking the news, we can report that others have caught wind and everyone is booking their containers in anticipation that July 1 will bring the VAT rebate reduction […]

For me, the craziest progressive tool I have seen was where 10-12 operators moved rectangular pieces of shell down a line of 6-8 separate tools. The stamp for all 6-8 tools can down at the same time making the necessary cuts… then the steel plate was moved to the next stage…. it was hard to […]

following our first post entitled “If you can’t got over it”, we continued to do a little deeper into some of the problems that shippers face on the Yangtze…. With the Yangtze being know for the amount of silt it moves downstream, it doesn’t take an expert to understand how this might affect river trade, […]

When the news first began to break that dogs and cats across America were getting sick from pet food made in China… I already knew what was coming. and when articles began appearing in the popular press questioning “China’s” role in this, my fears were confirmed. For me, supplier quality issues are always a problem.. […]

Manufacturing is full of risk, and in China there are many who have devoted a lot of time writing about those risks (see out posts here, here, and here). However, on risk that everyone share around the world is that the price of raw materials may go up… and unfortunately, over the last 2 years […]

Following the post last week related to factoring in transportation stoppages, I realized that another post was needed to address a wider issue: Not everything should be made in China. Over the last 2 years, we have worked with a number of firms: auto, construction tools, building materials, promotional items, mattresses, small electronics, motorcycles, and […]

Moving to China for many manufacturers is a long and involved decision process, and regardless of whether or not the move will be made in-house or through a supplier arrangement, it is important to do a full cost / benefit analysis of such a move. An area that I have yet to see a lot […]

Following the recent pet food scandal, I have been thinking quite a bit about how this could have occurred, and who is at fault. Then in an earlier post called Want to Source From China?? Make the Effort. I laid out that corporations need to really begin taking responsibility for their supply chain. Now, I […]