Ernman
Gold Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
I'm going to be blunt and give you feedback from the perspective of one who was once in leadership of a company using overseas manufacturing. Please understand that no offense is intended - this is just plain, unadulterated, non-sugar coated observation.
Bottom line up front: All the certifications and "digital" commitments mean nothing if the product isn't to spec.
We had so many quality issues with off-shore manufactures we were willing to pay more to have it made in the US where we could more easily conduct visits and inspections. In essence, it became cheaper to pay more because at least we were getting product we could use or not have to pay to rework ourselves. We had entire shipments that failed in-coming QC and the off-shore manufacture refused to take responsibility, pay for return shipping to rework, the list goes on. We sent our QC manager to investigate one company and found they were NOT following any of the basic QC activities one would expect from an ISO certified manufacture. In his words, they paid for a certification but were not qualified and not following any standards other than cheap labor.
I'm certainly not saying our US suppliers were perfect by any stretch. And to be honest, I've come to believe that modern QC has become more about the paperwork drill than actually getting anything made correctly. But because the were closer we could more easily deal with issues and had greater recourse to deal with problems.
Again, I'm sorry if this hurts or sounds terrible. I really don't mean for it to sound that way. My point is that so many experienced businesses have been burned so many times by off-shore promises, certifications, "transparent communications" and digital tools that there is little appetite. New businesses may buy into it believing the story line until they get burned a few times.
How is your web platform going to correct a lack of integrity or poor QC management by a manufacturer?
Bottom line up front: All the certifications and "digital" commitments mean nothing if the product isn't to spec.
We had so many quality issues with off-shore manufactures we were willing to pay more to have it made in the US where we could more easily conduct visits and inspections. In essence, it became cheaper to pay more because at least we were getting product we could use or not have to pay to rework ourselves. We had entire shipments that failed in-coming QC and the off-shore manufacture refused to take responsibility, pay for return shipping to rework, the list goes on. We sent our QC manager to investigate one company and found they were NOT following any of the basic QC activities one would expect from an ISO certified manufacture. In his words, they paid for a certification but were not qualified and not following any standards other than cheap labor.
I'm certainly not saying our US suppliers were perfect by any stretch. And to be honest, I've come to believe that modern QC has become more about the paperwork drill than actually getting anything made correctly. But because the were closer we could more easily deal with issues and had greater recourse to deal with problems.
Again, I'm sorry if this hurts or sounds terrible. I really don't mean for it to sound that way. My point is that so many experienced businesses have been burned so many times by off-shore promises, certifications, "transparent communications" and digital tools that there is little appetite. New businesses may buy into it believing the story line until they get burned a few times.
How is your web platform going to correct a lack of integrity or poor QC management by a manufacturer?