China Product Quality. Part 1: Shared Responsibility
The news isn’t good. It seems poor product quality and the words “Made in China” are synonymous with one another. Toys with lead paint, baby seats that don’t quite latch your precious cargo, tainted dog food; we’ve been bombarded by TV and internet stories about problems with Chinese imports. Is this just media induced hyperbole or is there a China conspiracy to dump cheap goods on American soil?
The popular focus on the safety and quality of consumer products is squarely on Chinese imports. The reality is that product quality and safety is a worldwide issue, one that US manufacturers grapple with every day. Think about the biggest brands in America and they each have their own quality issues. When was the last time your Microsoft Office program required a hard re-boot to start working again, or find any month of the year where GM, Ford or Chrysler don’t announce a recall. To a degree, China gets the bad wrap from the US media when a defective product incident occurs. Wasn’t Mattel supposed to specify the exact paint type for their products? As a small manufacturer doing business in China, quality will always be an issue just as it is for the largest US multinationals. You just have to be diligent with regard to preventing quality issues before they show up in your products.
When the next news story on poor quality Chinese imports splashes your computer screen, TV or newspaper; consider the chain of events that brought the particular product to American shores. All products that enter the United States, whether from China, Germany or Taiwan, are products that are ordered by or through an importer. Larger US companies do their own importing, smaller companies use companies that specialize in importation for a particular product type or import from a particular region – like China. It is the importer who has final and ultimate responsibility for product quality and safety for products that enter the United States. The smart importer knows that the responsibility for safe products is based on effective collaboration between the foreign manufacturer and the company or individual who is buying the products for resale in the United States. The key word in this transaction between manufacturer and reseller is COMMUNICATION. The import must facilitate this communication so that product quality and safety is optimized.
