Quality Products International

文章简体中文 – 文章繁體中文

As many will know February 14^th is also known as Valentines’ Day.

It originated as a Christian holiday and developed a “romantic” twist in the middle ages.

It has also grown in popularity in China with flower shops doing fantastic business.

None the less, like Thanksgiving, it is somewhat misunderstood in China.

Many Chinese will send out emails and instant messages to all of their contacts wishing a happy Valentines’ Day, which feels a little weird for many westerners.

Sometimes it is an eagerness to make westerners feel welcome, in some cases it is a way for Chinese to demonstrate knowledge of western holidays to their clients and colleagues.

Just to clarify for all our Chinese readers…..

Valentines’ Day is more of a romantic holiday than a business holiday, just as Thanksgiving is an American holiday rather than for all of the west. See our Thanksgiving Blog.

For Valentines’ Day, normally people give a gift or card to someone that they are or would like to become romantically involved with!

Timid people may send a “secret Valentine” to someone they like but are too shy to approach.

In conversation you may ask closer friends and colleagues if they have any special plans for Valentines’ Day.

It is less common to “Wish Happy Valentines’ Day” to everyone you know.

Though like with Thanksgiving it is unlikely that you will offend anyone by wishing “everyone” happy Valentines’ Day, though that may find it peculiar or amusing.

In China, many factory and office workers have already started leaving for their CNY holiday.

Most remaining factories will close down around the weekend of Friday 13^th January, and the remaining ones closing sometime during the following week.

Some offices will re-open late January, though you should not expect factories to be operating “normally” until well into February.

QPI Ltd

QPI will be continuing to operate through Chinese New Year.

Though Chinese operations will be offline Thursday 19^th January – Saturday 28^th January.

For urgent enquiries please email qpig@qpiltd.com as it will fwd to the UK staff as well.

QPI Ltd Shenzhen office in Guo Mao will be closed Thursday 19^th January – Thursday 2^nd February.

Helmut will be working remotely, though will be online less frequently than normal, and should contacted by phone / SMS for anything urgent.

For additional information about CNY and how it may impact you, please see:

CNY alert

Post CNY Production Caution

CNY dates 2011 – 2019

Chinese New Year (CNY) is the major holiday in Asia which especially effects production in China.

Many factories will close some days or even a week before the CNY date listed below.  They would not normally return to full production for several weeks or up to a month after the CNY date.

Year       Date                      Symbol

2011        February 3           Rabbit

2012       January 23           Dragon

2013       February 10        Snake

2014       January 31           Horse

2015       February 19        Sheep

2016       February 8          Monkey

2017       January 28           Rooster

2018       February 16        Dog

2019       February 5          Pig

For links to earlier blogs on this, please see:

http://www.qpiltd.com/cny-alert

http://www.qpiltd.com/chinese-new-year-in-china-more-than-just-fireworks

http://www.qpiltd.com/china-almost-back-to-normal-after-cny-will-your-production-be-ok

Article in English

感恩节其实是北美的节日。只有美国人和加拿大人庆祝感恩节。尤其是对于美国人来说，这是很重要的和家人共同庆祝并举办宴席的节日。

关于庆祝丰收的起源有不同说法，来自欧洲的殖民者收到来自本地印第安人的帮助获得丰收。

感恩节晚餐的标志是来自北美的火鸡和南瓜派。

虽然身为澳大利亚人的我曾经和我的美国朋友共同庆祝过感恩节，但是实际上对非北美居民的我们而言

如果你祝我感恩节快乐，我会被你逗乐；相反，我却不会生气。

文章简体中文 – 文章繁體中文

To all our American friends and colleagues, in USA and especially the ExPat community in places like China, Happy Thanks giving from all of us at QPI Ltd.

We hope you get to enjoy some Turkey & Pumpkin Pie.

我所有中国朋友们, To all my Chinese friends….

Thanks Giving is very much a North American holiday and it is really only celebrated by Americans and Canadians.

For the Americans especially it is a very important holiday for the family to celebrate a feast together.

There are various stories about its origins being the celebration of the end of the harvest, safe passage from Europe, and especially about the Native American Indians helping early colonists.

The hallmarks of a Thanks Giving feast are Turkey and Pumpkin, both of which are from North America.

While I have enjoyed some Thanks Giving Dinners with American friends as I am Australian, so like most parts of the world we do not make a point of celebrating it as a holiday.

I may be amused if you do wish me a happy thanks giving, but I certainly will not be offended if you do not.

QPI puede ayudarle a convertir la experiencia lograda con tanto esfuerzo y transformarla en realidad. Quizás el producto en que trabaja puede ser mejorado en un área crítica para incrementar la satisfacción de sus clientes clave.

Un rápido proceso del CAD al prototipo y de ahí a la producción

Podemos ayudarle a desarrollar productos que funcionen como Ud. desee ¡y con un presupuesto razonable!

• Diseño de productos – refinar la idea a algo que pueda ser discutido en profundidad.
• CAD / CAM – Generación de detallados diseños 3D para su discusión en profundidad, análisis de defectos, cotización, creación de un prototipo, etc.
• Creación de un prototipo – Crear “modelos”, para su evaluación física, fotografía, evaluación inter-relacional, o simplemente “experimentar” el funcionamiento y forma del producto.
• Muestreo – Pequeños lotes de productos terminados o muestras de venta, test / certificación pre-producción, encuesta / feedback consumidores, etc.
• Test productos – Envío a laboratorios asociados a QPI (aprobados por HOKLAS/CNAS), para asegurar que cumple los estándares y requisitos legales de tu mercado de destino.
• Certificación – Prueba de conformidad que puede ser requerida por las autoridades; típicamente es requisito para demostrar conformidad con RoHS, REACH, EN71, UL, CE, WEEE, EN13138 ¡y muchos otros!

¡Hable con QPI Ltd para lograr una solución integral al desarrollo de su producto.

QPI Ltd Español: Acerca de QPI Ltd

QPI Ltd Español: Inspecciones de calidad en China

QPI Ltd Español: Aprovisionamiento en China

QPI Ltd Español: Tests de laboratorio

QPI Ltd Español: Materias primas a granel

QPI Ltd Español: Desarrollo de productos (esta página)

While China has faired better than most economies after the Global Financial Crisis, one would be naïve to think that companies here are not immune to financial problems.

In the manufacturing sector especially there has been a lot of pressure, with rising costs, both real costs of wages and improved worker benefits, the stronger Yuan and other factors are putting pressure on exports pricing.

The export market as a whole has shrunk and while the domestic economy is stronger than many around the world it is has not filled the void left by markets in Europe and USA, especially for many factories that western clients may be buying from.

The next result is that there is an increase of local and foreign owned companies in China failing or simply closing.

Doing direct searches and or credit checks on Chinese companies can be difficult and time consuming.

Language is of course an major barrier for most, and even then understanding the complexities of Chinas various provinces and districts is a complicated process.

Some companies will commission audits either on their own or at the behest of retail clients and it is fair to say that any factory that has a good result in a formal social or quality audit will probably be sound.

Where formal Audits are not required a combination of factory vetting and a credit check can be far more cost effective.

If there is doubt about a factory, particularly after an audit, a credit check /company report can be considered for further validation.

None the less QPI Ltd can arrange credit checks and company reports can be completed by local specialists in all provinces of China in some cases for less than US$100. That is small price to pay against deposits and full payments that will normally be many thousands of dollars.

Contact QPI Ltd for more details.

Samples are often required from factories and suppliers.

It may be to approve shipment, present to end user / clients, or for lab testing.

The big question, is the validity of the test sample, and is it a true representation of the batch as a whole.

Having a QPI Ltd inspector visit the factory or supplier, select a representative sample and ship directly to you or your lab can minimize the risk dramatically.

Lab Testing

A lab report supporting compliance can sometimes be mandatory for particular products being imported into certain markets.

In many cases China customs may reject export of the shipment if an appropriate pass report is not included in paperwork.

Of course same may happen on arrival at the destination port, however there is real pressure on the factory to ensure that a pass report is produced to get payment, and ship the product out of the factory and out of the country!

…and the temptation to sneak samples in that are more likely to pass compared to the rest of the consignment is very real!

Most clients will take the management of the testing away from the factory and either assign a 3^rd party QC company such as QPI Ltd to manage the testing, or deal directly with the lab themselves.

IQC Raw Material Samples

In some cases it is most practical to test the individual raw material, and can best be done as an “Inward Quality Control”. That avoids the raw material contaminating & / or accumulating costs in product that will ultimately be rejected.

It also allows for timely re-order of the raw material.

Product Samples

These can be collected in a late stage of production, typically before final packing. Again an independent inspector can ensure it is both random and representative of the other product.

Post Consumer Testing

Products will often be tested after shipment and sale, which is entirely out of the client / manufacturers control.

It may be tested by competitors or consumer groups.

Sometimes by authorities, especially if there is consumer related safety incident or accident involving the product.

Even some very large players such as Apple, Disney and McDonalds have been caught out!

Contact QPI Ltd to find out more about one of our inspectors visiting the factory to ensure the sample is legitimately drawn from the batch of raw material or mass production, rather than a “specially prepared sample”.

We can also assist in lab testing through one of our partner labs in China, Hong Kong and other parts of the world.

See related articles about McDonalds, Disney and Apple.

Also Physical lab testing, and Chemical lab testing by some of QPI Ltd’s lab partners

QPI Ltd prides it self in taking a practical and flexible approach to meeting client needs.

We recently posted a poll on Linked In.

Vote on most important element of Quality Control

The polls only allow for five questions, so we suggested:

Pre Shipment Inspection

DUPRO

Product Specification

Lab Testing

…and invited people to comment on other single elements or mix.

Obviously QC will never come down one element, however we are interested to hear what people view as most important.