Adrian and Renaud are back to examine the recent May 14th news of new China tariffs being implemented by the Biden administration with the overall aim of reducing trade with China whom many in America see as flooding the market with cheap exports that damage American businesses who can't compete. EVs, solar panels, medical devices, steel and aluminum, and more are in the firing line. So, how does this affect US importers and the relationship between the two giants? Let's find out...   Show...

Renaud welcomes Dan Harris, Partner of the Seattle-headquartered and globally officed Harris Sliwoski LLP and long-time writer of the China Law Blog, to the podcast! Over the years he has shared so much valuable information for importers who buy from and manufacture in China; a key topic being keeping IP safe when purchasing from Chinese suppliers. So in this episode, we delve into Dan's decades of assisting Western companies navigate doing business with Chinese suppliers and get his tips on...

Renaud hosts and is joined by Sofeast Group senior engineer, Paul Adams, to discuss how to go from a design to mass-producing your plastic injection molded parts, first following the proven pre-production pilot run approach to ensure risks are kept to a minimum. You'll learn what should be optimized and what should not be skipped, even if sometimes getting to market sooner seems tempting.   Show Sections 00:00 - Greetings and introduction 01:49 - Why is an injection molding pilot run...

Today Adrian and Andrew Amirnovin, our reliability and testing head, look at some of China's recent technology successes, what fuels China's tech dominance, and how technology is caught up in the middle of the US-China trade war.    Show Sections 00:00 - Greetings and introduction. 06:18 - What is fuelling China's tech dominance? 12:40 - The success story of Huawei. 20:32 - Other Chinese tech success stories. 23:30 - Is Chinese technology a privacy risk for users? 26:22 - How does the...

Adrian and Renaud get together to talk about 10 common problems that companies with Chinese manufacturing suppliers often face, AND how you can deal with them. Hopefully, you are not one of the unlucky ones, but being prepared with the knowledge to avoid issues is always helpful!   Show Sections 00:00 - Greetings and introduction 03:22 - 1. If your supplier refuses to ship the goods you paid for. 09:40 - 2. Your manufacturer tries to force you to accept poor quality that you’re uncomfortable...

Adrian and Renaud discuss Quality Fade. This bad practice from suppliers sees them put their profits before your product quality, but the big problem is that you may not even know it is happening as it's a gradual process where quality declines over time, bit by bit. Are you at risk, how do you identify it, and what can you do to combat it? We reveal all in this episode!   Show Sections 00:00 - Greetings and introduction 02:27 - What is Quality Fade? 09:25 - Is it still happening today? 12:15...

On this episode of the China Manufacturing Decoded Podcast, Adrian hosts and is joined by Andrew, our reliability and testing head who is going to explain why the PCBA in your electronic product is critical, and how to protect it both physically and through product design.   Show Sections 00:00 - Greetings and introduction. 01:45 - What is the PCB and why is it so important? 03:04 - How and why do we protect the PCB? 04:40 - Conformal coating. 08:51 - Other PCB protection options. 14:14 - The...

Adrian and Renaud are talking about traceability for manufacturers which provides a detailed record of how the products are manufactured and the supply chain, from raw materials to finished products. Having this mindset and system can help you to reduce risks and deal with problems quickly by pinpointing where they arise. It can also help you be a more compliant business. Plenty of benefits, but it takes a cultural shift to put in place, so Renaud will explain how.   Show Sections 00:00 -...

Air travel requires an extremely high level of safety, so it's very embarrassing for Boeing that they have been dogged by quality and reliability issues lately, resulting in a near-disaster on a brand new Alaska Airlines 737 Max. Renaud and Paul look at Boeing's recent troubles, based on information from news reports, that seem to have been caused by bad manufacturing habits such as accepting sub-standard parts from suppliers without pushing them to improve, not fixing issues in-process and...

Our CEO Renaud is joined by Marc Burban and Amanda Han, insurance brokers from Asian Risks Management Services. We get advice from these two China insurance experts, explore the typical risks that manufacturers and buyers in China face, and learn how you can use insurance and risk management to mitigate them. For anyone manufacturing in China, this information will help you understand your best options moving forward and how an insurance broker can assist you in making the right...

Renaud is joined by regular guest, Clive Greenwood, an international product compliance expert based in China. They talk about the growing risks of Li-ion batteries used in Chinese e-bikes and scooters amid many high-profile fires in China, deaths in the West, and grave warnings from the FDNY. Clive also makes suggestions about how legislation can change to improve safety moving forward. As these personal vehicles become more popular and importers around the world source them from China, it...

In this bonus episode, our host and CEO Renaud is joined by our product reliability and durability expert, Andrew Amirnovin, to talk about the bad news for Apple that their much-hyped Vision Pro headset is cracking just weeks after being released to the public. They explore the durability problems rearing their heads only a month or so into the product's general release in early February 2024, based on information found in online news articles and videos.   Show Sections 00:00 - Introduction,...

Adrian hosts and is joined by Sofeast Group senior engineer, Paul Adams, and they talk about the uses and limitations of the metal and plastic 'development prototypes,' that is to say, product prototypes made during the development process and before mass production. Remember, these are not production-standard prototypes, but that doesn't mean that they aren't important as you will find out...it's all about controlling expectations.   Show Sections 00:00 - Greetings and introduction 02:06 -...

Adrian and Renaud discuss how to plan for the handover of your innovative new product to manufacturing (with a focus on hard goods with mechanical elements and some electronic/electrical parts). Product handover should be a structured process of actions taken mainly before the manufacturer gets involved to ensure a smooth transition from you to them so the product ends up being made to your specifications and requirements and the risks of issues before product launch are minimized. You'll...

Renaud hosts today and welcomes guest speaker Amit Rosenthal, CEO of Proboxx, to the show and this episode's focus is on moving your products from Asia to where they need to be via freight forwarding. They discuss how the latest technological advancements in freight forwarding are streamlining operations, improving tracking and transparency, and offering more reliable and efficient services for Amazon sellers. Since many people manufacturing overseas end up selling on Amazon, at least as part...

Adrian and Renaud go through what makes a good QA auditing and inspection program for innovative new electro-mechanical products that will reduce risks of poor quality, reliability, and compliance, and detect the issues in time for them to be worked on before anything is shipped. Unless you are producing simple products or working with a supplier who is very experienced in manufacturing the exact product type you're developing, you will very likely require some form of QA program like...

On this episode of the China Manufacturing Decoded Podcast, Adrian hosts and is joined by Andrew, our reliability and compliance expert, from the Sofeast Group for a deep dive into electrostatic discharge (ESD) – a critical factor in electronics production with the potential for significant impact on product success and customer satisfaction. They stress the importance of ESD testing for bulk-manufactured electronics and discuss the potential consequences of failing to consider ESD in...

Welcome to our special 200th episode of China Manufacturing Decoded, a podcast by Sofeast Group, where we discuss global manufacturing topics to help you decode and navigate the supply chain world. In this episode, we discuss the impact of the Houthi Yemeni rebels' attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, and how it may affect your shipping costs and other issues you might face. We're joined by our very own Kate Oliynykova, Head of Supply Chain Management at Sofeast Group, who shares her insights...

In this insightful episode, host Renaud Anjoran and senior engineer Paul Adams delve into the intriguing world of the 'experience effect' - a phenomenon that offers a wealth of benefits in mass production through persistent refinement and accumulated knowledge. Immersing you in several industrial examples, Renaud and Paul throw light on how Boeing and the semiconductor industry have leveraged the experience curve to their advantage. Witness firsthand, the complex interplay between efficiency,...

Renaud and Andrew Amirnovin, Sofeast's Head of Compliance and Reliability, are talking about the Boeing 737 Max 9 airplane that has been in the news again following a very frightening incident where part of the body blew out leading to a sudden depressurization and emergency landing. But why did this occur? Are there more quality and reliability issues to worry about?   Show Sections 00:00 - Greetings and introduction. 01:18 - What happened on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 on Jan 5th,...

Adrian and Renaud tackle the big question of cost versus quality and how they both affect each other in manufacturing. You'll learn common Chinese attitudes towards them, the long-term power of lean, and some achievable levers that can bring you cost and quality benefits that most businesses can implement quickly.   Show Sections 00:00 - Greetings and introduction (inc. our team at CES '24!) 01:50 - What do we mean by Cost V Quality? 04:49 - A typical Chinese manufacturer's logic about...

In this episode... Adrian and Andrew Amirnovin kick off 2024 by going through 7 key New Product Introduction tasks you need to be aware of to get a positive outcome before mass producing your product. If this is the year you bring a product to market, get ahead of the curve by bearing these 7 things in mind from one of our most experienced team members who is also Head of Compliance and Reliability.   Show Sections 00:00 - Greetings and introducing today's topic. 03:01 - 1. Document your...

Adrian and Renaud return for the last podcast of 2023, a bumper episode where they go through 13 quality strategies you can adopt to achieve consistent product quality. They're roughly split into pre-production and post-production strategies, so settle down and dive in here!   Show Sections 00:00 - Greetings and introduction. Pre-production 02:18 - 1. Due diligence and factory audits to ensure the supplier has the capabilities to reach your quality standards. 04:31 - 2. Define a quality...

Adrian hosts and Paul Adams, one of Sofeast's senior engineers joins him to talk about how to add surface textures to plastic injection mold tooling and get the finish that we want on our plastic molded parts.   Show Sections 00:00 - Greetings and introduction to textures for plastic injection molded parts. 02:55 - General points about getting started adding textures. 07:59 - Draft Angle rules of thumb for mold design with textures in mind. 14:58 - 5 Common methods used to add surface...