Reducing your China Manufacturing Costs

Reducing Your China Manufacturing Costs

20 February 2015;  Source: china-briefing.com

China is going through changes. Slowing growth and increasing production costs are coming into effect just as free trade agreements, other tax incentives, and even new regulatory changes are coming into play that open the China market even more to foreign investment. In this article we examine some tips for shaving costs from your China manufacturing model and perhaps enable you to save some money over the year as the business environment becomes tougher.

1) Shop Around, and Audit Your Component Suppliers and Purchasing Team 

When it comes to sourcing component parts for your final product, it now pays to shop around. I dealt with this angle in this article Reducing Your China Sourcing Costs and discussed both China and Asian sourcing alternatives. It also pays to conduct an internal spot check on your own procurement team. Chinese purchasing staff are often know to effectively insert themselves into your supply chain, and buy product for you at inflated costs, either pocketing a commission for doing so or directing purchasing from a factory their family owns. It pays to conduct a check if your own purchasing is buying at market rates – or above.

Read the full article here. 

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West Coast Port Workers Reach Deal

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Negotiators reached a tentative contract covering West Coast dockworkers on Friday evening, likely ending a protracted labor dispute that snarled international trade at seaports handling about $1 trillion worth of cargo annually.

The breakthrough came after nine months of negotiations that turned contentious in the fall, when dockworkers and their employers began blaming each other for problems getting imports to consumers and exports overseas.

The five-year deal, confirmed by International Longshore and Warehouse Union spokesman Craig Merrilees, still must be approved by the 13,000-member union's rank-and-file. They work 29 ports from San Diego to Seattle that handle about one-quarter of all U.S. international trade, much of it with Asia.

Complete Article