Quality Control Staff went to the factory in China to conduct a surprise IPC inspection on production and were astounded to see that orders were not on production lines yet. The factory in Yiwu was busy making orders on another product for another client in Europe.
In this case the problem was traced back to the fact that the factory sales department sold more than what the factory can produce...... Factories need to keep working in order to have cash flow to pay workers. This is the same the world over. However, there seems to be a bigger disconnect between the sales offices and the production departments in China. Sales teams frequently oversell on production capacity and timelines to make sure that production space is maximised and there is minimum downtime in factories. This is a very short term strategy for factories since you are not working to attract and retain long term clients.
What is the solution here? Check the Remedies & controls you already have in place. Can you threaten to cancel the order? Are there penalties for delay? One solution is to have a strong willed staff to stay in the factory and properly force the factory to stop other production and switch to making your products. This is a lot of work, but we find that this works well.
What are some of the main reasons for factories continuing to fail on meeting set production schedules.
- Sales Departments overselling.
- Many components are outsourced and one of the suppliers is unable to deliver.
- Power Outage or Electricity Breakdown causing factory closure.
- Lack of Staff after major holidays like Chinese New Year.
Work in safe guards through our list of Remedies on China Production.
What are your thoughts and experiences?