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On this episode…
Covid-19 has continued to dominate the headlines in 2021 and its affect on the manufacturing sector and importers with lengthy provide chains continues to be felt with the quite a few challenges this 12 months together with the illness itself, provide chain disruption, loopy delivery prices, uncooked materials value rises, and a lot extra.
Renaud recaps a few of 2021’s largest tales for producers, particularly these with Chinese language provide chains, with Adrian from the staff, and predicts how 2022 could also be completely different (or related).
We additionally offer you an perception into our firm’s departments’ actions and achievements throughout 2021, a few of our plans for subsequent 12 months, and recap our prime podcast episodes and a few key content material you might have missed from Sofeast, the corporate that brings you this podcast.
Simply hit the play button to begin listening..!
Hearken to the episode proper right here 👇👇👇
🎧 Wanting Again At 2021’s Key Tales For Importers From China 🎧
Present Sections
00:00 – New Yr Greetings
01:25 – Covid 19. China appears unlikely to alter its zero Covid coverage any time quickly in 2022. China can’t actually afford to have a big epidemic inside its borders after claiming such a political victory by protecting circumstances very low, so it will in all probability result in them remaining fairly remoted throughout 2022. Not having the ability to go to Chinese language suppliers might result in requirements slipping, affecting high quality, security, and many others for consumers overseas.
03:48 – The provision chain disaster. Sea freight, specifically, has been actually powerful this 12 months with extraordinarily excessive prices, delays, and poor availability. The backlogs going into ports, particularly the US West Coast, stay and it’s unknown if the Chinese language New Yr break will give them sufficient time to clear it. Maybe not. So anticipate the costs and delays to stay excessive in 2022. Additionally, extra companies shopping for additional inventory to present them a buffer towards provide chain disruptions exacerbates the problems.
05:04 – Simply-in-time being changed by just-in-case. The pondering earlier than the pandemic was to purchase in inventory simply because it was wanted, however now companies are shopping for in additional ‘just-in-case’ as a result of they’ll’t ensure they’ll get what they want with affordable lead occasions. This is sensible, and if delivery stays the identical method in 2022 extra consumers will likely be shopping for additional with a view to shore up provide to prospects.
07:13 – Tensions between China and different nations. The AUKUS alliance, the USA’s persevering with stress on China over pressured labor in Xinjiang, and many others, implies that there are nonetheless tensions operating excessive between China and different world powers which, once more, results in quite a lot of uncertainty in 2022. With massive manufacturing nations equivalent to Germany counting on Chinese language customers for buying its automobiles, for instance, it’s exhausting to see the EU coming down very exhausting on China any time quickly.
09:56 – Diversifying provide chains out of China. Regardless of political tensions making it extra enticing, many merchants and retailers who don’t develop or manufacture their very own merchandise are having a really exhausting time discovering suppliers exterior of China as different nations simply don’t have the wealth of geared up suppliers to outsource to, particularly in the event that they’re electrical merchandise. That being mentioned, some SMEs have began to diversify and the curiosity to take action will stay robust in 2022, however it’s primarily the bigger corporations who’ve managed to maneuver manufacturing out of China to date. Even in case you are assembling in a special nation, in case your parts come from China you could have a dangerous provide chain as it is advisable ship them to the meeting nation and hope they’re fantastic as any points discovered will imply they should be shipped again once more at nice expense and delays.
13:59 – The ‘exodus’ from China. Smooth items apart, it’s far harder to get exhausting items exterior of China. Regardless of the pandemic, it has been a great 12 months for China when it comes to exports attributable to booming client gross sales from the West (maybe partly spurred by ‘lockdown purchases’). Subsequently, the exodus of corporations transferring their sourcing and manufacturing away from China has not materialized. Vietnam, as soon as a well-liked different, has grow to be a supply of danger attributable to strict lockdowns and Covid outbreaks, Myanmar has had a army coup, and many others. This has led to China being seen as a comparatively steady possibility. India has been bettering as a vacation spot to supply and assemble merchandise, nevertheless it nonetheless doesn’t evaluate to China the place exhausting items are concerned.
17:02 – Predictions for 2022? Extra of the identical, sadly. Logistics points to proceed, China to stay closed off, particularly with the rise of the very contagious Omicron variant that, if not managed tightly, might result in huge numbers of circumstances in China that would doubtlessly cripple society there.
22:00 – What has Sofeast been as much as in 2021? We spent quite a lot of time defining our new product growth course of into devoted staff checklists to ensure that the entire completely different departments, high quality, R&D, sourcing, and many others, to work collectively in a structured, streamlined method when supporting purchasers with their new product growth initiatives. This helps be sure that nothing vital is forgotten and milestones are hit earlier than the subsequent stage can start.
On the manufacturing aspect, we’ve got organized issues within the format of SOPs and types which are vital for our BSI ISO 9001 certification for the manufacturing of electronics that we’re at the moment present process. This provides assurance to purchasers who solely wish to work with ISO 9001-certified producers. In 2022 we plan to do extra work on info safety, going deeper into high quality administration, and being extra eco-friendly and growing insurance policies round that initiative.
The High quality Assurance staff has been performing extra off-site work, distant inspections and audits, and we’ve got been growing work directions and defining the absolute best software program options for endeavor them. Covid controls in China have pressured us to begin offering these options with a view to supply some visibility over suppliers who in any other case can be working utterly unsupervised. Taking a hybrid ‘blended’ strategy the place off-site inspections and audits are carried out alongside on-site ones has been working effectively for a lot of purchasers in 2021 as a result of doc critiques and labelling might be checked rapidly by way of video calls or pictures and is cost-effective, too.
The warehouse, 3PL, and contract manufacturing facility has elevated to over 10,000 SqM in Dongguan alone and has gained quite a lot of fulfilment expertise in 2021. Many new purchasers have joined us for purely success initiatives, equivalent to receiving parts from varied Chinese language suppliers, kitting, labelling, and consolidating shipments or drop delivery for them to their prospects. This new functionality has been utilized in complement to different companies we’ve been offering for longer, equivalent to product inspections, sourcing, product growth, and many others, by purchasers from around the globe.
31:56 – 5 prime episodes of the podcast in 2021. These 5 episodes have been the most well-liked with you all this 12 months. Renaud provides a brief abstract of every and you may hearken to the episodes right here:
- Jon Monroe | How Did Sea Freight Finish Up In Such An Costly Mess In 2021?
- 3 High quality Management Plans & Why They’re Wanted BEFORE Manufacturing
- The Many Advantages Of Preventive Upkeep
- Analysing the (NPI) New Product Introduction Course of & its Advantages
- Manufacture in China, Vietnam, India, or Elsewhere in 2021?
37:51 – A couple of ideas for nice items of content material we’ve created in 2021 that you might have missed. We create common content material within the Sofeast assets heart. Have a look in the event you haven’t already. Notably, our IP Safety information for corporations who’re growing new merchandise and manufacturing in China, our information to 9 varieties of packaging, their professionals & cons, prices, and inexperienced credentials, and our white papers on bioplastics, printing processes utilized in manufacturing, advantages of silicone, and extra.
42:13 – Wrapping up ~ glad new 12 months to all of our listeners! 🎉
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