China Manufacturing Improvement Blog

Welcome to the first part in our 9-part series on plant relocation.

In order to cover the plant relocation process effectively, we need to pay close attention to the development of the initial plan as it lays the foundation for the remaining steps. However, a plan is only as effective as the data that shapes it. So, to establish an informed plan, it is crucial to gather all relevant information that would impact it. 

Relocating your plant, whether it is across town or to another continent, is a complex and exhausting process. With multiple interconnected moving parts, your organization needs to have the ability to manage the hiring and training of new staff, comply with the new building codes, and update or renew equipment simultaneously among other important tasks. Delays, setbacks, and unforeseeable problems are commonplace with such large scale multicomponent operations.

Regardless of the problem, virtually any manufacturing operation can be turned around using the right techniques and enough hard work. The key to doing so is correctly identifying and understanding the core complications that may be holding your process back. In doing so, we should be able to build a system to mitigate or eradicate the issues effectively. 

Standard work may be the most universal term in lean manufacturing, but it’s also one of the most important. It’s the basis for continuous improvement and gives operators a way to share information easily, train employees, and sets a standard from which to work. 

With all the buzz about manufacturing moving to Vietnam, people tend to lose sight of the fundamental truths when it comes to labor productivity and production management. At CMC, we've heard several manufacturing managers comment that "Five workers in Vietnam are needed to do what gets done in China by three workers." However, we believe there is another way to look at it.

With the US-China trade war unlikely to end anytime soon, speculation is stirring within the manufacturing community about moving production out of China and to other locations in Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia, Philippines, Thailand) and North America (USA or Mexico).

It’s likely the manufacturing sector will face a challenging and uncertain future, so will there be any real large scale movements, or is it purely talk? Like many other things in the complex world of modern manufacturing, the answer lies somewhere in-between the two.

Trade ceasefire written about a few months ago has ended. Talks between US and Chinese officials broke down and President Trump boosted tariffs on over 6,000 goods (valued at $200B) from 10% to 25% and has threatened to increase tariffs on a further $325B of Chinese exports soon.

Why do many Lean improvement projects fail to achieve their objectives? In good part, because the organization is held back by old habits and poor practices.

We wrote a few weeks ago about the most common types of internal failures in manufacturing, their impact for the manufacturer, and how simple software can be used as a preventive measure. Manufacturing managers tend to ask the same question on this topic: "How can this new approach help cut costs?" 

We'll be covering this question in our blog post today.

If you buy products from Chinese suppliers, you’ve most likely been horrified by some of the poor quality control systems you’ve seen. In some cases, we managed to identify over 20 things that could easily go wrong within a mere 10-minutes walk on the shop floor—on fabrication & assembly or even on just a single product!