August 2011 Update 

Reflections on China – Part 1 – Supplier Quality 

Recently my wife and I took our first trip to China to see our son and daughter-in-law. Matt is working on a Masters of Linguistics/Chinese with the idea of eventually teaching Chinese. Esther teaches at an international school. They live and work and study in Xiamen (Fujian Province in the southeast).

While we saw some typical tourist attractions – Terracotta Soldiers, Great Wall, Tiananmen Square – I also got a feel for the business climate. Thousands of factories, mostly in the East, produce products that are shipped all over the world. I talked with a few men who were responsible for supplier quality for their companies, and they travel every week. One man we shared a meal with in Hong Kong was from the Philippines, living in Hong Kong, and was fluent in Chinese and English. He was responsible for supplier quality for his telecommunications company, traveling to the Peoples Republic of China frequently. I was impressed with how sharp a business mind he had. However, one thing struck me as we talked. In his opinion, because of the one-child policy in China, the factories were beginning to run short of qualified workers. According to him, business leaders will locate future factories further west to be able to access more laborers.

If so, then China will be in a position to move even more of their people out of poverty and into a better standard of living. And managing supplier quality will be an even bigger logistical challenge.


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