How to keep your supplier’s costs under control? - Sourcing from China (Part 9)

In this episode...

We wrap up our mini-series of episodes on how to do your own sourcing from China today.

Sofeast's CEO Renaud Anjoran has talked you through every stage of the sourcing process, from finding suitable suppliers, negotiating, getting your products manufactured, and building lasting relationships with them. The final topic focuses on improving existing supplier performance, in particular: How to keep their costs under control.

If their costs are lower, your costs are lower...

 

By the way, this is part 9 of 9 of this mini-series, and if you want to go back and listen to every earlier part of this series check out the links below.

 

Show Sections

00:00 - Greetings

00:58 - Brief recap of last week's episode about the EU Ecodesign regulation

You can listen to both parts on this topic here (Part 1) and here (Part 2).

04:31 - Why should we be concerned about our suppliers' costs?

07:45 - Who may be able to influence their supplier to undertake work to take control of costs.

10:28 - Using sourcing as a tool to control costs.

How factory owners or key customers can get their/their supplier's costs under control?

12:48 - 1. You find out what is driving their costs by visiting.

15:47 - 2. Stop buying in large quantities and making large batches.

21:39 - How to make suggestions to the supplier that they will listen to.

26:34 - 3. Tackle manufacturing aspects that are hidden costs.

29:21 - 4. Find hidden office costs.

35:11 - How does India differ from China?

36:44 - Summarising keeping costs under control.

38:11 - Mini-series wrap-up.

 

Related content...

• Part 1: Good Fit, Sourcing, Vetting, & Backups [Podcast]
• Part 2: Negotiations, Terms, Leverage, & Quality Standards [Podcast]
• Part 3: Project Management & Checking Quality Early [Podcast]
• Part 4: Final Inspections [Podcast]
• Part 5: Building Rapport [Podcast]
• Part 6: Hands-on or hands-off buyer? [Podcast]
• Part 7: How To Develop Your Chinese Supplier? [Podcast]
• Part 8: How To Improve Quality From Your Supplier? [Podcast]
• Quality Assurance In China Or Vietnam For Beginners [eBook] 👈 Download for free
• The Sofeast group's own contract manufacturing subsidiary: Agilian Technology

These resources will also help you understand how to build relationships with suppliers or improve (or end) those that you already have:

• Get help to find a good manufacturer in China with this free eBook
• When a relationship turns sour with a Chinese supplier

And, if all else fails and you need to ditch your current supplier and switch to a new one...

• How To Switch To A Newer, Better Chinese Manufacturer? [eBook]

 

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