Chinese imports – Why is the container full of s**t?

One of the most significant challenges of importing from China is maintaining consistent and continuous product quality in sheet metal production. Many companies have realized that the quality of the first batch of a product can be excellent, which creates trust in the supplier. Unfortunately, subsequent deliveries do not always match this initial quality level. We have noticed that many companies in Finland experience pain when a long-awaited shipping container contains a very unpleasant surprise.

It is full of itself, i.e. p*sk**.

This quality variation does not seem to end, but repeats itself. There is always something wrong with the quality, when experience is not gained, when you always start from scratch and therefore the same mistakes are repeated year after year. Usually, a container coming from the Far East has been paid for in advance, as the terms of the deal require. This puts the company in a very difficult financial position, because a large amount of the company's capital is tied up in a worthless container. That is where many entrepreneurs have room to cry.

After this, the Finn sends a complaint about the quality to the Chinese factory. The quality often remains higher for a while, until the work drops again. Over the past couple of decades, we have been able to follow the pain and stories of many of our customers on the site. We have also considered the reasons for this variation in quality? Why is it so difficult for Chinese factories to maintain high-quality production?

Chinese imports, quality variation and staff turnover

We have come to the conclusion that the discontinuity in quality is due to one major factor, namely staff turnover. Competition for skilled labour is also fierce in China. When a welder has just learned to weld properly when he joins company A, another company B makes the welder a better job offer and the welder changes jobs. As a result, company A has to find new staff to replace him and start training them.

The quality therefore drops because good employees move on to better-paid jobs. The Finnish company therefore first receives good-quality goods from the original welder, and later pieces are made by new, inexperienced employees. When the new employees have learned to do their job properly, they are hired at the new factory and the Finnish company again experiences quality variations in the products it buys.

Is now a good time to move production back to Finland?

Through this blog article, we want to wake up Finnish companies that have Chinese imports, whether now would be a good time to move work to Finland. We believe that Finnish sheet metal companies are today very competitive compared to any other player globally. We therefore hope that as many Finnish companies as possible will move their production to their home region of the North Pole, for example to us.

By choosing a Finnish producer as their partner, companies can trust that their products will be manufactured with consistent quality that meets their expectations and requirements in every order. In addition, Finnish companies usually have a transparent production process and agreed fast delivery times give customers peace of mind, knowing that they will not encounter unexpected delays or quality deterioration.

Brione offers fair and environmentally friendly contract manufacturing and at the same time offers product development to improve competitiveness.