A reader directed me to an excellent article in Material Handling & Logistics Magazine, setting out the basics for succeeding at outsourcing product manufacturing to China. The article is by Michael Zakkour of Technomic and it is called The Ten Rules for Contract Manufacturing in China. The article starts out by noting that “there are three… Continue Reading
Tag Archives: OEM Agreement
China Product Sourcing Problems. Don’t Even Try To Blame It On A Subcontractor. Not Anymore.
Posted in China Business, Legal NewsIt seems like 90 percent or more of the time when a company gets defective product from their Chinese manufacturer, the manufacturer blames a subcontractor. Now I know that in some of these cases there was no subcontractor and in many more of these cases, it was not the subcontractor’s fault. But we have always… Continue Reading
On Getting A Fixed Price From Your China Supplier. Don’t Bother?
Posted in China BusinessSpoke with a US manufacturer the other day regarding the OEM Agreement we are working on for him. This manufacturer has been manufacturing in China for about a decade and he quickly let me know that one of the things that drives him nuts is how his Chinese manufacturers “change prices” on him, no matter… Continue Reading
China Product Problems. Again.
Posted in Basics of China Business Law, Legal NewsI’ve been deleting old emails today and in doing so I have deleted far too many that relate to China product quality problems. Here’s the most recent such email, with all identifiers removed to protect the victim: My company purchased hundreds of _____ from a company in China for about $65,000. Most of these _______ were… Continue Reading
The China NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement). Shut The Barn Door BEFORE The Horse Bolts.
Posted in Legal NewsJust received the following comment to our post, How To Find And Deal With Chinese Manufacturers: I have a question, I sent a picture of a unique [product] and they sent back an email saying that they would like to manufacture it and when I said mine they corrected me by stateing ours. is this normal?… Continue Reading
China Product Quality. Only You Can Prevent Quality Fade.
Posted in China Business, Legal NewsBy: Steve Dickinson China automakers Chery and Great Wall were recently forced to recall 23,000 autos exported to Australia. The reason for the recall is that the brake linings and engine gaskets in the cars contained asbestos. Asbestos is banned in Australia and 55 other countries. Due to the hazardous nature of the product, the… Continue Reading
How To Write A Chinese Contract That Works. Part II.
Posted in Legal NewsA member of our China Law Blog Group on Linkedin left the following comment (modified slightly) regarding Chinese company names, prompting this post: Recently I happened to meet with a Chinese lawyer in Qingdao who told me about how the Province [Shangdong] registers the Chinese name of a company. The companies are registered only with… Continue Reading
China OEM Manufacturing Agreements. What Should Go In Your Term Sheet?
Posted in Legal NewsWe generally think the best way for us to draft China OEM Agreements is for our clients to reach oral or “term sheet” agreement wtih their Chinese manufacturer and then come back to us with the tersm. We then draft the OEM contract based on those terms (and many more) and our client then presents… Continue Reading
China Product Quality Problem? Here’s My Template Answer.
Posted in China Business, Legal NewsBecause I receive countless emails every day and because so many of them involve the same questions, I have developed various templates to respond. Here’s the template I use when a US company writes me with a China product quality problem and the contract they have provided me is not good at all. Much of… Continue Reading
Who Should Own Your China IP? Maybe Not You.
Posted in Legal NewsWe have been handling way more than the usual number of disputes between our clients and Chinese companies. In a number of these cases, our clients paid money to Chinese factories with whom they had been doing business for years and the Chinese factories simply refused to send over any product. These Chinese companies claimed… Continue Reading
Manufacturing Your Product In China.The Extreme Basics.
Posted in Basics of China Business Law, China Business, Legal NewsThe other day I received an email from a college student looking to form a business that would buy product from China and sell it in the United States. The email asked about the steps to take to get such a business going. Here is that email (modified slightly to maintain the anonymity of its… Continue Reading
Want Your China-Based Molds? You’re Probably Too Late For That.
Posted in Legal NewsEvery few months we get a frantic call from someone wanting our “immediate” help in getting them their molds back. These situations usually present themselves as follows: Small to mid-sized company (“SME”) has spent $25,000 to $250,000 building a mold(s) for manufacturing their product in China. SME provided this mold to its one Chinese supplier… Continue Reading
China Supplier Agreements. With Apologies To Kansas.
Posted in Legal NewsWhen foreign companies call to have us draft their Chinese supplier agreements (a/k/a OEM Agreements), we explain their basic points, usually consisting of the following: 1. We usually like the official version to be in Chinese. If something goes wrong, they usually will need to be enforced in a Chinese court and putting them in… Continue Reading
Getting Started On Manufacturing In China. The Legal Basics.
Posted in Basics of China Business Law, Legal NewsMy law firm is always getting emails like the following (I got one this morning which spurred me to write this post): I’m a __________ based business owner and widget designer. I’m developing my own line of widgets and I am now preparing to move forward by sending out my samples to factories in China…. Continue Reading
China Manufacturing Agreements. Watching The Sausage Get Made.
Posted in Basics of China Business Law, Legal NewsIn going through old emails, I came across a couple from co-blogger Steve Dickinson to a client that was going to have its relatively complicated product manufactured in China. This company was engaging in outsourcing for the first time and we were assisting with the contract. Steve’s first email was the following: Generally, a production… Continue Reading
China QC Inspection. So Totally Worth It.
Posted in China Business, Legal NewsI have always thought it crazy for a company not to have a quality control inspection done of its China product before shipping. Yes, crazy. The Quality Inspection Tips blog has a post, entitled, “How much does an inspection in China cost?” that puts the need for a QC inspection into proper focus. The post… Continue Reading
OEM Agreements With Your China Supplier. Not Just For The Big Boys.
Posted in Legal NewsA good portion of my law firm’s work comes from China outsourcing consultants. The smart ones are sure to tell their clients they need to register their trade names in China and have a China lawyer draft their OEM agreements with their China suppliers. I say the smart ones do this because those who don’t… Continue Reading
China OEM Agreements. Ten Things To Consider.
Posted in Legal NewsYesterday, our post of a slightly revised email on China’s employment law from Steve to one of our clients was a hit in that we received emails thanking us for having run it. So today, we are going to run another Steve to client email on an Original Equipment Manufacturing (OEM) agreement we drafted, first… Continue Reading
Outsourcing in China: Five Legal Basics For Reducing Risk
Posted in Legal NewsIn response to yesterday’s post containing outsourcing tips from a business perspective a reader sent me an e-mail asking what to look out for on the legal side. Fortunately, I was able to find a short article fellow blogger Steve Dickinson had published a few years ago on just this topic. Here it is: Many… Continue Reading
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