12 Simple Questions for Screening Manufacturers Effectively

1. Questions for the top management

1). How many shareholders own this company?

Generally speaking, it is preferable to work with a manufacturer with only one owner.
To be specific, this owner owns more than 51% of the company (an overwhelmingly big portion).
That means this manufacturer is less likely to have internal conflicts among share holders.
Usually, they can provide better and more consistent quality.

• Better to avoid a manufacturer with 2, 3, or even more shareholders.
• Especially, each share owner owns a similar portion of this company.

It’s more likely for the shareholders to have different directions and strategies.
Then it will take extra efforts and time for them to coordinate within their internal management.
As a result, products are more likely to have quality issues in such a company.

Bonus tip:

You can find out the legal representative in a simple way for screening manufacturers.
A legal representative in a Chinese company is the person with the greatest legal responsibility within this company.
This person may not be the biggest owner of the company or the company’s actual beneficiary.
But he or she is the person who takes the most responsibilities of this company.
It’s preferable to choose a supplier whose legal representative and owner are the same person.

The method for finding this key person is 100% trustable and free.
Just go to the website of the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System.

2). Who are the decision makers?

You will need to find out who is the real decision maker in this company.
The legal representative, the owner, or the general manager does not always make direct decisions.
It is not uncommon for top management to assign tasks to different people.

Find out who will make important decisions regarding your cooperation with this manufacturer.
One key decision maker to find out is the person who can decide the entire cooperation.
The other decision maker to find is the person who will take care of routine tasks.

3). Experience of the top management

You should talk with the people of the potential manufacturer’s top management.
Usually, the top management of a manufacturer includes several people.
The general manager, deputy general manager, sales manager, manufacturing director, etc.

It will be very good if they have at least one person with a technical background.
No matter if this person studies technologies or science at a colleague.
Or, takes a position as a technical engineer for similar products.

It’s not good if the top management only has people regarding business subjects.
It is less likely for them to excel at product design and development, quality assurance, etc.
And be careful, if the top management only has businesspeople (they never mention the names, skills, and responsibilities of their technicians).
That can mean they are a trading company, rather than a real factory in some cases.

And better to check what they do before opening or joining this company.
It is preferable to work with people with at least 3 years in the same industry.
Ideally, work with a manufacturer with 10 years of experience, if available.

Moreover, pick the manufacturers who work with some of the top leading global brands.
Those brands will educate their manufacturers and even provide training and certifications.
Just like BackMorning, as a third-party quality inspection company in the LED lighting industry, our technicians all receive training and certification from one of the top global lighting brands Osram.
In this way, you can indirectly gain professionalism from those top brands.
If product quality, design, and development are within your top priorities, then such manufacturers are definitely your best choices.

2. Questions for the people who are in charge of your orders

1). Education background

Does anyone who has a technical background?

It will be very helpful if they have someone who is an experienced technician in the team who work with you for daily tasks.
That means it’s easier for them to understand technical points related to products.
No matter product quality subjects, product designs, trouble shootings, or whatever requires technical knowledge to a certain extent.
You can use some terms directly for effective communication.
Don’t have to think twice before you say something, or even educate your partners instead.
For example, in the LED lighting industry, you can use terms like SDCM, LM/W, CCT and Ra directly with a person who has a basic technical understanding.

It is not good to have people only with a language background or business background.
They may not be able to understand some technical terms or subjects.
Communication can lead to quality issues, especially for products that require technical knowledge.

2). The time for working for this industry and this company

Probably 2 years in one industry is the minimum for a good partner for routine tasks.
That means you don’t have to mention or explain many of the basics.
And they can predict something and prepare with a well-organized schedule.

Besides the differences in different industries, companies in the same industry can also be very different.
It’s also recommendable to work with people who have already spent 1 year in a company.
At least, they know the procedures, and people in the company.

3. Questions for the frontline workers

1). How are wages calculated – piecework pay or hourly pay?

Wages for workers can be calculated on a piecework basis or working hour basis.

Generally speaking, many manufacturers adopt the piecework approach.
This is understandable since productivity is important for manufacturers to make profits.
However, it has its downside – the workers usually work faster for more wages.
For this reason, it’s less likely for them to pay attention to product quality and other details.
If it’s possible, it’d be better to work with a manufacturer who offers working hour wages.

2). How long those workers have been working for this company?

Find some time to talk with some workers at the frontline.
Check who are the people staying at the company for the longest time.
Find out how many of them, and how long they have been here.

This can tell you some useful information for evaluating the manufacturer.
If too many workers just come and go, the products won’t have good and stable quality.
Because it takes time for the workers to understand and master those manufacturing techniques.
Even soldering the circuits of LED lights will take some time to learn the proper temperatures.

4. Questions about their existing customers

1). Who are the biggest 3 customers for this manufacturer?

The biggest 3 customers are the typical examples of a manufacturer.
They can indicate the overall quality level.
You can use those customers as a general reference to see whether this manufacturer is right for you.

If the biggest 3 customers are all within the top 10 global brands in your industry, for sure, it’s possible for this manufacturer to offer good quality.
If the biggest 3 customers are smaller famous brands but well known for solid quality, the manufacturer’s overall quality can also be reliable.
However, if the big customers are all supermarkets or brands that focus on sales volumes, then you have to be careful about their product quality.

5. Questions about the manufacturer itself

1). How long a manufacturer has been

Generally, most Chinese manufacturers are not older than 20 years.
Many of them were founded after China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001.
The industries with higher technologies are even younger than 10 years.

As a rule of thumb, consider working with manufacturers with a minimum of 3 years’ operation.
And even better to work with those with 5 – 10 years’ operation in your industry.
Those are very likely to be one of the first manufacturers who created this industry.

Meanwhile, better to avoid working with the ones with 1 – 2 years’ experience.
It’s very likely they still don’t have sufficient experience.
And they can have more potential issues, no matter regarding product quality or other subjects.

2). What is their latest big investment

If it is possible, try to learn what is the biggest investment they’ve made recently.
It’s not limited to machines, production lines or other hardware.
It can be other useful technologies, like ERP system, CRM system, automatic dimensioning systems, etc.

You can evaluate the manufacturer’s performance by what they invest.
Especially for some industries in which timing is critical for success.
Better to predict the new potential opportunities by evaluating an important investment.

6. Questions for the manufacturing manager

1). How the manufacturing director manages workers

Essentially, every product and every step is made by workers.
Even automatic machines or production lines are operated by workers.
It is important to understand how the manufacturing manager manages workers.

Check whether they have a good system to educate, train and retain workers.
If they don’t have a good system, workers may even not even understand many of the basics.
They don’t know what important points are, and how to make sure they do them right.
The products’ quality won’t be good or stay at a consistent level.

2). Do they implement a quality management strategy?

Find out how the manufacturing director implements quality management during production.

Don’t just believe they have a quality management system or quality certificates.
Check the details with their production lines, material warehouses, and also testing labs.
Verify what and how they are actually doing to identify defects and correct them.

Meanwhile, check how the manufacturing director handles production schedules.
They use some kind of information system to keep track of their production.
For example, use an ERP system to keep track of their inventories, production plans, etc.
Or, they still use hand-written spreadsheets to keep track of everything.

Of course, either way will work if they are properly applied.
But, these are 2 different levels of production management.
You can estimate the efficiency and reliability through their management tools.

Learn about the practices about how they control costs in production
Cost control is an important part of any kind of production.
Better to have some ideas about how a manufacturing director will manage costs.
Just take the cost-down approach for every supplier?
Or break down the costs into smaller segments for more reasonable optimization?

These answers will also give you ideas about the potential quality level that you can gain from a manufacturer.
Knowing what are the right things to do and how to do them in the right way determine the overall quality of a manufacturer.

Conclusion

This post already tells you 6 types of questions to ask for effective manufacturer screening.
However, the questions are not limited to only the ones that we’ve mentioned above.
Usually, we ask more questions when during factory production audits.

Last but not least, BackMorning is a third-party quality inspection company focusing on the LED lighting industry.
And screening manufacturers and factory production audits are the services that we can provide.

Drop us a line if there is anything we can do to help you find a reliable manufacturer.