The use of Gantt Charts in Production Monitoring

Being involved in a wide range of production monitoring projects in China, it’s important that we’re efficient and use the right tools, in order to manage the projects effectively.  One tool that we use, especially in the fabrication of industrial projects (but with applications for commercial and consumer products as well) is called a Gantt chart.

A Gantt chart is like a GPS for manufacturing projects. It shows what elements are involved in the project from start to finish, where the production is supposed to be what point of time, and if the project is on schedule on or not. Gantt charts are used in manufacturing projects to have a bird’s eye view of the progress of production.  Below is a modified Gantt chart used for keeping track of an industrial manufacturing project.

How it works

A.  Tasks – Shows the breakdown of tasks required to complete this manufacturing project. This particular project is divided into 3 sections:

• Designing
• Purchasing
• Manufacturing

B.  Legend – Shows what the colors signify in parts D and E.

• Green: On Track – Factory worked on a task according to schedule and it is not been
• Yellow: Missed – Factory DID NOT WORK on a task on the day they were supposed to.
• Red: Not on track – The factory DID NOT COMPLETE task according to schedule and the task has extended beyond its completion date.
• Blue: Complete – Factory has completed task
• Black: Estimated Schedule

C.  Dates – Start and end dates of each task and a time line.
D.  Status – What percent of this task is complete (factory’s or auditors estimate) and if the task is on track or not.
E.  Schedule – Layout of schedule and whether each task is on time on not
F.  Resources – How many workers worked on a specific task

Gantt in Production Monitoring

Using a Gantt Chart during Production Monitoring adds value to the service already being provided. While creating a Gantt chart is not difficult, it can be time consuming when the production facility is unable or unwilling to provide a breakdown of tasks and their respective estimated start and end dates. Gantt charts can and should be acquired from production facilities prior to the start of production. Since most projects are at least somewhat time sensitive, a Gantt Chart concretizes an agreed-upon timeline and can be used to hold the factory accountable in terms of completing a project on time.

Once acquired, an auditor on-site everyday (who is already monitoring the quality of the project) can verify and maintain a record of whether the factory is producing as per schedule.

This added to Production Monitoring gives the buyer a better idea of where quality issues could arise from.  For example, in the above chart, only 4 workers were assigned to Sandblast and primer painting, which was already 10 days off track. The buyer, noticing this, could ask their auditor to pay extra attention to the painting and sandblasting to make sure the factory isn’t skimping on quality in order to make up for lost time.

Performing Final Inspection at less than 100% Packed

I often get asked by my clients: “at what point should we have an inspection of the goods in the factory?”.  This is a good question.  In this post I am referring only to what we call a “Final Inspection”.  This generally indicates that the majority of goods have been produced in the factory (in China), and this will be the last QC check before the goods are shipped to the client.

The most common time to inspect the goods is when they are 100% completed and packed.  This is the safest choice; right for a buyer who has serious concerns about the quality of the goods.  Since the goods are 100% packed prior to inspection, the inspection sample will be drawn from the entire lot of goods that is shipping.  Therefore, the likely hood that any issues in the shipment, including those related to the packaging, will be identified in the inspection, is very high.

Another common standard, especially for retailers, is that inspections can take place any time after the goods are 80% completed an packed.  With this standard the buyer offers a little bit more flexibility to the factory, since production timelines are usually very tight.  However, these is always some risk that if the goods are inspected when only 80% is complete, the other 20% that is not complete when the inspection is performed, will contain unidentified quality issues.

The most flexible option would be to allow inspection to take place anytime after 50% of the goods are complete, and not considering how many are packaged.  Although this option is extremely flexible, and good for those that are on extremely tight timelines, it opens up a range of issues.  The reason for this is if there are quality issues with the packaging or in the part of the shipment that was not included in the inspection, it will not be identified prior to shipment.

For more information on DURPO inspections, which take place during production, I suggest you see this post: http://www.quality-wars.com/2008/09/05/the-importance-of-in-line-dupro-inspection/

Andrew Reich, InTouch CEO and Quality Wars author, Speaks at AmCham Shanghai and Shanghai CHAINA Conference

InTouch CEO, Andrew Reich, has been busy this month, participating in several events in the Shanghai area.

On November 2nd, Andrew spoke at the 3rd annual CHaINA conference at the Intercontinental Hotel in Shanghai. Andrew led the workshop entitled Quality Control in the Supply Chain – The Long-term Play through 2020 which was attended by over 65 of the total 350+ attendees at the conference.

This workshop was well attended by executives from major firms such as Carrefour, Adidas, and Overstock.com.

On November 4th, Andrew again hosted a lecture on Quality Control in Shanghai at the Shanghai American Chamber of Commerce which was attended by executives from a variety of multi-national and local companies.

China Buying – The Advantages and Disadvantages of working Factory Direct

Buyers of China-manufactured goods generally have a few choices when it comes to what “type” of entity they want to do business with. While it can be hard for those new to the industry to tell sometimes what kind of outfit they are working with (more on that later), it’s important to understand the benefits and downfalls of working with different different kinds of companies here.

In this post we’ll examine the benefits of working factory direct, as compared with a buying agent or trading company.

Working Factory Direct –

You’ve probably heard it from your associates, if not directly from your boss: “Go factory direct and save money!” (or some variation of this exclamation. While there are serious costs savings to be attained by working direct with a China manufacturer, it is definitely NOT the right move for everyone. And, I must tell you, that in more cases than not clients of mine who come to China with the intent of working factory direct would actually be better served, and better suited to succeed in business, but working with the right buying agent or trading company.

With that in mind I think it’s more appropriate to evaluate the downside prior to the upside…

The Downside:

1. Ease of doing business - By far, most factories in China are in no way sophisticated enough to do business with overseas buyers. Remember, this is coming to you from someone who has visited literally thousands of factories in China – I know. Most factories here have little English-speaking staff, don’t understand the intricacies of shipping and working with overseas companies, and most importantly, don’t understand the quality requirements and expectations that you probably are expecting. Such factors, if not clearly recognized in the beginning of your relationship, will only multiply and compound other issues involved in sourcing as you go forward.

2. Size – With that in mind, the factories here that ARE sophisticated and used to doing business with overseas buyers are usually of a certain size, that would categorize them as relatively unwilling to do business with a small buyer. As a matter of economies of scale it’s just not worth it for a large factory to do business with a small buyer unless there is some special reason. For this reason it is most important that you find the partners in China who are the right size for you, and who are clearly interested in your business.

3. Interest – Similar to the point I just made, there’s just about nothing more important when finding a partner over here than their interest level in doing business with you. Factories hare a lot going on (managing production lines, materials, etc.) For them to have the interest and dedication to working with you means that you are bringing them significant orders. In most cases, trading companies or agents, who focus on working with overseas buyers, are more motivated to make it happen for you.

The Upside:

1. Cost of Product: There’s no doubt that in almost all cases (except compared with some super huge trading companies like Li & Fung) you are going to get the best price on a product when buying factory direct. That said, be sure to consider the costs that you may need to absorb when using this options which should include working with a 3rd party QC company to ensure the quality meets your expectations, and in many cases the staff or outside support you are going to need to overcome the points mentioned above.

2. Direct Access and Response Time: If you have the attention and dedication of a good factory partner, then you will also have direct access to their engineers and product design staff (if they have them). That means, if they’re good, they can respond quickly to your needs regarding product development. This may include changes to materials, product design, molds, etc. Trading companies can generally never give you this kind of response time. That said, the relationships that a trading company or agent should have on the supplier side are good for allowing a smaller client access to such resources.

3. Production Capacity – In fact, we can make an argument in favor of a buying agent or trading company as well when it comes to production capacity. A good agent or trading company will have many factories that can produce the same product, which can greatly augment a product’s production capacity. That said, managing the quality of a line of product, or one particular product, over several factories, can be difficult (even for an experienced agent or trading company). So, if your quantities are big, working factory direct (with the right factory), makes sense.

No doubt that there are a lot more upside and downside points where this comes from. Anybody want to share?

A few other related articles from QW that you may want to check out on this subject include:

How to Find a Good Factory in China

Factory Audit in China – What You Need to Know

How to tell if a Factory is Cheating you

Why is it so hard to get a sample from my Chinese factory?

How to FEEL a Good Factory – 5 Non-Traditional Indicators

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