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Outsourcing production abroad often makes sense but this process comes with its fair share of challenges. Having to adapt to a different legislation, communicating in a foreign language and even finding yourself in different time zones than your supplier can become issues.

Having a local presence, also known as ‘boots on the ground‘ addresses a number of these issues:

  • Communication with your suppliers or manufacturers cannot be approximate. If you are thinking about outsourcing in Asia, you need to have a professional on your team who is fluent in the language of the country where production will be outsourced. Having a local partner who speaks the language allows for better communication, which means your suppliers will know exactly what you expect from them and you will be able to address any issues right away and get an immediate answer from your supplier.
  • In some ways, having boots on the ground makes your supplier or manufacturer more accountable. It would be very easy to hide things from you if your manufacturer knows you will never set foot in the production facility. Safety regulations might not be respected, there might be some quality issues during the production process and employees might work in poor conditions or not receive proper training. Without having boots on the ground, it might take months before you realize that any of these issues exist.
  • Having boots on the ground makes you more reactive. You can use your local presence to add a quality check before products are shipped. Without this local presence, you wouldn’t notice any issues until the products have arrived, which can take weeks. Failing to notice a generalized quality issue within a short time-frame could lead to delays in production and cost a lot of money.

There are many other advantages to having boots on the ground when outsourcing production to Asia.

But what if you do not have a partner there? This is where Tricord International can help you. Our trained inspectors are fluent in a number of languages and will perform thorough inspections of production facilities and perform quality checks on products before shipment.

You should contact us to learn more about our solutions and how we can help you with the outsourcing process!