If you don’t have a local office in China, Vietnam, or India, and you need to fly back to Asia very often (or follow unhealthy sleep patterns), these are the signs that you need a team on the ground you can rely on.

Many of our clients already work with an ‘agent’, a partner, or freelancer(s) on the ground. They work with Sofeast because they value some of our in-house competencies and processes.

The very first step is setting up a plan that addresses your objectives and considers the realities of your supply chain. Your suppliers get into “just do it” mode at the snap of a finger. However, has anyone stopped to pause and consider what is in your long-term interest?

We listen to you, see what has worked and not worked, and suggest an action plan as well as realistic objectives.

Then, based on your needs, we propose the profile (bios) of a project manager that would best fit them. This project manager, together with his/her team, starts implementing the plan.

• Our project managers are in close contact with your suppliers, using their language as well as their preferred communication tools (Wechat, QQ, etc.), in order to keep your projects moving.
• We also have a support team with individuals who specialize in laboratory testing, sourcing, procurement, and in export & logistics.

We go to the factory when needed. Our project management team is located in 4 different areas, and our inspection & audit team is nearly all along the coasts of China and Vietnam.

One of our project managers is in frequent contact with you and updates you all along (as your single point of contact). If you already use a kind of project management or collaborative software, such as Trello or Asana, we will adjust to using it in order to make communication with you as fluid as possible and work in your preferred method.

You also get a weekly summary of the work done.

For example, here’s an excerpt from one of our ‘sourcing to order’ reports which you would receive as part of your regular reporting:

Yes, we can.
Many customers request this for Chinese suppliers, but we also provide localized support to manage suppliers in Vietnam, India, and South-East Asian countries such as Thailand, Cambodia, and Bangladesh, too.

If you’re unsure whether we can manage your chosen supplier due to their location, ask us! You can also check our main operating areas.

Intellectual property protection is something we take very seriously when developing and manufacturing a new product with clients, so for more information on that read:

• IP Protection in China when Developing Your New Product [Importer’s Guide] – IP protection in China is a complex topic. In this guide, we’re going to clarify where the major risks lie so that you can plan on mitigating them.
• How To Create A Valid Manufacturing Contract In China To Protect Your IP – this talks you through the legal side of IP-protection and what how a legitimate ‘manufacturing contract’ for your supplier/s needs to be written and what it should contain.
• IP Protection For Manufacturers: Keep Component Suppliers In The Dark – this post focuses on ‘non-legal’ approaches that we take to insulate your IP from suppliers and sub-suppliers, such as those producing a single component, in order to avoid IP infringement.