Front Companies

Some companies, which promote themselves on-line as "factories" in China, are, in fact, only middlemen.

CBI encountered such a case several months ago in Nanjing, when one of our employees paid a visit to a bag "producer" only to find that the factory in question was a small room on an upper level in an office building. The room was filled with individual samples of these goods, but the "producer" was unwilling to provide any further details as to where these goods were made or where "his" factory was located.

This is likely not the kind of supplier that people are looking for when they source B2B websites, but it is a problem, which is impossible to spot without personal visits. Whatever B2B portal you will be visiting, it will be likely you will come across sourcing some middlemen. Such middlemen not only have an extra cut to take every time before passing on goods from the factory to businesses abroad, but this can furthermore often lead to problems related to quality control, ability to custom-make products to specification, etc.

The reason that people turn to B2B sites is to eliminate middlemen - not to enrich them. B2B sites are meant to connect buyers directly to producers, in order to cut the costs and hassles generally associated with trading companies.

CBI's experienced team of professionals can help you make sure that your company is able to achieve this B2B effect, through means like personal visits, obtaining registration data for designated suppliers, etc.

Counterfeits

Beyond normal due diligence issues which one finds all over the world (facility problems, worker issues, financial problems, etc.), one problem that is particularly prevalent amongst suppliers in China is counterfeit products.

Many suppliers claim to be authorized to produce products, which they are not, and tend to sell these to wholesalers at temptingly low prices.

While this might sound fantastic at first glance (name brand products for a quarter the price!), this can lead to serious problems. Not only do these products tend to suffer from quality problems (after all, they are only selling the brand name, as opposed to selling products with the qualities which made these brands famous in the first place), but also this can moreover lead to serious legal consequences.

Numerous companies, which have placed orders through B2B sites, have encountered this problem. For example, entire containers filled with ATVs and motorbikes unintentionally purchased from unethical suppliers in China have been seized by U.S. customs, at tremendous cost to their buyers in America.

CBI can help your company avoid these problems. Our team of trained consultants have years of experience talking with bosses, inspecting merchandise and uncovering the presence of counterfeit goods. If we didn't, we likely would not have numerous FORTUNE 500 clients and be the sole authorized anti-counterfeiting unit in China for one the largest daily goods corporations in the world.

If CBI can save you from a single customs seizure, we will have already proven to be a wise investment.

Brief Introduction:
Creditor: SIA"Kviller" of Latvia
Debtor: Shanghai Huayuan

The creditor made a distribution agreement with the debtor where the debtor gave the creditor exclusive rights in the sale of sheet products on Latvian, Lithuanian, Estonian, Ukrainian and Byelorussian market for the period between 2003 ¨C 2005.

On April 29, 2005 we received a collection order from the creditor. Our client requested we check how many times the debtor had shipped products to their partner company in Ukraine during a certain period of time, and the amount of money the Chinese company owed them according to the agreement.

On May 10, 2005, after a detailed inquiry by our lawyers, INTER-CREDIT confirmed acceptance of this case. An investigation against the debtor soon began. Our report and investigation department produced a credit report of the debtor and a collection order was put in process

Our collector began communication with the debtor. First a written letter with all supporting documents was faxed to the debtor, which was then followed up with a telephone call

After only a month, INTER-CREDIT reached an agreement with the debtor and a formal agreement was signed between the debtor and creditor. The debtor agreed to pay the owed sum of US$30,000.00 in 1 month to settle the case

On July 7, 2005, payment was made and confirmed and the case was closed.

Silicone face mask - in the early 1990s Romar were contracted to manufacture tooling for HTV silicone tooling for a FACE mask. It was clear that the product quality suffered because of the lack of good Cad and Solid model component files. Further to this the customer did not have in-house capabilities to design or detail components to the level required to produce satisfactory product quality outcomes. In addition to this the manufacturing technology needed to change to improve component quality, increase volume production and reduce cost. Romar have the Cad and solid moulding capabilities and were contracted to develop in conjunction with the client a range of new generation mask profiles and also work to convert the processing of tooling manufactured by Romar as a result of this work to liquid silicone injection moulding. As a result of a search of international searches on best practice in tool design and Liquid silicone injection moulding best practice Romar were able to exceed customer expectations. The outcomes were a new generation mask designs, high volume production from new technology tooling, significantly reduced component cost and much higher product quality and performance. The Liquid silicone materials also vastly improved the component comfort levels in use for the customer.

Swimfins-Swimfin users worldwide require a number of specific objectives from the use of these products. The product needs to be functional in terms of transmitted power and comfort, aesthetically pleasing, light, dual colour, dual hardness, light and float. Romar were contracted with these specifications to design with customer input surf swimfins that satisfies these specifications. A design was produced in full 3D solid model format and tooling designed and manufactured. Materials were selected that achieved the desired outcomes as specified with the addition of UV stability. The final product could be produced in high volume and sold worldwide.

Car Door Sealing System-Product was designed and prototyped in Japan for an automotive door Sealing system. The Manufacturer was confronted with prototype samples, 2D component drawings and a solid model of each of six parts, which were all different. The requirement was to make the parts as close as possible to the 2d drawing but incorporate changes that occurred at the prototype stage. New solid models were constructed and approved by the customer and tooling designed to manufacture the parts in a metal and foam composite. The presses were specially built to achieve the moulding process and the tools configured to function within the required operational parameters. The process was successful and the combination of the metal foam composite satisfied the water sealing requirements of the car manufacturer.