The Rescue Mission

It seems we are receiving a higher quantity of "rescue mission" inquiries lately. A rescue mission is OPSA-speak for a potential customer that has tried to do their own sourcing in China and has experienced problems - usually in terms of quality or communication issues. At that point they reach out for help. If the product or component being sourced is custom (rather than a commodity) and has reasonable complexity we will usually try to help. It's a different model than our core business, but we've made it work several times.

Helping involves contacting the customer's factories to diagnose and "fix" the problems and root causes. Usually the factories turn out to be completely inappropriate for the product and/or customer. If that's the case, usually the next step is a fairly complex negotiation to unwind the customer's work with that factory. Getting tooling out and closing PO's can be very tricky.

Sometimes the factories currently being utilized by the customer can continue to be utilized. Then we try to go in and address the specific issues. Most often communication is the problem.

The key learning from all this is to avoid requiring a rescue mission in the first place. Do your due diligence and planning upfront or hire professions on the ground in China (like OPSA) to help. If you are having problems, address them right away. Letting things linger or hoping they will improve has not been shown to be a good strategy.