Babies R Us in the States has had to recall bibs and crayon boxes which contain lead.

Is this unusual? Are there really more recalls than usual? What is unusual is the amount of cover the media have given it. Perhaps it is because the products concerned are aimed at children and, as we all know, products for children which are found to be 'not up to scratch' have always caused a lot of concern. The wheel that comes off a pushchair nearly always 'could have killed my darling child!'

However, recalls are quite common; in fact the number of recalls is increasing. Yes, some of this may be due to more faults on the product but much of it is due to the fact that once a problem has been found then a supplier can no longer hide the fact. So any fault, however unimportant, has to be documented and if safety is an issue then a recall is obligatory. 'Due Diligence' has its place! The side effect of all this is that, whereas once a product recall could mean the death of the company's reputation, if it's properly handled now it can mean an improvement. However, most of these recalls don't make even the local paper never mind nationals or the TV news.

What are they buying?

Many buyers are only concerned either with increasing the margin their company can achieve or being able to sell it significantly cheaper than their competitors. 'Shareholder value' is a fashionable phrase for improving the dividends paid to investors. Advertising - witness the current Tesco ads - is often about how much cheaper they're selling the item. Sometimes, such as the brilliant M&S food ads, it is about how much better the quality is and how good the service, but this is relatively rare. But I digress!

In a number of sectors, including toys, the Chinese government are reducing subsidies. Chinese inflation is rising and many Chinese peasants appear to prefer staying on the farm to working in factories. Yet, like everyone else, even Chinese suppliers are being put under pressure to make things cheaper. They can do this is several ways. They can cut their own profits - but this will only go so far; in some sectors notably textiles, profits are already gossamer thin. Sometimes they can work more efficiently. But the easiest and sometimes only way, is to cut corners. Use cheaper components; pay the workers less (so they are either untrained or couldn't care less); don't bother about getting it right. Who can blame them for taking the easy route?

Waiting for a container to arrive and then finding that those products that you've been so desperately waiting for are faulty, causes so many problems not only to the distributor but also to the retailer and the consumer - and her baby won't wait! Ideally, problems should be identified before the goods have even left the factory. A recall is always an admission of failure. Not only is it that something has gone wrong but also that the problem has been missed until the product is in the hands of the users. Many faults could and should have been picked up earlier.

Quality control

There are several ways of handling this. Many companies employ agents, often British people who are experienced in both what happens in a factory and dealing with China. The Chinese, on the whole are very eager to please and the nature of their language makes them avoid the negative. So yes, that will be done, and yes, it will be OK. But you still have to be careful and check and double check that it has been done.

Whether you are a small supplier or a large one, you will need to have proper controls in place. Andrew Ratcliffe, Managing Director of Dorel (UK) Ltd, told us “A few years ago, Dorel China was set up to represent the worldwide interests of the Dorel operating companies. There are now 125 Dorel employees based in China with eight separate offices. Their primary function and benefit is Quality Control, working closely with the factories to ensure that production batches comply with the standards we expect. Dorel China audits the quality and production capability of all our suppliers. Where required, we undertake a programme of continuous improvement, working in co-operation with our suppliers to ensure that the highest level of quality is achieved and maintained. This allows us to design quality into all of our products, delivering greater reliability and performance.”

“As a large global company we have strict procedures for controlling quality before new products are released to production and then during mass production. Our size and resources ensure that Chinese factories follow our procedures to ensure consistent good quality. Quality out of China is, in fact, superior to many other countries today, especially low-cost producers.”

Quality assurance schemes are like insurance. You pay for what you get. At some point, you need to make a commercial decision as to how much you need. If you pay an awful lot then you can get an awful lot of checking but even then there are no guarantees. There is a balance between not doing enough and wasting time and money on doing too much.

I am old enough to remember when the label 'Made in China' meant cheap, shoddy goods. Then we moved to an era when a major buyer won't look at anything made elsewhere as it is generally felt that anything made elsewhere would be comparatively expensive. But there are alternatives.

Somewhere else?

“China isn't the be all and end all,” says Jeremy Minchin of Hippychick. “Our products are manufactured in a number of countries - including Spain, Germany and South Africa. We're particularly proud that in South Africa we have created 65 new jobs for people who are fairly paid and work in excellent conditions. They in turn support about 250 people in townships who have no income opportunities at all. At Hippychick, we believe that all our products need to be responsibly and ethically sourced. A lot of people have no idea of the conditions of the factories, some of which can be horrendous. Ideally, we would prefer not to use China, because of both the environmental impact of transporting the products from the Far East and the perception of workforce exploitation. However, we recognise that there are many good factories there and both the Hipseat and Wheelybug are made in China, with fantastic quality and delivery records on each (vastly better than when made in the UK or Europe). We use experienced commissioned agents, who we know and trust, to check that the factories are as we would wish. Since we don't have to answer to any shareholders it's up to us how much (or little!) profit we make and whilst manufacturing some products in China has enabled us to grow our market globally, we are not prepared to use sweat shop labour just because it's cheaper.”

Media Hype

Much of the media hype emanates from America where there have been calls for a boycott of Chinese products, asking consumers to spend a few extra dollars to buy a product manufactured in a country with higher standards for worker's rights, health, and the environment. But with everything that hits the papers, there has to be the question of why? Why is this being talked about so much? And much of the talk is very emotive - “Waiting until our children have sucked the lead paint off of their toys is simply not good enough!” is one quote from the American press. The American press also report that there is to be a Senate Subcommittee hearing “to develop new initiatives to protect U.S. children.”

One American website (a legal company - as you'd expect!) is asking for parents of 'children who have been injured' to join in a class action! Bear in mind that the levels of lead we are talking about are extremely low and, I understand, in the case of the bibs, lower than required by American standards (but not Toys R Us standards which in this case are higher) One has to be suspicious that with the health of the American economy being in question, is this a political anti-China campaign? Before May this year, there was very little publicity to faulty products. Now there's a huge outcry. Have Chinese factories suddenly gone crazy? Personally I doubt it. It may be a useful reminder for companies to double check their procedures but they should be doing that anyway and faulty products occur in any factory wherever it is.

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