As soon as I logged onto the Internet this morning, two China-sourcing-related stories caught my eye:

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China Toy Boss Kills Self After Recall

Slaves Found In Chinese Brick Factories

One interesting quote from the former article was “Chinese companies often have long supply chains, making it difficult to trace the exact origin of components, chemicals and food additives.”

I’ve seen sourcing teams not exercise enough due diligence in evaluating their prime suppliers in China let alone going downstream to Tier II and Tier III suppliers. Hopefully, all of this bad news is a wakeup call to ensure a satisfactory supplier qualification process, not just in sourcing from China but sourcing period.