Risky Business: Know Your Outsourcer
Risky Business: Know Your Outsourcer
First, I want to thank April McDowell for writing a most informative article for you in December. She said I was jet-setting and I guess you could call my visit to China most certainly that. After 17 hours of flying time to get to Shanghai from Atlanta, I was ready for sleep and more sleep – but no time for sleep when you’re in a new country! Flying coach certainly made me appreciate those first class upgrades I’m fortunate enough to receive from Delta every now and then.
The difference in time between Atlanta and Shanghai is 13 hours so when it was day in Atlanta it was night in Shanghai which made checking into the office and home a challenge. Plus, when in Shanghai I was a day ahead of Atlanta. I can honestly say that the return to Atlanta and adjustment to the time zone change after a week in China was the most difficult I’ve ever experienced in my travels. So the moral of the story is if you plan to take a trip like this one, you should not return with plans to hit the pavement running!
This experience was awesome for me. My reasons for going were numerous, but the effect this experience had on me was one of amazement. Since my return, I’ve had a number people ask if I would be writing an article about my trip. Well, even though I realize that this subject is controversial to say the least, I would like to share some of my thoughts with you and hope you will take them as educational rather than an endorsement for doing business in China.
I visited Shanghai, Zhuhai and Hong Kong. For a lot of fun and vacation, Hong Kong is a must if you ever take this trip. A dental distributor in Shanghai arranged for me to meet some individuals who play important roles in the regulation of dental laboratories and management of the dental laboratory association in Shanghai. I visited the center where certain dental technicians are tested every four years. In the dental clinic that was a part of this center, I was shown the prescription that is used by the dental clinic and also the paperwork that is provided to the patient after dental work has been completed. On that paperwork the patient is provided the name of the dentist and/or dental clinic, the name of the dental laboratory where the manufacturing was performed and the contents of the dental appliance. They’re certainly ahead of us on this aspect of disclosure, but we are seeing more and more states in the U.S. requiring disclosure of materials and disclosure if another dental laboratory manufactured any part of the item. However, we don’t yet see where the patient receives this type of information. I think we all realize that this is an issue that is under discussion in our industry and some day the rules may change in the U.S. as well for this type of full disclosure.
There is an entity in China named FDA and the lady who joined me on some of my visits to dental laboratories and dental clinics is the assistant chief secretary. How or if this entity works with the U.S. FDA, I don’t know at this time, but in China it is described to be similar to our FDA. I was told that they inspect dental laboratories annually and sometimes four times a year.
One of my visits was to a large dental clinic at the Ninth Peoples Hospital in Shanghai. This facility was very clean and appeared similar to dental clinics in the U.S. Even though I don’t think the people in China frequent the dentist as much as we do in the U.S., this facility was extremely busy. The dentist who provided me the tour is in charge of the dental laboratory professional association. He attends courses in the U.S. for continuing education and was most interested in sharing information regarding the dental industry in China.
I visited several dental laboratories and must say that they look much like the dental laboratories in the U.S. From a cleanliness and safety standpoint, I was impressed with the lack of clutter. With my current experience in lean manufacturing, I liked this as they have standards for the equipment that is used at the workbench.
Another American dental laboratory person on one of my tours commented how the workers focus on their work and don’t have a lot of conversation going on. Yes, that sounds great, however, you must realize that these workers live in dorms right at the dental laboratory site and have their social time with each other every day or evening depending on their work schedule. Our workers in the U.S. don’t spend as much off time together, so naturally we’re going to see more communication among our co-workers.
Each laboratory had several levels of workers and the workers are given the opportunity through training to advance to the next level. There are dental laboratory schools in China and one of the laboratories that I visited stated that they mostly hire their technicians from the schools. Several of the laboratories I visited have extensive training programs where workers will spend as long as three months or more learning before they are released into the dental laboratory.
The most amazing place I visited was Hong Kong and it was for pleasure. Some friends live there so I was fortunate to stay with them. If you decide to visit China, this is a must place to visit. The shopping is unbelievable and so many beautiful sites to see. The food was interesting, but I like Chinese food, or at least what I thought was Chinese food from U.S. restaurants. There were some food items that I tried that tasted great but when I found out what I was eating, I didn’t know if I would have ordered it. For instance, bull frog and I don’t just mean the legs. Also pork stomach and this was yummy! Oh, well, I survived it and gained a few pounds while on the trip.
All of this is to emphasize that it’s important as a part of your quality system for you to visit the dental laboratories that perform work for you. And that means in the U.S. or in another country. You want to ensure that they are using FDA registered materials, operate a clean facility, and are processing your cases in the manner in which you would in your own laboratory. Of course traceability of the materials is important in the event there is a recall. The paperwork that I mentioned above that is provided in Shanghai to the patient showed not only the material content but the lot numbers of the materials. If your outsourcer is not providing that information to you, then you want to make sure that they have it available in the event of a problem with materials or a recall.
Your product represents you to your dental clients, so do your due diligence when it comes to outsourcing your work. For some of you that may mean a trip to China, India, Vietnam, Mexico, Costa Rica or Canada if that’s where the work is manufactured. Not a bad way to write off a great trip but most importantly to do your due diligence to protect your business, your dental clients and the patient.
