Reports from the Factory Floor
The video series, adapted for reading — one insight per report, straight from inside Shanghai's factories.
Sourcing Lithium Batteries From China
Cell maker vs pack assembler, UN 38.3 and the transport papers, and how to test the temperature and cycle-life claims instead of believing them — from the battery floors I walk every week.
Read the report →Sourcing Solar Panels From China
Module assembler vs cell maker, the hidden-crack test a serious factory runs and a bad one skips, and verifying certificates with the issuing body — before you order a single pallet.
Read the report →Sourcing Consumer Electronics From China
Real factory vs trading company, the certifications that decide whether it ships (FCC, CE, UL, RoHS, UN 38.3), tooling and firmware ownership, and the quality gates — for buyers private-labeling electronics.
Read the report →What It Really Costs to Import From China
The FOB quote is not your cost. Every line that stacks on top — HTS duty, MPF, HMF, freight, insurance, brokerage — and how you compute the true cost per unit yourself with your own current rates.
Read the report →NNN vs NDA in China: Which Protects Your Design
Why a US-style NDA usually fails in China, and why an NNN is what actually stops a factory from copying your product — a plain side-by-side and the governing-language point most buyers miss.
Read the report →Is Alibaba Trade Assurance Safe?
What it covers (order disputes) and what it does not (your IP, your tooling, a redirected payment) — and what real protection actually looks like.
Read the report →The Battery Price Fell for Three Years. The Metal Inside It Tripled.
Battery packs hit a record low while the lithium inside them tripled — because someone chose to absorb it. A November deadline could reverse the cheapest input in your product.
Read the report →Why Your Supply Chain Is Hiding a 5-Year Shortage
44% of drugs in shortage trace to a key starting material made in a single country, and the average shortage now lasts over five years. The pill is often Indian; the chemistry inside it isn't.
Read the report →The Five Cent Part That Stopped A Ford Plant
China makes 94% of the world's permanent magnets. A five-cent one paused a Ford plant — and a November 10 deadline could change how every buyer gets them.
Read the report →One Island Controls 90% of Microchips. Prices Just Exploded.
One company on one island makes nine out of every ten advanced chips on earth. This year it started raising prices — and that lands on your phone, your car, and your AI bill.
Read the report →China Won 72% Of The World's Ships. Then Comes November 9.
China won 72% of the world's new ship orders — and on November 9, a suspended US fee on Chinese-built hulls is set to expire. Nobody knows which way it breaks.
Read the report →China's Oil Lifeline Is One Missile Away
A fifth of the world's oil passes through a lane two miles wide — and China is the main buyer of the oil most exposed there.
Read the report →The Mistake That Destroys Your Sourcing Power
Factories build an unwritten priority hierarchy under pressure — and price-only buyers are always the first to get bumped.
Read the report →Your China Supplier's "Yes" Is a Trap
In cross-border negotiation, "yes" often means "I hear you" — not "I commit." Here's how to close that gap before it costs you.
Read the report →The Silent Margin Killer Most CEOs Ignore
Your margin isn't shrinking from one dramatic event — it's seven quiet structural shifts compounding at once.
Read the report →What to get next
The buyers who get the most from this pair it with the tools below — each one protects the next step.