A Vietnamese Customer Dropped By Without Notice

On the morning of April 10, a business van stopped at the gate of Ouyijia factory.

Mr. Meng, head of the export department, was replying to emails in his office when the security guard called to say someone was looking for him. He went outside and saw a familiar face among the three people getting out of the van – Mr. Nguyen, purchasing manager of a building materials company in Vietnam.

“Mr. Meng, we happened to be on a business trip in Shandong, so we thought we’d drop by and take a look,” Mr. Nguyen said with a smile as they shook hands.

Meng was a little surprised. Nguyen’s company had been working with Ouyijia for more than a year, placing regular monthly orders for no‑nail adhesive and foam sealant, but they had never visited the factory. Meng had invited them twice before, but they said they were too busy. This time, they came unannounced.

“I just want to see your raw material warehouse and production line,” Nguyen said directly, without beating around the bush. “We have been working together for so long using the samples you sent and the goods you shipped, but I have no real picture of what your factory looks like.”

Meng did not hesitate. He took him to three places.

First stop – the raw material tank area. Nguyen asked the name and origin of the raw material suppliers, and leaned in to look at the labels and receiving dates on the tanks. “Where do these come from? Do you have backup suppliers?” He asked in detail. Meng answered every question and even pulled out the raw material test reports from the last three months for him to see.

Second stop – the aerosol filling line. Nguyen stood by the production line and watched for a full ten minutes – from empty cans going onto the line, automatic filling, sealing, leak testing, labelling, and packing. He did not skip a single step. He specifically asked about the filling pressure parameter range and asked a worker to pull out a freshly sealed can. He shook it himself and listened to the sound.

Third stop – the finished product retention room. SEIMEDA’s practice is to keep retention samples of every batch for at least one year. The room was neatly lined with several hundred samples. Nguyen randomly pointed to three batches of foam sealant – produced three months, six months and one year earlier – and asked for on‑the‑spot spray tests.

Technician Zhou brought test boards and, following the standard process, sprayed, expanded and measured. Nguyen crouched down to look at the foam density and cell structure, then pressed the cured foam with his fingers to test its elasticity. The test results for all three samples were almost identical to the original factory reports that had been sent to him earlier.

Nguyen stood up, dusted his hands, and nodded. “Now I feel reassured.”

At 11:30 am, Meng invited Nguyen to stay for lunch. He declined, saying he had to visit another supplier in Weifang that afternoon and was in a hurry. Before leaving, he told Meng: “Add one more small container to next month’s order – I’ll confirm by email.”

After seeing them off, Meng walked back to the office and finally let out a breath. “A sudden customer visit makes me nervous too. But when you do things right every day, you don’t have to be afraid of them looking.”