As the world’s biggest “factory”, China has embraced millions of buyers and entities from all over the globe to source any product that you can imagine. Throughout the process, buyers have enjoyed the price competitiveness and advantages of economy-of-scale, but at the same time, faced challenges on various fronts when dealing with Chinese suppliers. From a survey conducted in 2016 by PP-OEM, nearly half of international buyers reported that the long and often changing lead time is one of their top issues among several other potential pain-points. Lead time refers to the period of time from the customer confirms an order to the date when the ordered goods are ready for delivery. In general, this process takes from 30 to 60 days, depends on the products and the manufacturer.