Chinese Imports Expert Witness, Chinese Manufacturing Expert Witness, Supply Chain Expert Witness

Blue Silk Consulting
Los Gatos, California 95031


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Services
Rosemary Coates provides consulting, investigations, research and expert witness services in the following areas:
Business Operations
- Chinese Manufacturing
- Counterfeit Imports
- China Products Sourcing
- Global Inventories
- Field Service
- Manufacturing
- Procurement and Purchasing
- Supply Contracts
- Forecasting and Planning
- Warehousing and Distribution
- Transportation
- Import and Export
- ERP Project Management
Software and Systems
- Project Management
- ERP Systems
- SAP
- Oracle
- Scope Management
- Runaway Projects
- Breach of Contract
- Misrepresentation
Areas of Expertise
- Business
- Business Acquisitions
- Business Strategy
- Chinese Manufacturing
- Contract Manufacturing
- Counterfeit Imports
- Due Diligence
- Import Export
- Management
- Manufacturing
- Mergers & Acquisitions
- Offshore
- Products Liability
- Purchasing Contracts
- Supply Chains
- Total Quality Control
- Transportation
- Trucking
Additional Expertise:
Reshoring, Logistics/Freight Forwarding, International Business, Materials, Storage, Warehouse Operations, Toys - Product Liability, Electronics, Consumer Products, Chinese Drywall, Software Patents related to Supply Chain Processes, Inventory Tax, Channel Distribution, Software Implementation, Project Management, Sourcing, Purchasing and Procurement, 3rd Party Logistics, Outsourcing.
Profile
Ms. Coates is the President of Blue Silk Consulting. She is a seasoned executive with an MBA, 25 years' experience in Supply Chain Management, Operations Management, Project Management and Systems Consulting. Prior to BSC, she was a Senior Director at SAP, the Supply Chain Practice Leader at KPMG Peat Marwick and at Answerthink, and a Regional Manager at Hewlett-Packard. Ms. Coates has consulted with global and domestic clients, VCs and PE firms on operations systems and processes. She has considerable international experience and has worked for extended periods in Asia and Europe. Her experience spans a broad range of industries including High Technology, Software, Chemicals, Health Care, Consumer Products, Industrial Products, Food Distribution, Transportation, Publishing, Retail, Oil and Gas. She has extensive knowledge and experience in manufacturing and outsourcing in Asia, Europe and the US. She has authored an Amazon.com Best Seller book: 42 Rules for Sourcing and Manufacturing in China, 42 Rules for Superior Field Service and the Reshoring Guidebook.
Ms. Coates in a member of the Board of Directors at the University of San Diego Supply Chain Management Institute. She earned a BS in Business at Arizona State University and an MBA at the University of San Diego. She resides in Silicon Valley.
Areas Served
All States and worldwide. Ms. Coates has particular expertise in Asia (China, Korea, Japan, and Singapore).
More Information
Chinese Manufacturing Expert Witness
Counterfeit Imports Expert Witness
Blue Silk Consulting Services, Legal Consultant
Blue Silk Consulting Blog, Expert Witness
Blue Silk Consulting in the Social Networks


Professional Experience
Ms. Coates has been a global supply chain consultant for 35 years and has worked on projects for over 80 clients. Prior to consulting, Ms. Coates spent 10 years as an executive in the high-tech industry and as an adjunct professor in California colleges where she taught manufacturing, management, and international business.
Her experience has been focused on Supply Chain and software and especially Chinese manufacturing. She has expert knowledge in discrete manufacturing, forecasting and planning, inventory control, warehousing and distribution, transportation, field service and import/export. In addition, she has project and program management experience with software implementations including SAP and Oracle, i2, Manugistics/JDA and many others.
Ms. Coates is a China expert and has authored an Amazon.com Best Seller book "42 Rules for Sourcing and Manufacturing in China" and "42 Rules for Superior Field Service" and "Negotiation Blueprinting for Buyers" and "Reshoring Guidebook" and Legal Blacksmith-How To Avoid and Defend Supply Chain Disputes."
Ms. Coates is the Executive Director of the Reshoring Institute. She teaches "Global Supply Chain Strategies and Architectures" at UC Berkeley. She is on the Board of Directors of the Supply Chain Management Institute at the University of San Diego.
Licenses
Licensed United States Customs Broker
Teaching Credential - California Colleges and Universities
Legal Experience & Services
Rosemary Coates has legal expertise in the following:
- Expert testimony: depositions, at trial and in arbitration
- Export Report writing
- Mergers and acquisitions
- Argument research
- Document review and analysis
- Rebuttal and report preparation
Affiliations
Reshoring Institute - Executive Director
University of San Diego Supply Chain Management Institute - Board of Directors
Asian-American Management Association
Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals
Institute of Supply Management
China Business Network
Past President of the World Trade Association
Reuter's Insight, a Community of Experts - Supply Chain
Gerson Lehrman Group Experts - Supply Chain
Seminars & Training
Ms. Coates currently teaches Global Supply Chain Architectures and Strategies at UC Berkeley.
Ms. Coates is a credentialed lifetime instructor for the State of California Colleges and Universities. She has taught courses in Management and Supervision, Manufacturing, International Business and Import and Export Management for over 10 years.
She teaches public workshops on sourcing and manufacturing in China, and on how companies can bring manufacturing back to the US.
Publications
Ms. Coates has published and presented at many forums and in print medium, including the following:
- Book: "42 Rules for Sourcing and Manufacturing in China" A Best Seller at www.Amazon.com
- Book" "Legal Blacksmith: How To Avoid and Defend Supply Chain Disputes" www.Amazon.com
- Book: "42 Rules for Superior Field Service" www.Amazon.com
- Book: "Negotiation Blueprinting for Buyers" www.Amazon.com
- Book: "Reshoring Guidebook" www.Amazon.com
- Voice of America 2014
- California CEO Manufacturer's Corner, featured interview, 2015
- CEO Magazine, 2014 "How to Ensure Your Reshoring Project Won't Fail"
- "9 Rules for China Logistics" US-China Business Review, May, 2012
- “Why China Isn't Ready for Lean Manufacturing” – “China Supply Chain Magazine” July, 2010, Shanghai, China
- China Sourcing - Institute of Supply Management, 2010
- China Briefing – IEEE of Silicon Valley, 2010
- Quality Fade in Low-Cost Manufacturing Countries - Lehigh University Press, CVCR Spring, 2010
- What Everyone Needs to Know About Manufacturing in China – Internationalization Engineering Group Cupertino, CA, 2009
Professional References
Available on Request.
Education
MBA in Finance and Operations Management from the University of San Diego
Bachelor of Science Degree in Logistics from Arizona State University
Articles Published by Blue Silk Consulting
Global Supply Chains in the Wake of Covid-19
To find guidance, we talked with Rosemary Coates, the Executive Director of the California-based Reshoring Institute, a non-profit that provides information, research, and support for companies trying to reshore their manufacturing and services back into the United States. (Full disclosure, Rosemary is also co-author of the supply chain treatise, Legal Blacksmith: How to Avoid and Defend Supply Chain Disputes, with SPB partner Sarah Rathke. She is also an expert witness and the President of Blue Silk Consulting.)
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Logistics and Distribution Are More Complicated Than You Think
Global supply chains are complicated and involve relationships between multiple supply chain partners. Each relationship requires some kind of agreement or contract between the parties that is often the source of conflict that result in law suits.
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China Manufacturing
You need to understand both the what and the how business is conducted in China if your case involves Chinese manufacturing. Its not enough to consider the facts. You must also consider the nuance of context.
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Chinese Contract Manufacturing
Contract Manufacturers for electronics and industrial products provide engineering and manufacturing services to companies that do not want to own and operate their own factories. CMs are experts in manufacturing and can quickly adopt your products into their manufacturing lines. CMs are excellent at assembly and repeatable production and are the kinds of factories you often see in photographs where hundreds of young women are bent over assembly tables.
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Quality Fade in China
Quality Fade is the single biggest issue in Chinese manufacturing. Quality Fade, the process of quality degradation over time, is the single biggest issue in low cost manufacturing countries. It happens frequently in China where manufacturing processes are immature and competitive pricing drives the profits to extremely low levels. It also happens in Vietnam, Indonesia, Bangladesh and other low-cost countries.
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