25 Mar The “Bonnie and Sabrina” Story (And Why We Verify Everything)
We produced a new item for a client. The usual rhythm.
We visited the manufacturing partner multiple times during production, caught a few small details, corrected them quickly, and everything shipped on spec. The client was satisfied.
Then came the reorder.
The factory sent a pre-production sample. Product and workmanship were consistent. Nothing raised a flag. We approved it.
Mass production started, and early production samples matched the approval sample.
Then we visited for final inspection, and the packaging was completely off. Not “slightly off.” Wrong box size, wrong quantity per carton, wrong markings, even though it was correct on the first order.
That kind of change rarely happens for no reason, so we did what we always do when something feels off.
We went in person.
Because the factory was close to the supplier’s sales office, we drove a few kilometers asked to speak with Sabrina, our sales contact.
We waited.
And waited.
Then someone finally came out to meet us and said, “Hi, I am Bonnie.”
We asked where Sabrina was.
Bonnie said, “I am Sabrina’s replacement.”
But we had been emailing Sabrina as recently as the day before.
Bonnie explained she had been in the role for two months. She simply took over the generic inbox (Sales03) that came with her computer, and kept signing replies as “Sabrina.”
No formal handover. No transfer of packaging details. No context from the first order. Just a new person driving the process with partial information, under someone else’s name.
At that moment, the packaging issue made perfect sense.
The takeaway
In sourcing, what you see remotely is not always what is happening on the factory floor.
Roles change.
People rotate.
Responsibilities get blurred.
And critical details disappear unless someone is physically there to verify, reconnect the dots, and lock the process back down.
One additional warning: be very careful when you are communicating through generic email addresses (Sales01, Sales03, Info@, etc.). The name in the signature can stay the same while the person behind it changes, and that is how critical details get lost.
This is exactly why we control quality on every single order before it ships.
How do you protect your projects from silent handovers at suppliers?