Planning a Vietnam Sourcing Timeline, Including Tet and Factory Closures

Break the project into separate milestones

Separate supplier search, shortlisting, quotation clarification, sample preparation, sample delivery, revisions and buyer approval. Then list material availability, production, separately agreed checks, packing and shipment handover. Give each stage a completion condition. “Sample ready” and “sample approved” describe different milestones; neither automatically means production can start.

Ask which stages may overlap and which must finish first. Include time for your own review and for a new sample if a revision remains open. Do not treat a supplier’s production estimate as the length of the whole sourcing project.

• Search and shortlist: enough information to select suppliers for the next step.
• Samples and approval: identified references and recorded buyer decisions.
• Materials and production: confirmed prerequisites and proposed milestones.
• Checks, packing and handover: agreed responsibilities and remaining questions.

Plan sample requests and approval records

Record the trigger for each lead-time estimate

For every estimate, ask: what starts the clock, who confirms the trigger, and which assumptions are included? Possible prerequisites to clarify include final specifications, an acknowledged order, an agreed payment stage, material availability or sample approval. Record the supplier’s actual reply rather than assuming every project uses the same sequence.

A WHO Vietnam RFQ requests delivery timing as a separate quotation field. For your schedule, go further: distinguish the date goods are expected ready from the proposed handover or arrival date. Before production, resolve the reference version, open approvals, named contacts and the next confirmation point.

WHO Vietnam RFQ: delivery timing field

Make buyer decisions and material dependencies visible

List dependencies beside the affected stage: buyer artwork approval, material confirmation, a revised sample, a packaging decision or information from a specialist. Give each an owner and a next-action date. Ask the factory which dependency affects the next milestone and whether its estimate changes when that dependency is late.

Your latest acceptable decision date is a planning assumption until the relevant parties confirm its effect. Make that distinction visible. An unconfirmed material date should remain an open item rather than becoming a precise production-start promise.

Ask each supplier about Tet and other closures

For Tet planning, keep the public holiday notice, factory closure, production restart and logistics cutoffs as separate records. Government News distinguishes public-sector holiday arrangements from private employers’ schedules. Use the official notice as context and obtain direct confirmation for the actual participants in your order.

• Ask the factory for its last working date and planned restart date for this order.
• Confirm whether office replies, sampling, production and dispatch follow the same schedule.
• Ask who can answer urgent questions during the closure, if anyone.
• Confirm relevant material-supplier dependencies and when the factory will update you.
• Ask your logistics provider separately about booking, collection and document cutoffs.

Government News: public and private-sector holiday arrangements

Work backward from the needed delivery date

Start with the date you need the goods and the location it refers to. Ask your logistics provider to identify the transport assumptions needed to work backward to a proposed factory handover. Then work back through packing, agreed checks, production, materials and approval using supplier-confirmed estimates.

Check where a confirmed closure intersects those stages. If a milestone is unknown, keep a range or open question supplied by the responsible party. Discuss choices such as moving the buying decision, adjusting the delivery target or evaluating a proposed partial handover. Obtain separate confirmation of feasibility, charges and buyer approval before changing the plan.

Keep assumptions, owners and updates in one schedule

Keep the original estimate beside the latest update so changes remain visible. Record holiday assumptions with their source and confirmation date. Add the decision needed if an assumption fails, who will make it, and when the next check is due. Refresh affected stages together; changing only the final date hides the dependency that moved.

Handle production updates and schedule changes

Understand the agreed project stages