Product Quality Strategies: 13 You Need To Use

We’ve outlined 13 product quality strategies you need to use to achieve consistent product quality, divided into pre and post-production categories, and provide a brief introduction to each here.

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Pre-production product quality strategies

When it comes to product quality the bulk of the work is done before production because preparation is critical which you’ll see reflected in the following strategies.

1. Due diligence and factory audits.

Supplier selection: good supplier = good outcome. If you don’t manufacture yourself you will source a supplier, such as an ODM or CM, but they need to be a good fit for you. Not too large or small, and with the right focus on quality and details vs strong cost control on high quantities, and, critically, they’re able to make the right quality level for your market.

If your quality requirements are high you need to ensure they can manufacture your product as you expect. You’ll assess via due diligence work like record checks and on-site factory audits whether their quality systems and processes are capable of making parts with few defects. (02:18)

2. Define a quality standard.

Your quality standard is the level of quality you require and expect. Understand the quality level required for your market, vertical, and distribution channels, as some are more forgiving than others. Check competitor reviews on internet shopping platforms to see what your market will and won’t accept. ‘Quality runs on paper,’ so your quality standard must be documented clearly so you can onboard new manufacturers who will be able to understand your needs and what serious problems must be avoided. As you receive prototypes you will probably find defects and issues, and photos and comments about these can also become part of your requirements. Key figures in the manufacturer must see and understand the standard, including the quality staff, production manager, sourcing staff who select component suppliers, etc. You may also use golden samples to tangibly illustrate your quality standard.

It should also be included in your manufacturing contract, so the manufacturer is bound to reach your quality expectations and you can take action if they do not, such as demanding that they correct the issues before shipping. (04:31)

3. Product design with quality in mind (DfX principles).

Newly developed products need to be designed following design guidelines for quality. Designing them to look correct and work is not enough to ensure good quality. You can follow DfX (Design for Excellence) principles to design the product with specific focuses in mind. DfQ or Design for Quality is where you design the product keeping in mind the quality standard and possible quality issues that you want to avoid. An example might be potential spills and visual defects when glueing pieces together, so you will consider how to avoid those at the design stage. Also, DfA or DfM (assembly and manufacturing) will focus on designing the product to be easier to assemble which should reduce production defects by making it harder for the production workers to, say, screw a screw into the wrong position, thereby damaging the product, or by using tried-and-tested off-the-shelf components instead of custom ones that could be more problematic. You can also expect to reduce unit costs, and development and production timelines, and improve reliability, too, if you follow such guidelines during the product design stage, rather than just designing the product to look right and work correctly. (08:35)

4. Feasibility study.

Review the product concept before starting engineering work to find the risks and problems and fix them. A lot of electro-mechanical products were developed and looked and worked well, but they couldn’t ever get into mass production. The developers rushed through development without tackling the challenges and risks from the start and designing around them. This results in a costly redesign, the manufacturer needing to change the product, or the project being abandoned. Some of the potential issues can be quality problems, so the feasibility study can improve quality. (12:44)

5. Specify all aspects of the product to avoid grey areas.

If you don’t specify exactly what you require in the product to your supplier and get their confirmation that they understand and will follow it, can you rely on them to automatically manufacture the product to your standard? If they’re busy they might opt to go for the simplest and cheapest finish, say, as this is easiest for them. A good example of where failing to specify your needs properly can hurt importers is with packaging. They leave it up to the manufacturer to decide on the packaging used and they often just select something cheap resulting in damage to perfectly good products during transit, all because you didn’t tell them to use something sturdier. (17:04)

6. Implement a QA plan.

Leaving everything up to the manufacturer, even if they seem experienced, is a mistake that can lead to quality issues because you do not know what they are doing until you receive the products. Your QA plan might include stages and inspections where you OK the product quality during production, a pilot run to iron out issues before mass production starts, compliance testing in the lab, reliability testing, etc. If problems are found, you don’t allow the product to go into production, and you remain in control of the process and keep the manufacturer accountable for the quality they’re providing. (23:11)

7. Use a manufacturer with a quality management system.

A QMS guides manufacturers to reduce quality risks and can indicate how well they can produce good quality products. It’s a framework that includes go-no-go gates for internal processes, requires reviews and analyses, and to monitor their management system and processes, so they’re adapted to the needs of their operations. If issues are found, they need to find the root causes and prevent them from reoccurring. In Asia, you can factories that have good a QMS, but the level of this capability required becomes more important as you produce more complex products.

If you do work with a smaller factory (<100 staff) that has a relatively simple (or no) QMS, you will need to compensate for that by implementing your own sold QA plan and overseeing them to an extent, but their costs to you are probably lower meaning that you can invest into QA activities. (26:04)

8. Quality (and reliability & compliance) testing.

Do you wait for your product to be mass-produced before sending samples to be tested to check if it reaches your reliability, safety, and compliance standards (which is a part of your quality expectations)? What if they don’t? This is why testing is done before production to ensure that you don’t produce large quantities of a product you can’t even import and sell in your market, or end up shipping a lot of products that suddenly stop working after a month because they have a reliability problem. (30:32)

During and Post-production product quality strategies

Some product quality strategies still take place after the product is ready for assembly…

9. Do IQC.

Incoming Quality Control on materials and components coming into the factory before assembly will help stop defective parts from making it into products which then cause quality defects. Some suppliers may be reluctant to question components from their own suppliers as they want to maintain a good relationship, but you need to make sure that they do IQC and make them accountable for doing so as your product quality is on the line. You may request them to provide you with their acceptance criteria for parts and materials and details about how they test parts, such as PCBAs. (33:32)

10. Conduct product inspections.

A basic way to control what happens in your supply chain is to send inspectors to the factory to check if products, packaging, and labelling are reaching your quality standard using a checklist based on that standard. Generally, a final random inspection when everything has been produced and is ready in cartons is a must, as it helps you confirm the average quality of the products and packaging of the whole batch. But for new suppliers or those that have had issues before, inspections during production will help to ensure that defective products don’t make it to the end of production and corrective actions can be taken early enough. As a supplier reduces issues and becomes very familiar with the product, inspections can be scaled back accordingly. (37:08)

11. Process Controls.

Good processes = good products. By now the design is locked, but you can still ensure good production quality by making sure that the production processes don’t lead to manufacturing defects. For example, you may implement jigs and fixtures to enable operators to always assemble parts correctly. By controlling how the product is produced in the factory, you reduce the risks of defects accordingly. (41:45)

12. Mistake-Proofing.

Mistake-proofing is key when there are manual operations involved. For example, when an operator needs to drill a hole, a fixture can stop them from drilling it in the wrong position…that’s a mistake avoided. Process engineers will be needed to devise mistake-proofing solutions that don’t make production processes slower. Speed is key because if operators are slowed down when doing the job, that’s when the temptation to cut corners will arise. (45:13)

13. Traceability in the supply chain.

Even if you get everything right and utilize all of the strategies mentioned so far, there is still always a risk that a quality issue can occur. If so, you need to be able to pinpoint the problematic batch easily and quickly, especially if customer safety is at stake. At the batch level, you can then identify the problem through failure analyses, such as the wrong grade of steel being used. If the steel shipments you receive are given batch numbers which are then connected to individual production batches, it’s possible to identify which supplier went wrong and avoid the issue in future. The bad batch using the defective steel can also be contained or recalled, rather than all of the products, which is less financially damaging to your business. (47:48)

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