QualityInspection.org

Quality Assurance, Product Development, and Purchasing Strategies in China

ISO 9001 QMS Features, Benefits, & Implementation Tips [Podcast]

In This Episode... Phil Brown, owner of Phil Brown Consultancy, who is an ISO 9001 and 14001 consultant in the UK joins us in this episode of the China manufacturing decoded podcast. Phil talks us through the ISO 9001 QMS, the requirements that make up this standard, benefits, the difference between good and bad implementations, and some tips from him to follow if you're implementing the QMS sometime soon.   Just hit the play button to start listening..! Listen to the episode right … [Read more...]

3 Examples of Quality Inspection Checklists

  Over the years, we have provided feedback to many clients on their product specification sheets and their inspection checklists. Rather than a step-by-step guideline, the most useful is usually to provide them with a few real examples for different types of products.   3 examples of inspection checklists Last year, when personal protective equipment was severely lacking in many countries, we released some of our templates on our commercial website. I believe they … [Read more...]

Getting To Grips With Non-Recurring Engineering Costs (NRE) [Podcast]

In this episode of the podcast, we discuss Non-Recurring Engineering costs for manufacturers. As the name suggests, these costs are usually one-off and are what it takes to get your product into production. These costs are perhaps better known as R&D costs, and it's important to get to grips with them as they have a great impact on your product's sale price, as well as the feasibility of manufacturing it in the first place. It's fair to say that the NRE costs often turn out to be more … [Read more...]

What Causes A Bad Factory QMS Implementation? [Reason 1]

When we look at the root causes of many quality issues in China or Vietnam, we find "there is no quality system at the factory" or "they supposedly have one, but it was a really bad QMS implementation". I thought about it and I can point to a few serious misconceptions that have derailed the QMS implementations in many factories. They are very common when a company got ISO 9001 certified, in particular. Let's cover the first reason for a bad QMS implementation in this article: Hire a good … [Read more...]

Supply Chain Risk Management: No, Toyota Doesn’t Always Do Just-In-Time

I ran into a very interesting article from Bloomberg entitled How Toyota Steered Clear of the Chip Shortage Mess. Nearly all automakers announced that they would have to cut their production numbers due to a serious shortage of semiconductors. This was made even worse by a recent fire in a Japanese manufacturing plant. One might think Toyota would be seriously impacted by the general market situation and by one of their suppliers being temporarily unable to produce. Apparently, Toyota … [Read more...]

7 Common Plastic Injection Mold Tooling Development, Approval, & Maintenance Pitfalls [Podcast]

Tooling is a large investment for any manufacturer, so what do we need to be wary of..? Andy Bartlett, an experienced British product designer who has 25 years of experience in product design, development, and working with manufacturers in China, returns to join us again on the podcast for a lively discussion about the kinds of issues and common pitfalls that can come up when developing, approving, and maintaining tooling for your plastic injection molded products. You'll learn why supplier … [Read more...]

List of 12 Plastic injection mold fabrication companies in China

High-pressure plastic injection molding is one of the most common fabrication processes. Tens of thousands of factories in Ningbo, Shenzhen, and in many other places have at least a few presses running near-continuously. If you develop your own product and it includes some custom plastic parts, you will probably need to invest in a mold. What should you know about this type of tooling, and what plastic injection mold fabrication companies in China can help you? … [Read more...]

Why Pilot Runs Are So Important [Podcast]

Pilot runs aren't just a 'good idea,' they're a must when manufacturing new products as you are about to find out... Renaud and Adrian from the team explore an important part of the new product launch process: pilot runs. In this episode, they'll be exploring the following questions: What is a pilot run, why is it so important when bringing new products to market, and what are the benefits we can expect when performing them before going into full production? After listening you will see … [Read more...]

Have You Revised your Supply Chain Risk Analysis?

Last year, I wrote about the Business Continuity Plan (BCP). More and more companies request their suppliers to prepare a BCP, as a structured approach to performing a supply chain risk analysis to get prepared for the risks they are exposed to. If you haven’t revised your BCP in 2020 and 2021, you have probably been caught off guard by recent events. But the question everyone is wondering is, ‘can we even forecast what is going to happen?’ … [Read more...]