QualityInspection.org

Quality Assurance, Product Development, and Purchasing Strategies in China

Documenting Your Company’s Quality Standard into the Details

We have worked with many companies that buy products from China & Vietnam, and their most common shortcoming is probably the lack of a clear quality standard. They don't document what they are willing to accept. They start working with a new manufacturer and both parties often get confused about what is acceptable. Now, people often ask us what a quality standard that goes into the details looks like. We can't share any examples from our clients, for confidentiality reasons. … [Read more...]

Is Your New Product Design Ready for Manufacturing in China? [5 Questions]

There is a misconception in many people's minds. They think there are many manufacturers in China & Vietnam capable of, and willing to, do a lot of the development work for a new product they think is promising. That is true if you have millions of Facebook followers, you run a popular TV program, or Apple's CEO declares they will distribute your product in his stores. In most cases, it is much harder, though.   5 product design questions you need to answer to be seen as a … [Read more...]

3 Quality Control Plans & Why They’re Needed BEFORE Production [Podcast]

What is a quality control plan and why do you need to approve it before production begins? A QC plan is an essential tool for buyers to drive their suppliers to produce goods that reach their quality standard. It will typically list your quality-related expectations that the supplier needs to know about before the production starts which may be anything from legal penalties for poor quality, to the types of process used for production and checking quality, through to making the types of … [Read more...]

Pricing, Negotiation, Contracts | Vetting Chinese Suppliers (Part 10)

Getting quotations is a part of vetting new Chinese suppliers, too.  We have been creating a mini-series guiding you through effective vetting of Chinese suppliers that will help you to find the best possible manufacturer for your products this year, and, as we come to the end of it, it's time to focus on one of the final stages: negotiating price, getting quotations, and signing contracts (listen back to the entire mini-series on vetting Chinese suppliers here 👍). Let's assume you have … [Read more...]

Why Product Safety, Quality, and Reliability Are Tightly Linked

Recently I read an article that calls for manufacturers to be more proactive in reducing risks for consumers. And they shared this (pretty scary) graph about product safety recalls: Many companies that develop & purchase products wonder how to minimize the risk of a forced recall, which can be extremely expensive. And my advice is simple: Put more efforts in assuring the quality and the reliability of your products, and it will greatly contribute to their safety.  Let's … [Read more...]

Exploring Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) [Podcast]

Time to pay attention to good manufacturing practices! Importers with suppliers over in Asia may benefit from adopting GMPs (Good Manufacturing Practices). What are they? How are they useful for managing and improving the performance of suppliers in countries like China? How do they fit in with quality audits, social compliance audits, and process audits? The basics are always a good starting point for any supplier management and development plan and GMPs represent the basic activities … [Read more...]

Challenges for Moving Manufacturing out of China in 2020

The US Congress and the White House have been pushing hard for "decoupling" from China. And a part of that objective is moving manufacturing out of China -- and ideally to reshore to the USA. It may be too early to draw a conclusion on the effect of their decisions (the tariffs but, more generally, the perceived risk of stronger and stronger measures). But here is a short summary of what I have seen, heard, and read. … [Read more...]

How To Perform In-Depth Due Diligence On Your Supplier [Podcast]

Do your new or current suppliers pose a risk to your business? Sometimes the only way to find out if a supplier poses a risk is to perform some deep due diligence on them in order to assess their business health and if they're able to be a stable, reliable supplier for the long-term. Especially in these times where we're dealing with a pandemic, getting a realistic picture of how suppliers are doing is hard without the ability to be on the ground in China. But there are actions you can … [Read more...]

Investigating the Causes of Product Failure and Improving Design

You conduct reliability tests on your new products. You and your suppliers do product inspections and laboratory tests on mass production orders. Your customers probably give you feedback on the issues they find on what you ship to them. You collect many data this way. You set aside samples that don't pass. But do you learn from this? One of the most important activities is the investigation of the causes of product failure when certain samples fail the inspections/tests or fail in the hands of … [Read more...]