What does quality management consist of? Juran wrote about this first in 1986, and he suggested 3 types of activities that make up the "Juran trilogy": Planning Quality control Improvement … [Read more...]
Two Preventive Maintenance Examples: Go for More Structure
As I wrote before, preventive maintenance helps cut costs and improves quality. That's an extremely important element of good manufacturing and it doesn't get much coverage. Simply put, it extends the lifetime of the equipment, it prevents downtime that prevents production from taking place, and it ensures the equipment is ready to make good products. … [Read more...]
11 Steps To Set Up a Process Control Plan
About 2 years ago, I wrote about the 3 process improvement tools we use most often. And today I'd like to do a deep dive into one of them -- the process control plan. … [Read more...]
Quality Planning for Importers: Classify Orders by Risk Level
Every purchaser knows that some orders are riskier than others and the risk impacts many of the decisions they make. This is why quality planning and classifying orders by risk level is important for importers. … [Read more...]
Ceramic Grades and Grades of Ceramic Tiles (Videos)
As many of our clients are quick to remind us, inspecting certain products require a level of expertise and ceramic products are definitely in this category since most of the visual defects are based on the 'ceramic grades' the buyer paid for. … [Read more...]
How a China-Based Buying Office Can Add Value
If you source and buy consumer goods from several suppliers in China, your experience probably looks like this: Some suppliers are good, some are not so good and not improving When there is a quality issue, it is much better to detect it while the goods are still at the factory... and yet, sometimes, that factory plays the "do nothing and wait" game -- it means they do a very light sorting job and tell you "all is good now", simply because they don't want to do rework and discard some … [Read more...]
How to set up a Receiving Inspection: Checklist, Procedure, Reporting form
I have written extensively about pre-shipment inspections (before, during, or after production), always from the perspective of the buyer checking what a supplier is doing; but I noticed that I haven't covered receiving inspections (also called incoming quality inspections). However, that's a really important topic, so let's get into how to set one up here... … [Read more...]
How to start manufacturing in 10 steps for Kickstarter entrepreneurs
This framework will help any entrepreneur who has successfully crowdfunded a product to understand how to start manufacturing. Now, what to do? What are the steps to have the first batch of products made in China? … [Read more...]
Beware of this China Scam: The Commodity Bait and Switch
We are contacted regularly by overseas buyers who are about to purchase a commodity product from a Chinese manufacturer, and it is nearly always a very risky situation for the buyer as switching out an order of commodities to a cheaper commodity at the last minute is an all too common China scam. … [Read more...]
CPSIA Compliance For American Baby & Kids Product And Toy Importers
The CPSIA (Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act) was enacted in 2008 to enhance children’s product and toy safety in the USA in the wake of high-profile instances of toy recalls due to excessive levels of lead. … [Read more...]