QualityInspection.org

Quality Assurance, Product Development, and Purchasing Strategies in China

7 Reasons Why Ignoring Factory Audits Will Hurt Your Business

If you start working with a new supplier that you haven't visited or audited on-site, do you feel safe about your decision? I have talked to many people in that situation, and they usually haven't fully realized what they might be missing. So, that's what I am going to cover in this article. (I am discussing only audits of a factory's quality system and processes, in the context of a company buying from a supplier located in China, Vietnam, India, and other low-cost countries.) Here are … [Read more...]

6 E-Commerce Trends Affecting Amazon Vendors In Particular [Podcast]

In this episode… Marshall Taplits, the founder of East Coast 3PL Ship It Done, joins us again on the podcast, this time to share his e-commerce expertise and catch us up on 6 major trends affecting online retailers in late 2021. This is useful information, especially if Amazon is a key platform for you, as he focuses on what they're doing now and likely to be doing in the near future. It's not all good, either, as you won't be impressed by the costs or some of the ways that Amazon might compete … [Read more...]

Can QC Inspectors Also Audit Manufacturing Processes?

Let's say you send a QC inspector to one of your supplier's factories. His objective is clear: report on the status of production, on the conformity and safety of the products made for you, and on the number of defects he finds. However, it falls short of its potential in helping you reach your objectives. If there is continuous or near-continuous production of your orders in the factory, there is certainly more you want to know. … [Read more...]

Sourcing from China (Part 3): Project management & checking quality early in production. [Podcast]

In this episode… We continue to explore what importers who're new to outsourcing manufacturing to suppliers in China need to be able to handle themselves when sourcing, developing products, and manufacturing there. In part 2 of the series (episode 75), we went through the terms you need to negotiate with your chosen supplier, how to keep leverage over them, and how and why to clearly describe what you actually want from them at the pre-production stage. As pre-production is done, we're … [Read more...]

Technology Readiness Levels: A Better Product Development Framework?

Does the Technology Readiness Levels framework (TRL) developed by NASA make sense for your product development situation? Let's compare it to other development frameworks, including medical devices and consumer electronics, to see how the TRLs are related and helpful as milestones to focus on during the development process. … [Read more...]

Tips For Importers To Survive CNY 2022 [Podcast]

In this episode… Chinese New Year is a tricky time for importers. 2021 has seen the continuing pandemic, sea freight costs skyrocketing, and logistics systems crumbling. High material and component costs and chip shortages have added gas to the fire, too. So the last thing you need is to get stung by the annual CNY shutdown and the issues that go along with it, such as shoddy quality, disrupted supply, and disappearing suppliers, to name but a few. As CNY is approaching, Renaud gives some … [Read more...]

4 Situations When Your Product IP May Be Threatened [Podcast]

In this episode… "Who's looking at my product idea in order to copy it and sell it in competition with my original?" This is a question that keeps hardware startups and entrepreneurs awake at night, as they know their innovative product idea is going to be jealously viewed by copycats from all kinds of places. Actually, these copycats usually come from both within and outside of your supply chain, and they can copy you either early on in the new product launch process or after your … [Read more...]

Why Reliability Testing Is So Important [Podcast]

In this episode… Products failing in the field is a huge problem for manufacturers, especially if they could lead to accidents or injury. With this in mind, Renaud is joined by Andrew Amirnovin, Sofeast's head of New Product Development and product reliability expert with decades of experience, to go through why product reliability testing is so important when designing, developing, and manufacturing a product. They explore what product reliability is compared with quality, what a reliability … [Read more...]

North American Supply Chain Problems: Major Constraints

Last week, we recorded and published a podcast entitled Why Are American Logistics Struggling In Late 2021? which goes into detail about the various North American supply chain problems and is getting a lot of downloads. In that podcast, I interviewed Marshall Taplits, founder of Ship It Done (a USA-based 3PL warehouse and e-commerce fulfillment center). He did a great job explaining why getting products into the States is difficult these days. Long-time reader Brad Pritts sent me some … [Read more...]