QualityInspection.org

Quality Assurance, Product Development, and Purchasing Strategies in China

5 Marketing & Sales Mistakes Hardware Startups Tend To Make

John Teel from Predictable Designs (a great resource for hardware startups, with a focus on electronic design & engineering) just launched his podcast, and I thought the third episode was quite interesting. The interviewee was Dave Millman of BizDev Global, a company that helps B2B tech startups find their first customers. Here is a summary of what he shared. … [Read more...]

7 Typical Pitfalls for Hardware Startups Producing in China

A few years ago, I remember reading about the Coolest Cooler, a nice product that raised an amazing amount of money on Kickstarter: over 6,000 people bought it for a total of 13 million USD!! Yet, they went bust leaving a lot of frustrated backers and interested onlookers scratching their heads as to where it all went wrong for one of the most famous hardware startups of recent times and indeed the most funded Kickstarter campaign of 2014. In this post, I'll explore what went wrong for them … [Read more...]

Low Budget New Product Development For Importers From Asia [Q&A]

I recently spoke with Liz Long of Learn To Make A Product, who I've worked with in the past, about low budget new product development for importers who are getting their products manufactured in Asia. New product development can be tough for importers, especially entrepreneurs, startups, and small businesses who are doing it for the first time, so what advice does Liz have to offer? … [Read more...]

The Danger of Developing your Custom Product with an ODM Factory

We often talk to people who have a great idea to improve on an existing product. They have thought of special features that differentiate it from the competition, but they see a large amount in front of them, to develop their own new product. They are often tempted to go for a shortcut: working with a manufacturer that has been making very similar products (an Original Design Manufacturer, or ODM), and that's when things get pretty risky for the buyer. … [Read more...]

Incubators in China for Developing a new Electronic Hardware Product

Many articles have explained why Shenzhen is the best place to develop a new electronic hardware product that is targeting a high sales volume. If you want to do things faster and cheaper than in your home country, this is the place to be. Some founders stay in their country and work on the design, marketing, and distribution, and they pick a local partner for handling some of the engineering work. Others decide to relocate to Shenzhen -- these ones are often interested in getting help from … [Read more...]

Making Components’ Shipment and Presentation Easier (Before Assembly)

This article was written by Kevin Howard, a packaging engineer and owner of Packnomics. A few days ago, we wrote about Design for Distribution. In this article, let's focus on the design of the components of a product, and the impact it has on shipment from the component suppliers to the assembler. Design for Distribution should also apply to components that are inbound to the Contract Manufacturer sites.  I have worked on many components, where I show the product engineer how to add … [Read more...]

Design for Distribution: What Hardware Startups Need To Know

I had an interesting conversation about Design for Distribution with Kevin Howard, a packaging engineer and owner of Packnomics. (Kevin wrote before about packaging optimization on this blog.) What is Design for Distribution? Design for Distribution is the analysis of the impact of the product design on logistics costs, and the choice of appropriate laboratory testing methods in order to avoid both high damage rates and excessive logistics costs. If your company plans to produce relatively … [Read more...]