QualityInspection.org

Quality Assurance, Product Development, and Purchasing Strategies in China

NPI Cost vs. Production Unit Cost: What To Optimize For?

When developing a new electro-mechanical product, there is a tradeoff: Do you want to spend less time & money before production (during the NPI process), and suffer higher costs for each unit made? Or do you want to invest more before production, and enjoy lower unit costs? Here are some examples of where this tradeoff is evident. … [Read more...]

Exploring Product Development Agreements For Importers [Podcast]

In This Episode... We explore product development agreements that clarify your expectations, protect your IP, keep leverage over your supplier, provide you with transparency and control over your supply chain, and make it 100% clear who is responsible for what when working with a supplier on developing a new product that is going to be manufactured in China or other Asian countries.   Just hit the play button to start listening..! Listen to the episode right here 👇👇👇 🎧 Deep … [Read more...]

Exploring The Benefits Of Rapid Prototyping And Rapid Tooling [Podcast]

In This Episode... Renaud and Adrian talk about rapid prototyping and rapid tooling methods to make prototypes a lot faster than production tooling, with a focus on electromechanical products and plastic injection molding. You'll get answers to the following questions: What are rapid prototyping and rapid tooling? What do we discover from different rounds of prototyping? What are the features of hard tooling? What are the pros and cons of the different technologies used for rapid … [Read more...]

New Product: How Many Builds before Mass Production?

When a new product is made in a factory for the first time, there are always uncertainties. And going straight into a large production batch is risky. Many issues can cause that first batch to be a disaster, including: One of the materials/components is not up to standard, or some parts don't fit together as planned The operators, or the inspectors, haven't been trained and make mistakes Some of the operations can't be done as planned in a consistent manner Some of the … [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...]

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...]

The Design for X Approach: 12 Common Examples

The Design For X (or “Design for Excellence”) methodology lays out a number of design guidelines for reaching the product’s objectives. The idea is to review and improve the product & process design before the new product is manufactured. Many product designers design for functionality and for aesthetics. Of course, those are important, but there are other important questions such as “can it be made with mature processes?” and “can it be made within budget?” (a.k.a. Design for … [Read more...]

How A DFQ Review Designs Quality INTO Your Product At An Early Stage [Podcast]

What if you could reduce the chances of quality problems long before your product goes into production? A DFQ review can help you achieve this! What is DFQ? Design For Quality is where we review a number of factors that affect quality at the early stages of the new product introduction process, so that's your concept and prototypes. Not every Chinese manufacturer will do this, and while it may be tempting to power through to production to get to market, it's risky to do so (could your … [Read more...]

Design New Products with ‘Right To Repair’ in Mind

There is a long-term trend that companies and people designing new products need to have in mind: A growing share of consumers expect brands to design more sustainable (or fewer unsustainable) products; In some regions of the World, regulators are also pushing companies in that direction.   EU legislation driving changes to consumer products The latest sign comes from the EU. This new legislation is going to require consumer technology to last for a decade. The European … [Read more...]

A Textbook on Design for Manufacturing and the NPI Process (EVT-DVT-PVT)

I am halfway through this book and I thought many readers would enjoy it: Product Realization: Going from One to a Million by Anna C. Thornton. Here is the book's presentation by its publisher: Product Realization: Going from One to a Million delivers a comprehensive treatment of the entire product launch process from beginning to end. Drawing upon the author's extensive first-hand experience with dozens of successful product launches, the book explores the process of bringing a design from … [Read more...]