QualityInspection.org

Quality Assurance, Product Development, and Purchasing Strategies in China

The Problem With Visual Management Boards in Factories

Visual management boards of some kind are now basically the norm in all factories belonging to a multinational group, so they must be effective, right? I'm not so sure. Not that they cannot be useful (they CAN be VERY useful), but, in most cases I have witnessed, these boards just aren't contributing as much to lean initiatives or process improvement as factory management would like them to be. … [Read more...]

How To Keep A Clean Factory And Stop Dust On A Budget

In many industries, one of the most common reasons for defective goods is dust contamination, and they have adopted different cleanliness standards (see the Wikipedia page on cleanrooms and factory cleanliness). If you have visited Chinese factories in certain industries, you have probably seen their efforts in that regard. During our factory audits, we always give a grade about general organization and cleanliness. What advice can I offer about maintaining a clean factory without spending … [Read more...]

Benefits of ISO 9001 for a Chinese manufacturing organization

I wrote recently about ISO 9001: What are the standard and the certification process 10 ways it can get poorly implemented in a factory To summarize my view on this topic: It is a good standard, keeping in mind that it was designed to apply to all sorts of organizations Many companies did not implement it the right way, as they took shortcuts and they were only interested in the 'marketing impact' of a certification The real culprit is the way registrar bodies audit and … [Read more...]

Factory Audit Tips: 10 Signs of a Bad ISO 9001 Implementation

A few days ago, I wrote about the basics of ISO 9001 -- both the standard and the certification/registration process. I got some comments on Linkedin about how useless ISO 9001 is. It is useless indeed in many manufacturing facilities I have visited, and the key reasons are: Poor implementation (because managers want to take shortcuts), combined with Inadequate auditing (lack of understanding of processes and of what is important, and lax enforcement of the standard by many registrar … [Read more...]

How a Factory Can (and Should) Go Beyond ISO 9001

I wrote a few articles about ISO 9001 recently: The standard itself pushes companies in the right direction, but the auditing & certification process has many flaws: Basics about ISO 9001: The Standard and the Certification Process The standard pushes manufacturers to think in terms of systems and processes, among other benefits: Benefits of ISO 9001 for a Chinese manufacturing organization Many factories have been certified, but implementation was really bad: Factory Audit Tips: … [Read more...]

Basics about ISO 9001: The Standard and the Certification Process

How many of your suppliers claim to be ISO 9001 certified? Is it true? And, to start with, what does it mean? I want to shed some light on this topic. The purpose of the ISO 9001 standard is to "help businesses and organizations to be more efficient and improve customer satisfaction". How does it do that? First, what is a Quality Management System (QMS)? Basically, a QMS is what a company puts in place to ensure it meets its customers' requirements. Among others, it includes: … [Read more...]

Tired of Your Chinese Factories’ High MOQs & Long Lead Times?

A few months back, I wrote about how some buyers can no longer put up with their suppliers' quality issues. And I often lament on the poor state of quality systems here. In this article I'd like to mention the other enormous source of frustration for foreign buyers: the high minimum order quantities (MOQs) and the long lead times. High MOQs and long lead times are tightly linked They come from the same underlying issue: the "big batch & long queue" mentality. Industrial engineers, as … [Read more...]

The Sad State of Quality Systems in Most Chinese Factories

The sad truth in China is, 5% of the manufacturers are doing a good job consistently, and the rest have ups & downs that irritate and frighten Western customers. And, of those 5% that do a good job consistently, 0.5% do so because of good systems and the other 4.5% do so because operations are not very complex and management watches what happens carefully. Yes, I made these numbers up. But that's my impression after 12 years spent working here across multiple sectors (from apparel to … [Read more...]

Do Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) Audits Drive Improvement?

In any industry, there are generally-accepted 'good manufacturing practices' (or GMP). And customers often audit their suppliers' operations by using those GMPs as a checklist. First, what are those 'good manufacturing practices'? Think of it as the requirements of ISO 9001 (which are vague enough to be applicable in any type of organization) + some specific manufacturing arrangements. For general consumer goods, GMPs include batch-level traceability, identification of all materials, … [Read more...]