QualityInspection.org

Quality Assurance, Product Development, and Purchasing Strategies in China

All about the Metal Machining Process, Surface Finishes, and Tolerances [videos]

For all the talk about 3D printing (also called additive manufacturing), the vast majority of metal products are shaped into their final form by subtracting material using metal machining processes. Even when a component or product is cast, it is nearly always finished on a CNC machine. If your products include metal components, some material is very likely to be subtracted at some point of its fabrication. So, our senior engineer Paul prepared a series of videos that cover (nearly) all … [Read more...]

Electronics Videos: Basics about PCB, PCBA, and the SMT Process For Importers

More and more products (both consumer goods and for industrial/commercial use) contain electronic parts - from dishwashers to remote controls and from small toys to functional MRI devices. If this is the case for some of the products you develop/buy, you need to know a few basics. This is why we prepared this series of electronics videos. … [Read more...]

All about the Die Casting Process, Ingots, and Aluminum Casting [Videos]

Many everyday products are created using the die casting process, but few people are aware of what the process actually involves. Here are a few examples: Your car engine, axles, paddles, cooling fan... The metal housing/chassis/frame of many electrical products (e.g. cameras, tablets) Door handles; locking systems Toothbrush or razor mount base and handle TV stand Trophies, medals... Basically, die casting, is often the first process for shaping a piece of metal. Some … [Read more...]

All about Plastic Injection Molding and Thermoplastics [Videos]

Do some of your products include plastic parts? If you purchase hard goods, that's probably the case. When writing a guide about plastics manufacturing last month, and I made a list of products that are made in China and incorporate thermoplastics. Here are a few: The casing of many electrical appliances and electronic products Many vehicle parts (e.g. instrument panels in PVC, a dashboard in ABS, bumpers in PP, cams in PA, buttons in PS…) Many construction parts (e.g. countertops, … [Read more...]

Continuous Auditing to Keep Pressure on a China Factory: How it Works

One of the questions our clients ask most often is "how to keep the pressure on our supplier's factory so they improve and they don't make the same mistakes again". Continuous auditing is an answer to this, but how does it work? … [Read more...]

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...]