QualityInspection.org

Quality Assurance, Product Development, and Purchasing Strategies in China

How & When To Transition from a Product Development Team To a Manufacturer

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A good manufacturer is good at... running mass productions without unpleasant surprises. That includes the careful validation of the manufacturing & testing processes for new products, good process control, good management of suppliers, and so on. But it doesn't necessarily designing the product itself. I actually recommend that companies avoid relying on a manufacturer excessively. In our guide to new product manufacturing in China, it is "deadly mistake No. 3". At the same … [Read more...]

What is the product return rate and how to reduce it? [Podcast]

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In this episode… The Sofeast Group's head of New Product Development, Andrew Amirnovin explores what the product return rate is and provides advice you can take to reduce yours before you even start mass producing your product. If you do start to receive product returns, he also gives you a 6-step process you can follow to categorize the issues, focus on the most important, fix them, and monitor to see if the fix is working. Product returns are bad news as they may show that something is … [Read more...]

What Does A Good QA Program For New Electronic Products Include? [Podcast]

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In this episode… Renaud and Adrian explore what a good Quality Assurance program for new electronic products looks like. Any new products have greater risks, and in many cases, importers haven't been able to visit Chinese suppliers to control them during new product development and mass production. So this introduction to what activities make up a QA program that will reduce and avoid quality, reliability, and compliance risks will be helpful for both when you work with a third party who … [Read more...]

The New Apparel Development & Production Process [Podcast]

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In this episode… Renaud is joined by another special guest, Belinda Jacobs founder of Techpacks.co, a company that has been helping soft goods designers and brands improve production & decrease waste, through tech packs since 2016. If you're an apparel designer and have a new garment to bring to market, you're going to love this episode! Belinda and Renaud join forces to talk you through the new product development process for apparel, what tech packs are and why they play a central … [Read more...]

Is Your Prototype Ready for Production? 2 Opposite Examples

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Many people work hard to get to a working prototype that looks good, then they think it's a production ready prototype and can just be passed to a manufacturer. However, as I wrote before, there are many challenges when going from prototype to mass production. In some cases, there is still an enormous amount of work left to do. Since we sign strict NDAs at my company Sofeast, we can't use our clients' products as examples. But there are plenty of books that describe good examples. Let's … [Read more...]

DFX: 12 Product Design Optimizations You Could Be Making [Podcast]

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In this episode... Renaud is joined once again by Sofeast's head of New Product Development, Andrew Amirnovin, to go over 12 'Design for Excellence/DfX' goals designers can optimize for when designing and developing a new product. These DfX principles include manufacturing, quality, reliability, maintainability, and more. Some are really important for bringing great products to market, and you'll learn which and why, as well as having the information you need to decide what to focus on for your … [Read more...]

What Is The Typical Industrial Design Process? [Podcast]

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In this episode… Andy Bartlett, a UK-based product designer, joins Renaud again to discuss the industrial design process in detail. Following on from a recent episode where he introduced what industrial design is and how to work with designers, this time the process you can expect the designer to follow between being hired and handing off the completed designs for development and manufacture is explained. It can be broken down into 6 rough phases, and each of these is discussed.  Why is this … [Read more...]

What Does An Industrial Designer Do? [Podcast]

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In this episode… British product designer Andy Bartlett guests on the podcast to explore industrial design in detail. An industrial designer is one of the important players in realizing your product concept and developing it so it is helpful to understand how they work. To that end, Andy will answer the following questions: What is industrial design? What are the best practices followed by designers? What tools might they use and when? What role does CMF (color, material, finish) play in … [Read more...]

Which Chinese Manufacturing Business Model Is Best For You? [Podcast]

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In this episode… Sofeast's CEO Renaud recently wrote this guest post on Harris Bricken's China Law Blog about which Chinese manufacturing business model importers will come across when sourcing a Chinese manufacturing partner. Today he goes deeper, joined by Adrian from the Sofeast team, and explains what the two models are in detail, why expectations about how most Chinese manufacturers will behave need to change, and their pros & cons to you if you're searching for a manufacturer right … [Read more...]

How the right to repair movement & laws may affect manufacturers in future [Podcast]

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In this episode... Sofeast's CEO Renaud Anjoran talks about the 'Right To Repair' movement that is gathering pace today. Consumers are calling for it and governments are starting to bring in legislation in order to steer the electronics industry in a more sustainable direction and reduce the huge amount of e-waste being created each year. But if you're manufacturing electronic products, how might it affect you? Having to design for repairability certainly adds new challenges, but … [Read more...]