QualityInspection.org

Quality Assurance, Product Development, and Purchasing Strategies in China

How To Improve Supplier Performance? [Podcast]

In this episode... Renaud talks you through a common query that we get on a regular basis when customers ask us: "How do I get my suppliers to improve?" A recent survey of importers found that 70% said that their biggest challenge was working with suppliers to improve performance. So, with this in mind, Renaud goes through the topic based on training that he gave for European Chamber of Commerce in China members on improving suppliers with a focus on product quality, delivery times, price, … [Read more...]

An Introduction to Root Cause Analysis (Not Just for Manufacturing)

One of the most frustrating aspects of working with Chinese suppliers is that, for the most part, they don't want to (or cannot) conduct a root cause analysis. Let's say you found a serious issue in one of your productions and you don't want it to come back in the future. You ask for an investigation into that problem. And they come back with very superficial responses that are clearly still far from exposing root causes. Here are very common excuses: "It is due to an issue on the … [Read more...]

Defining and Enforcing Manufacturing Processes for Better Control

As David Collins from CMC often says, there are 5 key success factors that determine a factory’s performance: Production Planning, Incoming Material, Workforce Training, Process Control and Equipment Maintenance. In this article, I'd like to focus two of these success factors: workforce training and process control. And, more specifically, on the way to evaluate how manufacturing processes were defined and how they are kept in place in daily practice. I am reading the latest edition … [Read more...]

A Good Way To Analyze Data to Drive Process Improvements

I just read the book Measures of Success by Mark Graban, and I found it does a great job of covering the basics of how managers should work with data. His whole approach is largely based on concepts from Don Wheeler's books. If you are not familiar with Don Wheeler, he is the most respected manufacturing-focused statistician of the past 30 years. Graban covers what to do in two cases managers don't like to see.   Case 1: an unstable process leading to a widely fluctuating … [Read more...]

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...]

3 Basic Process Improvement Tools: Flow Chart, FMEA, Control Plan

There are 3 basic process improvement tools that you can use to help you plan ahead to avoid missteps that might be quite costly: The Process flow chart The Process FMEA (Failure Mode & Effects Analysis) The control plan (both for product and for the process) And there is a logical order that you can follow. This is very relevant in these situations: If you wonder why you still suffer from quality issues, even though the process is quite mature and seems to be well … [Read more...]

How to reduce costs in a factory? The lean approach.

The number one challenge of Chinese suppliers is price, as revealed by a recent survey. Their costs keep rising, but price competition is stronger and stronger. Factory owners spend a lot of time trying to reduce costs. Unfortunately, they tend to focus only on three levers to keep their costs under control: Negotiating down material prices; Limiting salary raises; Pushing the employees to work hard, for long hours. These are actually NOT the main drivers of cost though... … [Read more...]