The topic of "do we really need to send inspectors to check productions" and "does that whole AQL concept even make sense" are frequently raised. In this article, I want to write about what it takes to get to a very low rate of defective pieces, and what manufacturing & quality people need to do when they get to that situation. … [Read more...]
Renaud Answers YOUR Manufacturing Questions [Podcast]
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In this episode… To celebrate our 100th episode over on Sofeast's podcast Renaud called on listeners for their manufacturing-related questions and answered as many as possible! They're questions that are relevant to so many importers, so, hopefully, the answers will help you get better results from your suppliers, too. Just hit the play button to start listening..! Listen to the episode right here 👇👇👇 🎧 100th episode special: YOUR manufacturing questions … [Read more...]
Final Inspections: Crucial For Checking Product Quality Before Shipment [Podcast]
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In this episode… Renaud dives deep into the reasons why importers from China should be performing final inspections before their products are shipped. Final inspections done at random represent a unique chance to check the quantity, quality of finished products, and packaging and labelling before shipment. Unlike inspections during production, they're performed quite near the shipment date after production is finished. So, let's see what their benefits are right here... Just hit … [Read more...]
Deliverables Buyers Should Get When Developing A New Product [Podcast]
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In this episode... When you develop a new product what deliverables should you be getting during the new product development process in order to assure that your product will make it mass production with the minimum of risks and at the required quality and safety standards? Renaud Anjoran explains the various deliverables, such as your BOM, control plan, validation testing, and more, that you can expect to gain that represent milestones during the NPD process. Just hit the play … [Read more...]
Inspecting Product Quality: What Are Your Options?
If you purchase products from an overseas supplier that you don't know well, and you can't be there, you might want to contact an inspection agency to handle inspecting product quality on your behalf. But you need to give them direction on WHEN to go to the factory and WHAT to check. I tried to summarize it in this flow chart: Here are some suggestions for your inspection options for the scenarios that apply to many importers' situations when inspecting product quality that you can … [Read more...]
3 Examples of Quality Inspection Checklists
Over the years, we have provided feedback to many clients on their product specification sheets and their inspection checklists. Rather than a step-by-step guideline, the most useful is usually to provide them with a few real examples for different types of products. 3 examples of inspection checklists Last year, when personal protective equipment was severely lacking in many countries, we released some of our templates on our commercial website. I believe they … [Read more...]
Does Checking 100% of a Production Batch Make Sense? Yes, It Often Does.
Nearly 2 years ago I wrote When To Do a Random AQL Inspection vs. Check 100% of the Goods. It is a good overview of these 2 options: Send inspector(s) to your supplier's factory for checking random samples Have the manufacturer of the goods deliver them to a facility (often called an "inspection center" or a "QC platform") where all the pieces will be checked This is a topic we explain regularly to our clients who use our contract packaging and contract assembly services. And my … [Read more...]
Service Providers: Escape the Commoditization Trap
We compete with a number of other service providers, and over the years I have seen stark changes happen in some verticals. An interesting case study is the TIC (Testing, Inspection, Certification) industry. In 2005, importers were paying 500+ USD per man-day for QC inspections on consumer goods. Over the years, salaries and other costs went up, but the market price tended to go down. (I wrote before why some buyers always want a lower price.) What are the reasons? It is a combination of … [Read more...]
Understanding Product QC Inspections: What Is In A Man-Day?
A conversation earlier today made me realize that some buyers who haven’t spent much time in Chinese factories have some common misconceptions, including inaccuracies about a QC inspector's man-day, or stories like: “Chinese production operators are forced to work 12 hours a day, in a case of modern slavery”, or “all metal factories do all the steps from casting/forging to surface treatments and all the way to assembly and packing”, and so on. Another misconception is that a good inspector … [Read more...]
How to set up a Receiving Inspection: Checklist, Procedure, Reporting form
I have written extensively about pre-shipment inspections (before, during, or after production), always from the perspective of the buyer checking what a supplier is doing; but I noticed that I haven't covered the receiving inspection (also called incoming quality inspections). However, that's a really important topic, so let's get into how to set one up here... … [Read more...]