What happens if your supplier keeps manufacturing products with various defects, even though you have a quality standard that outlines your expectations? This tends to happen for the same reasons, so here are 6 tips to help you avoid … [Read more...]
Pay me now, or pay me later: Your choice when it comes to product quality and reliability.
What is the real cost of poor product quality and reliability and what can be done to lower your risks and costs? You'll learn why the phrase “Pay Me Now, or Pay Me Later" is particularly relevant because the costs of good quality and … [Read more...]
The Concept of Quality: Little q VS Big Q.
Take a deep dive into the concept of quality. A lot of importers focus narrowly on if the products they're getting from their manufacturers/suppliers are within tolerance (little q). But without a wider view that looks at the entire … [Read more...]
Quality Checklists: 3 Examples for Inspections
Over the years, we have provided feedback to many clients on their product specification sheets and their quality checklists for inspections. Rather than a step-by-step guideline, the most useful is usually to provide them … [Read more...]
Fixing Product Quality Issues: MFG vs. Product Design Causes
About two or three times a month, a client tells us about serious issues they have experienced with a certain product, and they ask if we can help fix those product quality issues. In some cases, it is relatively quick and easy. In others, … [Read more...]
Planning for Quality & Compliance at the Product Design Stage: 3 Topics You MUST Focus On
A reader asked what he should pay attention to when he starts to work on a new product in order to avoid a very large “dumb tax” in the future. This is a good question, as there are many activities to undertake that will help your … [Read more...]
Basics of Supplier Quality Management: A Good Training & Book
From time to time, I skim through a book or training that covers a topic to see if there is a new angle that we might benefit from. This time, I picked the training entitled Seven Essentials in Supplier Quality Management by Evelyn Tan, … [Read more...]
What Are Quality Standards? [Podcast]
In this episode… Renaud explores what quality standards are here. There is a combination of physical samples and written resources that outline and clarify your product quality expectations to your manufacturer and quality … [Read more...]
Nonconforming Products or Materials: What Are the Options?
I wrote extensively about quality inspections, the way the AQL limits lead to a pass/fail result, how to set up corrective actions in order to prevent the same issues from coming back, how to set up a QC plan to prevent issues and detect … [Read more...]
Product Quality and Reliability Issues: Typical Classification
What are typical product quality and reliability issues, when do they occur in the product's lifecycle, and who might be responsible for them? … [Read more...]