Electronics giant Philips has been in the news due to a billion-dollar recall of medical devices (ventilators and sleep apnea machines) that have, unfortunately, resulted in deaths and injuries. What could have caused such serious problems to make it into production and force such a huge recall, and what can we learn from this example? According to the Sofeast group's head of New Product Development, Andrew Amirnovin, issues like this often originate during the DVT stage of the NPI process … [Read more...]
What is the product return rate and how to reduce it? [Podcast]
![What is the product return rate and how to reduce it? [Podcast]](https://qualityinspection.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/WhatistheproductreturnrateandhowtoreduceitPodcast-1140x445.jpeg)
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...]
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 product be compliant and have quality and reliability that reaches or exceeds your and your customers' expectations once it has been produced. I recently wrote about the typical NPI process we follow with clients and its many constituent activities in this post: … [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...]
Who’s liable for product safety, buyer or manufacturer? [Podcast]
![Who's liable for product safety, buyer or manufacturer? [Podcast]](https://qualityinspection.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/WhosliableforproductsafetybuyerormanufacturerPodcast-1140x445.jpeg)
In this episode… Renaud Anjoran is joined by two guests in this episode, Clive Greenwood and Andrew Wilson of WWMG associates, and they're going to get to the bottom of who is liable for product safety issues. Some importers work with manufacturers in China and make certain assumptions about their level of liability, especially if the manufacturer has been involved in product design and development. It depends on a number of things, such as who has the design authority and who issues the design … [Read more...]
Product Safety When Buying from China: Avoid Negligence
Dan Harris wrote an article about product safety (How to Reduce Your Foreign Manufactured Product Liability Risks) that will, hopefully, open the eyes of many people to the risks they are exposed to. I thought it particularly interesting because he went through typical questions asked of importers that resold unsafe products: To convince recalcitrant clients of the need for product liability protection for the products they are having made overseas, I sometimes send them the following … [Read more...]
Why Do Importers Need Product Reliability Testing? [Podcast]
![Why Do Importers Need Product Reliability Testing? [Podcast]](https://qualityinspection.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/WhyDoImportersNeedProductReliabilityTestingPodcast-1140x445.jpg)
Product reliability testing is a must for importers who want to avoid risk... 2020 added considerable strain and difficulty to many importers' lives, so today, more than ever, it's so important to implement measures to protect your business against expensive recalls and lawsuits which may occur if your products don't reach expected reliability, quality, and safety standards. Undertaking thorough product reliability testing during the development and manufacturing stages is one such way to … [Read more...]
Why Product Safety, Quality, and Reliability Are Tightly Linked
Recently I read an article that calls for manufacturers to be more proactive in reducing risks for consumers. And they shared this (pretty scary) graph about product safety recalls: Many companies that develop & purchase products wonder how to minimize the risk of a forced recall, which can be extremely expensive. And my advice is simple: Put more effort into assuring the quality and the reliability of your products and it will greatly contribute to their safety. Let's … [Read more...]