What's the best way to get started with quality management? It makes a lot of sense to work to improve your product quality coming from Chinese suppliers and you don't need to be a large corporation to do this, but this kind of quality management is best when it follows a process. So in this episode of the podcast, we discuss what the quality management process is, and its 3 main parts: quality planning, quality control, and quality improvement. By understanding how to put measures in … [Read more...]
How Quality Planning Drives QC and Process Improvement
What does quality management consist of? Juran wrote about this first in 1986, and he suggested 3 types of activities that make up the "Juran trilogy": Planning Quality control Improvement … [Read more...]
Quality Planning for Importers: Classify Orders by Risk Level
Every purchaser knows that some orders are riskier than others and the risk impacts many of the decisions they make. This is why quality planning and classifying orders by risk level is important for importers. … [Read more...]
7 Common Mistakes Revealed by Factory Org Charts
One of the first things we look at, during factory audits, is the organization chart. And it often points to serious operational dysfunctions. The ISO 9001 standard does not require an org chart to be prepared (it only asks for the definition and communication of authority lines). It is a very common document, though, and many Chinese manufacturers fall into the same pitfalls. Mistake 1: not having a quality department Most small workshops don't have personnel dedicated to checking quality … [Read more...]
Is your China factory’s quality standard too low?
Do you work with a factory in China, and wish their quality standard were a bit higher? You are not alone. Here are six pieces of advice you can follow in this case. 1. Say it, and write it, to your factory If you don't communicate your dissatisfaction, nothing will happen. Here is an example of message you can send: "The customers who shop in our stores expect a relatively high quality (higher than average). We don't want them to think, 'Oh, these products are also made in China'. Either … [Read more...]