Someone on Linkedin wrote about the distinction between these 2 terms: Defect Defective I actually see a lot of confusion around them. What does the standard say? ISO 2859-1 includes these definitions: Defect: non-fulfilment of an intended usage requirement Nonconformity: non-fulfilment of a specified requirement (Note: In some situations specified requirements coincide with customer usage requirements) Nonconforming item: item with one or more … [Read more...]
The 5 Levels of Quality Standards: From Worst to Best Practices
Setting clear quality standards for each type of product you purchase in Asia is a basic need. Like in "to keep living, breathing is a basic need". Despite this, very few companies that have production in China or Vietnam take the time to do it right. And, as a result, they have to suffer quality issues, misunderstandings, and the breakdown of trust with their suppliers. Let's go through the 5 levels of quality standards, from most basic to most advanced. … [Read more...]
How a Chinese factory can REALLY improve its quality
Auditing a factory's quality system, and helping them patch the main holes found by the auditor, is helpful. But is it enough? I used to think so. A good quality management system is supposed to stop defects before it is too late. However, I have seen too many Chinese manufacturers get very high scores on a quality audit, and then try to ship batches containing 5-20% of defective goods. Setting up control points relevant to each production step does help, but improving quality takes much … [Read more...]