Think of it this way. If you do not convey your expectations or requirements to someone. How will they know what you want them to do? This is very relevant when it comes to product quality and its inspection. Because without relevant and key information provided by you. The factory staff or your own product inspection team will be confused. As to what exactly you require your products to be like.
Most businesses in the world today that wish to maintain standard quality in their products. So they use product inspection at their factory site. This may be done either through a full-time staff hired by the business. Or by seeking the help of a third-party inspection firm. Whichever approach is chosen, product inspection is a rather common practice used as a precautionary measure in manufacturing industries.
Experience As An Importer
If you have any sort of experience as an importer. You will surely know that it is a highly complex task to make sure that you receive products. That are in-line with all the specifications and requirements. Provided without being actually present at the site of production to oversee the manufacturing process. Thus, it is never a good idea to receive goods without having someone on your behalf inspect them.
It comes as no doubt that only you, as an importer. They will know exactly what kind of products you wish to receive. Especially in terms of quality. If you leave it solely in the hands of the suppliers. To decide what quality assurance steps should be taken. In order to ensure that the products meet with the required quality standards. Then you potentially expose yourself to quality concerns. This is mainly on account of the major conflict of interest. That arises when the factory staff has to develop the quality manuals that will evaluate their own work.
Quality Inspection For Importers
Although factories have a system in place to conduct the quality inspection for importers. Including checking the quality of incoming raw materials and production procedures. There is always the possibility that the factory staff may omit vital checkpoints. That they fear they would be unable to pass. In another scenario, the staff might make assumptions regarding the quality standards. Such as simply assuming that products pass the inspection. And are completely in-line with the product requirements of the importer.
Another possibility is that the staff may simply not be aware of the importer’s requirements. As it would be difficult for them to cater to the specific requirements. And specifications of each individual client that they are dealing with. With ever-increasing technology and advancements in the field of manufacturing, there might be several ways to manufacture the same product. Given that, it is unreasonable to assume that the factory staff can simply read your mind. And understand what it is that you exactly want.
Keeping all of these matters in mind. The best way to thoroughly represent what your priorities. And requirements are is to draft a quality manual or a checklist. When you compare your own product quality manual with the supplier’s quality manual. You will always find that the supplier’s manual is very generic. And does not necessarily always represent your interests exactly how you want them.
AQL
Literally speaking, AQL standards for acceptable quality limit. This means the worst quality that is tolerable. Or acceptable in a given sample of products according to the ISO 2859-1. This is basically the maximum amount of goods that an inspection team or buyer would accept. That are of sub-standard quality. If the number of defected goods exceeds this number. Then the entire batch of goods is rejected. AQL levels are perhaps most important for importers who are not physically present at the manufacturing site. To oversee production and thus have to resort to inspection teams to carry out quality control on their behalf. By setting different AQLs for critical, major, and minor defects. Importers can ensure that each class of product is treated according to the standards that it requires.
Why do you require an objective measurement of quality?
Because most products require manual input and some sort of labor work. It is highly unlikely to expect any batch to have each and every product. That is in-line with the specifications and requirements asked from it; there are bound to be a few defective products in every batch of products that you inspect. Also keep in mind that. Even if the manufacturer claims that he has visually checked all products and found no defects. It is still worthwhile for you to carry out a detailed inspection of the products. Because there exist several defects. That are visible only through a thorough inspection of the internal parts.
Quality Inspection For Importers
But the question arises. How do you exactly set the limit for the number of defected goods that you will accept in a batch? What kind of quality defects can you tolerate, and how many? Naturally, if you leave this all to intuition then you would have different results on every batch that you inspect. Therefore, it is extremely important to quantify the measurement of quality and that is where AQL helps you.
AQL represents the worst quality level that you are willing to tolerate on an average batch. Over a period of time. most quality inspectors categorize types of defects into three broad classes:
- 0% for critical defects (totally unacceptable: a user might get harmed, or regulations are not respected).
- 2.5% for major defects (these products would usually not be consider acceptable by the end-user).
- 4.0% for minor defects (there is some departure from specifications, but most users would not mind it).
Keep in mind that there are only general averages and may vary according to the product or the market conditions; for example, you would expect components used to being airplanes. Or sophisticated health machinery to have a much lower AQL limit than. Let’s say, a piece of garment. It is also important to note that the AQL tool is used most commonly in the final pre-shipping inspection stage. Or during the production process when there are sufficient products present to seclude a sample size and carry out inspection.
Packaging requirements
What is the most important aspect of a product for an end consumer? The answer to that is pretty simple: quality. It is the quality of a product that determines its durability and longevity; whether the product is fit for purpose, and its overall basic functionality. If the quality of the product that reaches the final consumer is compromise. No matter what amount of time, effort, and money you put into researching the perfect design. And idea of your product, it won’t add any value to the consumer’s life.
Therefore, carefully checking the packaging of the products is in fact just as important as quality inspection. And thankfully for all importers reading this. The following are some simple ways through which you can verify that the packaging being used is safe. And will make sure that the products reach the importer. And the customer in its original and intended shape and form.
1. Double-check the quantities in the package
Many small-size consumer products are mass-produce in factories, where often times many other products are also being produce. For this reason. There is a massive chance of a mess up when workers are packaging your products into huge cartons. Due to the overload of work. Workers usually do not have the time or the energy require to count each of items before it is package; rather they just simply scan one unit and manually type in the number listed on the inventory for the carton.
However, this carelessness of the staff can cost you a lot as an importer. Especially if the final number of products received is less the number that you require. It is essential for you to receive the right number of products. So that you are able to adequately meet demand and keep your inventory up to date. This becomes especially more important in the days when you expect a rise in sales, such as during holidays. At a time like this, a shortage of inventory may cost the business sales worth up to thousands of dollars.
If the order is incorrect in any aspect then it is the manufacturer’s responsibility to repackage the shipment. To meet with the given requirements.
2. Checking the material used to seal and package the products
There are several factors that can potentially impact the functionality of the packaging and sealing material that you use: excessive heat, drastic temperature changes, and rough handling are a few of these examples. Therefore, it is extremely important to consider all these factors that the package will encounter before the material is finalize that the packaging will be made of.
Apart from the kind of material that is use in packaging, it is also important to look closely at the methods employ to seal, strap and bind the products. These methods can play a huge role in determining the durability of the packaging. Each kind of method and material has its own pros and cons attached to it, for example:
3. Checking for shipping markings and barcodes on the packaging
One of the foremost reasons importers face delay in their deliveries is that there are errors in the markings or barcodes of the packaging: they might be incorrect, missing or straight out illegible. It is for this reason that your inspector should carefully make sure that all of the markings and barcode on the packaging is correctly label so that it does not encounter any issue in the delivery process.
If the package is incorrectly label, not only does it cause a massive amount of inconvenience for the importer, but may also lead to serious problems at customs. As an example of this, custom officials are require to pay particular attention as to which country is print on the labels as the country for imports so that it can correctly levy the correct amount of duties and taxes on the product. Hence, if the customs find out that detail such as the country is incorrectly label, it may lead to serious repercussions such as fines, which can amount to large values.
Important Facts
Just as important as carton making are barcodes, which have become an essential part of keeping track of inventory for small retail products. However, manufacturers can often mess up barcodes that can simply impair the basic functionality of the product. These flaws include:
- Improper printing of the barcode: the contrast between the background and the lines drawn is low or even missing
- Barcode being too close to the edge or any other symbol: scanners require there to be adequate blank space around the barcode for the scanner to work properly.
- The barcode may be damage through creasing or peeling
- The barcode may be too small or too big
- Incorrect orientation of the barcode
On-site tests
In addition to AQL requirements and packaging specifications, it is also important to make sure that the factory is equipped to carry out on-site tests that your products require. Many factories will not have the need of machinery and types of equipment that are require to conduct on-site tests. These tests are vital to make sure that the products are working as required, and that there are no legal issues that might arise due to any defect found in the products.
Your factory staff might ignore these on-site tests if they do not have access to equipment. Therefore, it is necessary that you clearly specify what on-site tests you require the products to successfully pass for them to be approve for shipping.
What additional information should you include in your manual to make sure that the products manufactured to meet with your desired quality expectations?
Any known quality defects or product issues
As an importer you may be tempted to test the abilities of your supplier in terms of quality: you may be previously aware regarding some very common quality concerns that arise in your products, but instead of informing the staff or inspection team about it you quietly wait to see if they are able to spot the issue themselves.
This approach is highly discourage for a number of reasons. The most major being the unnecessary wastage of time and resources. Instead, it is advise to specifically inform the inspection team regarding such issues that have been known to occur frequently so that they can keep an eye out for them, as well as pay particular attention to ensure that the process involve in producing goods in a defect-free manner is used.
For example, if you have been importing a certain type of fabric for a long time and know that one of the most common issues in it is loose threads, then you must promptly inform your inspection team so that they are able to tackle this issue before it even takes place by monitoring the production process keenly.
It is common for importers to have unique preferences when it comes to evaluating the quality of the products. Thus it is both yours as well as your inspector’s favor to provide input regarding any known defects or quality issues. And to work closely with them to develop a thorough QC checklist for your product.
It is an advise to develop your own product quality checklist so that you can be sure that all of your requirements and reservations are adequately cater to, and that you deliver products to your customer exactly how you promise them.