Quality. It is an important word in the business world because it means that your business is a notch above the rest.
Quality represents the best of the best. It represents the elite products and/or services in your industry.
For products, this means having quality assurance in manufacturing. In the United States alone, there are over 163,000 people that work in quality assurance.
So, what is quality assurance? How does this come into play in global manufacturing? Why is this so important for your business?
This is your guide.
What Is Quality Assurance in Manufacturing?
Before we can go further into this subject, you need to understand what quality assurance is. Essentially, quality assurance is when you make sure that you are sending out the best product possible.
Mainly, you are making sure that your products have no defects or any obvious errors before they leave your factory. On top of this, you are making sure that your manufacturing process stays efficient and organized.
The goal of this is to check on your product through every step of the process. If you find a problem with it at any point, using quality assurance allows you to correct the problem and review the product again before shipping it.
Using Quality Assurance
Now that you have a better idea of what quality assurance is, it is time to dive deeper into ways you can use this in your manufacturing process. Here are a few of the easiest ways that you can implement it.
Adding Automation
One thing that you can do in your company is to add automation as a bigger part of the manufacturing process. What this does is it allows you to keep better track of your inventory and keep better track of your supply chain process.
In other words, with automation, you can follow a product from the time it is manufactured in your factory to the time it reaches its final destination. With this type of automation, you can locate any item you ship out or are working on in the blink of an eye.
Automation is a bigger part of manufacturing than you may think. About 64% of all activities related to manufacturing can be automated. What this means is that if you implement this in the parts of the process where this is possible, you may see positive results with quality assurance.
Knowing Compliance Laws
When it comes to international manufacturing, knowing compliance laws will be crucial to keep your business afloat. The main reason for this is that if you intend to ship products to countries with higher quality standards, you are going to have to read up on what it takes to stay in compliance.
It can also help when it comes to learning what the expectations are from legal authorities. Think about it. Staying out of trouble from those legal authorities can result in your company avoiding delays in shipping and avoid being fined for violations.
All of that helps save your company money. On top of this, it saves your company headaches when it comes to dealing with the law.
Have Clear Expectations
This next part of the process involves you building a company culture. Whether this is a warehouse that your company runs or one that you hand off to a third-party provider, there should be very clear expectations when it comes to product quality.
Most efficient companies are going to employ people solely to do quality control. As a business owner or manager, it is up to you to communicate to your employees what your expectations are with these products.
A clear example would be making sure that there are no holes or rips in the packages. It could be something more subtle like making sure each product is as clean as possible before shipping it out.
Or, it can be something like making sure that your products remain organized under the system you have this place. No matter what your specific expectations are, your job as an owner or manager is to communicate these to your employees that way everybody is on the same page.
Listen to Your Customers
Finally, you need to take a step back and get an idea of what your customers are thinking. If you have a social media page, read the comments and see what your customers have to say.
Another thing you can do is create a feedback survey for customers to fill out. Then, you can get an idea of what customers like and do not like about your products.
If it has to do with the quality of the deliveries or the speed that they are delivered, these are things that you can address with quality assurance. Make sure customers feel like they are heard. If you do this, you have a better chance of retaining them as long term customers.
Improve Your Quality Assurance in Manufacturing
These are some things that you can do when it comes to improving your quality assurance in manufacturing. Do not underestimate how important it is to be on top of this when it comes to the reputation of your brand and your products.
Add automation in as many parts of your manufacturing process as possible. Take the time to listen to your customers and know what their biggest problems with your product are. Know the compliance laws of your shipping areas and have clear expectations for your employees.
Message us if you have any other questions about quality assurance.
