Whenever any manufacturer starts the production activities, they are going to procure many different raw materials and components to produce the product.
However, if the manufacturer has no established procedures to make sure about the quality of all those raw materials and components then you can expect a disaster sooner than later seo packages uk.
All the raw materials and components are the basic building blocks out of which the product will be manufactured. If any substandard materials and components were used in manufacturing goods then the end products are always liable to fail or perform inadequately.
If you have outsourced your products from a certain different country like China or India, then you need to ensure your supplier has an established quality control procedure in place.
Substandard products can always lead to problems that your business may face at any time in the form of:
- Defective product
- More rejections
- Increase in dissatisfaction among your customers
- Your reputation as a brand may be at stake
- More customer complaints
- Increased bad reviews
Let us discuss in this short article why it is important to ensure proper incoming quality control procedures have been followed while doing production.
Particularly, if you are working with certain suppliers who are from low-cost countries, then this article will offer you a better idea about the importance of incoming quality control.
What is IQC (Incoming Quality Control)?
IQC is nothing but proper monitoring of the raw material or component quality before your product manufacturing process can even start.
Why IQC is so important?
Nowadays, the majority of businesses outsource the majority of their manufacturing process and concentrate on branding and marketing worldkingnews.
However, it is likely that your supplier also uses a number of sub-suppliers for the production of components, the production of raw materials, and the packaging of finished goods.
Foreign suppliers frequently limit their specialisation to just a few limited production techniques or perhaps just product assembly. The majority of suppliers rely on a network of secondary suppliers to supply their final items with raw materials, components, and packaging.
Often many importers make a common mistake of assuming that the raw material and component quality from their suppliers will also meet their quality standards.
IQC will grow increasingly significant, as more parties enter the manufacturing pipeline. Unfortunately, suppliers and sub-suppliers are frequently persuaded to save money by using inferior raw materials or inferior components than those needed for your products.
If you believe that only new suppliers are the only reason then rethink. Many dependable, long-term suppliers that we have worked with in the past have tried to cut corners by gradually lowering the quality of their raw materials or finished goods.
They are hoping you won’t detect any minor, subtle differences between batches of the products. The end user finds the problem before you do since such steady deterioration gets neglected by you.
If you have done tough negotiations for the price of your order and pushed your supplier to accept a too-low price, then you are more likely to experience quality issues.
Then, suppliers will frequently attempt to reduce their production cost in order to recover their margin by using any of the following strategies:
- Use substandard materials
- Substitute certain lower-cost alternative raw materials or components for your product during the production process
What is the fool-proof method available to you so that you can prevent such kind of mishaps to happen with your product? Only rigorous incoming quality control performed by an independent quality service provider is the answer.
Should your hire a third-party quality inspection company?
As an importer, it is always not necessary to hire any professional third-party quality inspection company if your supplier has already got a well-established quality management system and has their own procedures in place so far as incoming inspection is concerned.
However, you might still be benefitted from any third-party incoming quality control, in case of the following:
- You have experienced certain quality issues because of raw materials or components in your last orders
- Your raw materials or components are too rare, expensive, or very difficult to replace
- You are working with your supplier for the first time and you prefer to verify how effective their incoming inspection procedures are
- You need proper lab testing for certain product materials or components
In all such cases, hiring a third-party company for incoming inspection can offer you an additional assurance that all are on track before your production begins.
What can happen if you ignore incoming quality control?
You run the danger of having subsequent quality problems with the finished product if you ignore incoming quality control of your raw materials or parts before production.
It will cost you significantly more money, time, and resources to fix these issues after production. Additionally, shipping delays and reduced customer satisfaction are likely to occur.
Incoming inspection of raw materials and parts
Your goods might not need extensive lab testing. Even so, it is still strongly advised that you work with a seasoned third-party IQC supplier to perform incoming quality control by checking the components and/or raw materials before the manufacturing process begins.
By doing this, you will be able to spot any quality problems early on and bring them up with the supplier. Additionally, you can decide whether to replace the entire batch or just the damaged components. In any event, you would spend much less time and money than if the flaws were found in the end.
Rechecking the materials or components to make sure they fully adhere to your requirements is a smart idea after any issues have been resolved.
The bottom line
A product that was created utilising subpar materials or flawed components and without any incoming quality control, cannot be saved by any amount of branding.
When that occurs, you will need to cancel the order, give your clients a refund, and have the goods redone. You could have used those resources to expand your business instead of spending money, time, and other resources on it.