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reasons to conduct production monitoring

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3 reasons to conduct production monitoring

Posted: October 12, 2016

By Chao Wang

Organized
and disorganized factories have one thing in common: problems can occur at any
time and affect production. A disorganized factory will typically be more prone
to issues. But that’s not to say an organized factory is immune to accidents,
setbacks and poor product quality. All factories are vulnerable, especially
those working with more complicated products (related: 4 Challenges of QC for Complicated Products).

Since
problems can occur at virtually any point in manufacturing, that might leave you
guessing from where certain defects or delays originate. Product inspection at
any given stage in the manufacturing cycle only gives a snapshot of the product
and order status at that time.

But
production monitoring, having an inspector at the factory regularly, gives a
fuller picture of what’s happening not only at one place, but throughout the
factory. In fact, many importers that have continued to have a variety of
quality problems at a single factory often insist on production monitoring to
help solve them.

Here
are three reasons to conduct production monitoring:

1.
Production monitoring offers a wide view of manufacturing

One
of the main benefits of production monitoring is that it gives you a wide look
at all the manufacturing processes at work in the factory. It’s typically a
combination of all three types of product inspection:

• Early product
inspection at the start of production, giving insight into the status and
quality of parts and materials used (related: Don’t Neglect Incoming Quality Control for Parts and
Materials);

• During production,
or “DUPRO”, inspection looking at a product as it’s moving through manufacturing
stages; and

• Final inspection,
checking a product when most units are already finished

Inspection
at a particular production stage can be helpful for most importers. But rather
than having a limited view of a product at one area, production monitoring
reveals the whole spectrum of manufacturing. This can be beneficial in a
number of ways, including revealing how factory workers operate and the
implications for your product.

Operating
procedures for factory workers

Besides
seeing your products as they move throughout the factory, production monitoring
lets you see how the factory operates. Your inspector can report on how factory
workers handle the product and its materials. They can also tell what procedures
workers seem to be using or what kinds of best practices the factory may be
lacking.

For
example, well-established and efficient factories often have work instructions
at workstations. These detailed, yet easy-to-follow, instructions save workers
time and help prevent quality defects caused by worker errors during production
and assembly (related: Why Your Factory Needs Work Instructions).

Factory
management may refuse to grant the inspector access to certain parts of the
facility. And there may be hidden details about the way the factory operates.
But production monitoring can illuminate areas where the factory, and your
product, might benefit from improvement.

2.
Production monitoring helps prevent shipping delays

Production
and shipping delays are among importers’ most common frustrations when working
with suppliers. And one of the major causes for delays is a general lack of
transparency. Production monitoring—and to a less extent, product
inspection—offers transparency to help importers forecast and prevent delays
that might otherwise lead to customer dissatisfaction.

Factories
prioritizing customers

Sometimes
even placing an order with a factory months in advance doesn’t guarantee there
won’t be delays. One reason is because factories usually work with multiple
customers at a time. And factory managers tend to give a higher priority to some
customers than others, mainly based on these factors:

• Order
quantity;

• Order frequency;
and

• Relationship with
the customer

A
factory incurs some expenses each time it needs to change the product it’s
manufacturing. Purchasing staff at the factory often need sub-suppliers to
arrange parts and materials for the next product. Factory equipment may need to
be recalibrated, or even purchased, to handle the next order. And factory
workers may need additional training when switching to another product with
different specifications and requirements.

A
preference for more profitable customers

Naturally,
factory owners and managers prefer to work with more profitable customers. A
customer ordering goods in a higher quantity or ordering shipments more often
typically offers high margins for the factory. Factory managers also tend to
prefer working with customers they’ve worked with before, as business with them
is generally more predictable. All these factors also help to reduce variance,
which improves the efficiency of factories.

The
result is that factories may take on smaller customers but grant a higher
priority to those that are more profitable. Without you being at the
factory, your supplier can make up excuses for delays that allow them to move a
different order ahead of yours. But production monitoring helps you confirm any
real delays and their origin.

Consider
an order of 3,500 ballpoint pens, for example. Your supplier emails you a week
before you expect the goods to ship and says the factory needs at least two
weeks. When you send your inspector to the factory for production monitoring you
find the factory hasn’t even started. Instead, the workers are producing pens
for a much larger customer. Knowing this, you can address the problem directly
with the supplier and get production back on track.

Using
a Gantt chart to track production

Some
importers find they’re able to prevent delays by using a Gantt chart together
with production monitoring to track production. Gantt charts are visual
schedules often used in project management to keep track of deadlines. Importers
can use the same kind of document to track production milestones and confirm
whether a factory will meet their shipping deadline.

For
example, let’s say you’re manufacturing promotional baseball caps at a factory
in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. All the hats need to be produced by September 5,
embroidered by September 12 and packaged by September 22. You can document these
deadlines in a Gantt chart of your own. Then your inspector can check the Gantt
chart of production deadlines against what’s actually happening at the factory
and report the progress.

By
regularly updating the Gantt chart with each factory visit, you can confirm
right away when the factory isn’t meeting deadlines. Then you can address it
with your supplier directly and discuss ways to prevent or limit shipping delays
(related: 3 Ways Experienced Importers Avoid Production
Delays).

3.
Production monitoring identifies issues as they occur

When
you discover product defects after production has finished—or worse, after the
goods have shipped—they can be difficult to correct. Besides potentially needing
to unpack and repack finished goods, product repairs or rework
can be time-consuming and costly. That’s why defects and other problems are much
easier to remedy when they’re caught early.

Production
monitoring entails having an inspector on-site and checking the product daily,
or almost daily.
Since they’ll typically check the product at every active production stage, the
inspector can note any product issues and notify you that day. Following their
report, you could then advise the supplier of any issues found and prevent them
from affecting the entire order.

Let’s
look again at the earlier example of baseball caps. Maybe there’s a problem with
the embroidery on one of the SKUs. But you don’t inspect the hats until after
workers have finished and packaged them. Because the embroidery process is
automated, the problem is likely going to affect all the units of that SKU. But
with production monitoring, the inspector would’ve noticed the problem with the
embroidery almost immediately.

For
some factories, this early detection of problems can be especially helpful.
Management and workers may be accustomed to reworking defective products. But
having an inspector identify defects before the goods reach their customer saves
them from wasting time, and possibly, from losing that customer’s future
business. And helping a factory improve its manufacturing processes often
improves the relationship you have with your supplier (related: 3 Tips for Stronger Supplier Relationships).

Process
auditing for determining root causes for issues

There’s
a difference between identifying product defects and other issues and
pinpointing their root causes. Product inspectors can often point to the
production processes which are introducing particular defects. They may even be
able to sometimes suggest potential causes. But they typically cannot analyze a
process to determine how to fix problems.

An
importer that desires a greater amount of improvement in a factory’s operations
can opt instead for a process audit. Process auditing is normally conducted by
manufacturing consultants who closely examine the production processes
themselves. These consultants generally find the root cause of any problems and
help factory staff implement solutions.

Production
monitoring is still useful in detecting problems early so the factory can
address them. But if factory management are unable to fix specific problems, a
process audit can be the best way forward.

Conclusion

Different
types of inspections are suitable for different types of factories, products and
problems. Production monitoring can be an unnecessary or expensive QC option for
importers working on a tight budget or with a factory that has a history of
adequate product quality. You might find you only need to conduct a final
inspection before shipping. Other importers may find that they need the more
complete oversight that production monitoring provides.

Production
monitoring gives you knowledge of the entire manufacturing cycle, points out any
defects at all stages and helps prevent shipping delays. And when you understand
and control your manufacturing from start to finish, that can only mean two
things: better product quality and happier customers.

Want
to learn more sourcing best practices?

Join the Global
Sources Summit that combines conferences and networking, co-located with our
Hong Kong trade shows. The event will be held October 17-19, 2016, and is geared
toward online and Amazon sellers.

Chao
Wang is a Client Manager at InTouch
Manufacturing Services, a QC firm that performs product inspections and
factory audits in Asia for clients in the US, EU and
Australia.

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