Sofeast QA Program: Reduce Your Risks When Launching New Products

We support lots of companies to develop their own new electrical/electronic products and bring them into production. Over 90% of those projects are in China.
But how do we support you to go from product early prototypes to mass-produced products with minimized risks of quality problems and more?

This video presentation explains how we put in place a Quality Assurance program to reduce the risks of poor quality, cost overruns, delays, and more throughout your NPI process.

The NPI process

Sofeast follows a structured NPI process which, as you can see, leaves nothing to chance. The point is to support our customers to go from concept and specifications to mass production with the fewest possible risks of an outcome that is unexpected or unwanted.

The QA program referred to in the video starts somewhere around the prototyping phase of the above process.

Summary of the QA program we put in place

The QA program is made to ensure quality at every stage of the NPI process, with a focus on risk mitigation, supply chain readiness, and ongoing product reliability.

The video presentation talks you through the following points which are summarized below. For more information, please watch the video in full.

1. Introduction to NPI and the role of Quality Assurance

• • Our QA team typically gets involved during the later stages of product development, perhaps even once the design is frozen and tooling is made, ensuring a smooth transition to mass production by bringing structure and methodology.

2. Design for Manufacturing (DFM) and Quality Standards

1. • The team often does a DFM review using our proprietary checklists. They identify potential issues, such as visual or functional defects, and address misunderstandings in quality standards and product compliance. Early pre-testing needs to be done before full-scale production.

3. Reliability Testing

1. • Custom reliability test plans are developed by our engineers, considering your product’s use and environment. The main objective is to avoid early product failures and validate durability. A failure analysis can be conducted in case of issues.

4. Supply Chain Audits

1. • Suppliers are audited to ensure they have mature processes and systems. We perform factory audits focused on quality systems and if needed social/environmental compliance, especially for critical components like enclosures, PCBA, battery, power supply, etc.

5. Process Improvement Tools and Risk Analysis

1. • We use tools like the Process Failure Mode Effects Analysis (pFMEA) and Design Failure Mode Effects Analysis (dFMEA) to identify and mitigate risks. Control plans are developed to outline the controls that need to be set in place.

6. Pre-Production and Ramp-Up Monitoring

1. • Before mass production can start, pilot runs are monitored to ensure production line setup and manufacturing processes are correct. We perform first article inspections and track issues to resolve them early. This phase also involves tracking component quality and addressing potential problems in assembly, labelling, and packing.

7. Ongoing Inspections and Monitoring

1. • QC Inspections continue throughout production and include those done on critical suppliers, too. Problems are identified early to allow corrective actions like rework, repair, or scrapping of faulty products and components.

8. Issue Tracking and Supplier Management

1. • Issues are logged in a tracker, with suppliers prompted to address them. The Sofeast team continuously follows up to close gaps and drive improvements. For complex issues, structured problem-solving exercises (8D) may be required over several weeks or even months.

9. Overall Program Management

• • The program can be managed by an English-speaking project manager (PM) who coordinates between you and suppliers. The PM’s work is charged hourly. Various departments within our group contribute specialized knowledge (e.g. engineering, reliability, sourcing).

Learn more

If this type of program sounds useful to you, get in touch with us to discuss your project. No two projects are the same, so we will treat yours in isolation and provide tailored advice.