Getting a new hardware product into mass production quickly is usually a priority.
The buyer wants to start shipping, generating revenue, and meeting customer or retailer commitments. The manufacturer wants larger production orders because that is where most factories make their money.
So, both sides can end up pushing in the same direction: Start mass production as soon as possible.
The problem is that speed can come at the expense of a proper New Product Introduction (NPI) process.
Skipping engineering validation, pilot runs, manufacturing-process development, testing, and other pre-production steps may appear to save time initially. But problems that would have been relatively cheap to fix earlier can become much more expensive once thousands of components have been purchased, or thousands of finished products have already been produced.
In this episode of China Manufacturing Decoded, Adrian and Renaud discuss why both suppliers and buyers are tempted to skip NPI steps, and why doing so can introduce significant manufacturing risk.
Listen here
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Podcast sections
- 00:00:00 – Introduction
- 00:01:05 – Why buyers and suppliers are tempted to skip NPI steps
- 00:02:33 – Why manufacturers want to reach mass production quickly
- 00:05:35 – Established products vs genuinely new products
- 00:07:59 – Why customizing an existing product can create new manufacturing risks
- 00:09:57 – Supplier capability, NPI experience, and due diligence
- 00:11:58 – Who actually needs to drive the NPI process?
- 00:13:58 – Deadlines, customer promises, and funding pressure
- 00:15:56 – The danger of committing materials and components too early
- 00:18:56 – When skipped NPI risks only appear after launch
- 00:21:56 – Designs, tooling, and processes that aren’t really production-ready
- 00:23:06 – What happens when 10,000 problematic units are already in the warehouse?
- 00:24:36 – Why progressive pilot runs are safer than jumping straight to volume
- 00:26:27 – The better question to ask before mass production
- 00:27:56 – Existing products vs developing something genuinely new
- 00:29:59 – Final takeaway: getting to mass production quickly AND safely
You might also like…
- Sofeast – Transitioning to Manufacturing from Product Development | 2 Options
- Sofeast – The NPI Process: Trouble Awaits If You Skip Its Steps!
- Sofeast – Planning For Effective Pilot Runs
- Sofeast – Discussing the NPI Process for Effective Product Development
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