Quality issues often occur because the manufacturer has no control plan, the buyer has not defined good product specifications, and the factory’s internal QC & testing processes are inadequate. When consulting you, Sofeast’s experienced supplier quality engineers and technicians help solve all of these problems and keep them from reoccurring by fixing them at the root.
The goal here is to ensure that a factory follows a whole logical quality process and can put themselves in a position to continually improve, not just focus on QC alone, as many Chinese/Asian suppliers skip the Quality Planning and Quality Improvement phases entirely (as seen in the graphic):
What is the quality assurance consulting solution?
Your quality risks are reduced by our supplier quality engineers and technicians in a preventive manner. More consistent quality comes from processes that are in better control. In the end, it means lower costs and fewer unexpected delays for you.
Mouseover the icons below to learn more about each aspect.
Product checklist
Process flow chart + FMEA
Control plan
Work instructions
Checking fixtures, gauges, and testing stations
Correction management, corrective action management
Consulting from supplier quality engineers is invaluable if quality issues (and the delays they trigger) are expensive for your company.
This is mostly a preventive approach – ensuring the systems are in place before things can slip out of control.
This solution is effective when you work with any factory that does not have a strong quality engineering function (which means 98% of Chinese factories), and those that do have the right competencies, but don’t put forward sufficient resources to your orders.
Note that our team have particular expertise, as well as proprietary audit checklists, for the following processes:
- General assembly & packing
- Plastic injection molding; rubber molding
- Electronics (PCBA)
- Battery cells & packs production
- General metal machining (milling, lathe, EDM cutting…)
- Die casting; forging
- Cut & sew for garments & bags
- Wood machining for furniture
Our involvement is often a mix of on-site work (together with the manufacturers’ staff) and office work (following up, reviewing documents and videos…).
Some clients like to have our auditors come back every 6-12 months and, as part of their work, check if the systems we have put in place are still effective. This is a good way of keeping pressure on the manufacturer and avoiding regression. (This is an LPA audit).
The type of report is often standard (checklist, process flowchart, FMEA, control plan, corrective action plan, 8D problem solving process…). Sometimes the deliverable itself is what suits best the needs of the situation (e.g. a work instruction in the form of a video).
Sure we can!
A lot of this work is usually done with suppliers in China, but we also provide QA consulting in Vietnam, India, and other South-East Asian countries like Thailand, Cambodia, and more. If you’re unsure if we can handle your location, ask us! We will try to be accommodating.
Wayman Z (China)
Electronic Quality Engineer
Wayman has been a member of the Quality Assurance team for over 3 years.
Before joining us he spent 2 years at Galanz as a quality engineer following microwave and air conditioner production processes. He gained a great deal of experience in 8 years at an engineering firm working for Cisco, Honeywell, GE, and other large companies, mostly performing process audits, component inspections, and first article inspections.
Jack L (China)
Mechanical Engineer
One of our senior mechanical engineers, Jack, has been with us in the QA team for 4 years.
He’s widely experienced and has spent many years at some of the world’s largest companies, such as his role as a tooling specialist for 7 years, including 4 years at Samsung and 3 years in an engineering company. He also spent 3 years in a faucet factory as a process engineer and another 3 years at Leviton Electronics as supervisor of a plastic injection molding workshop.
Evelyn T (Malaysia)
Supplier Quality Engineer
Evelyn is a highly-experienced quality engineer specializing in supplier and manufacturing quality.
Her past experience includes almost 20 years at Dell — first as a process engineer and later in supplier quality engineering. She also worked at Honeywell as a Senior Quality Manager. Over the years she has led supplier improvement projects, trained quality engineering teams, and managed suppliers for key materials and components for these giants.
Mridul S (India)
Mechanical & Process Engineer
Mridul is one of our Indian quality, process, and management experts and holds a degree in mechanical engineering.
He has deep experience in Lean manufacturing and has worked for various companies in heavy industry, energy, and quality services, as well as some time at TÜV SÜD South Asia. He works on projects where experience in process planning and improvement, industrial engineering, new product development, and more, are key focuses.
How much does Quality Assurance consulting cost?
We start with your needs and suggest the most appropriate approach. We give a quotation depending on the competencies needed and the location of the factory/ies.
Many such projects are quoted 850 USD per man-day + expenses for a senior engineer. If you only need a technician, pricing is lower.
