During production inspections & pre-shipment inspections. What they are & when to do them.
**INSERT VIDEO** - 2 main types of inspections
Did you know? E-commerce return rates are 4x higher than brick & mortar. Online customers demand a much higher quality standard.
$3000 of defective/low-quality products is enough to pay for all your inspections for over 7 years from returns & warranty claims alone. Negative reviews from one bad production order can easily wipe out small brands and destroy entire Amazon product listings.
Pre-Shipment Inspections
The tried, true, and tested. This is your last line of defense before your products ship. This should be the most thorough inspection you do, and if set up correctly will prevent negative reviews and defective products from reaching your customers.
- Recommended at 100% of production completion; as early as 80%
- Products are fully packed in shipping cartons, ready to leave
- Inspector randomly samples units out of the entire batch and checks products, packaging, and the shipping cartons
Pre-shipment inspections should be done on all orders. Quality problems can happen as soon as the 1st order, some report problems on the 20th order, and others see a gradual decline in quality. This is your last line of defense to catch bad products before your customers receive them. Bad products can easily destroy marketplace sellers via:
- Negative Reviews
- High Return Rates
- Warranty Claims (1-24 months after the sale)
During Production Inspections
This is meant for first production orders and high-risk, high-priced, or complex products. The during production inspection will help you identify problems early in the process saving tens of thousands in product repairs costs & months in delays.
- Recommended at 20% of production completion, can be done between 20-80%
- A step-by-step breakdown of the production line with videos, photos, and text. Benchmark the production line between orders (i.e. order #1 had 10 steps with 2 quality control steps; order #2 had 8 steps with 0 quality control steps).
- Recommended on at least the first order, all orders for high-risk/high-priced/complex
During production inspections are preventative maintenance. If you catch something wrong, re-producing 20% of the order is much cheaper than 100% of the order.
Additionally, reproducing an entire order can add weeks (if not months) to your production timeline leading to stockouts. Repairing products similarly can sometimes require new machinery & production lines, which can lead to additional delays.