Infographic: Safer Toys, Shorter Time-to-Market

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Resources Visual Guide & Infographic

Infographic: Safer Toys, Shorter Time-to-Market

'Safer Toys, Shorter Time-to-Market' infographic

This infographic will teach you some measures that you can adopt to tackle risks at an early stage.

Our ‘Safer Toys, Shorter Time-to-Market‘ infographic provides brands and their teams with insights on anticipating risks from the early stages of development. In this unpredictable and challenging time, ensuring product compliance and preventing risks have become more critical than ever. 

Take a closer look at the preventive actions that can help you avoid the feared ‘FAIL’ result in a pre-shipment test. 

Fill out the form and click “Download eBook” to receive your complimentary copy.

API SOLUTIONS FOR TOYS

At API we support toy brands across their entire supply chain. Read more about our tailor-made solutions for toys here

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ebook Resources

eBook: The Ultimate Quality Inspection Guide: The 9 Steps You Don’t Want To Miss!

9 Step Quality Inspection Guide For Improved Product Quality

Learn how API can help you improve your overall product quality through optimizing your quality inspection systems.

API eBook: The Ultimate Quality Inspection Guide: The 9 Steps You Don't Want To Miss!

What can you expect from our Quality Inspection Guide?

We walk you through:

  • How you can go about identifying your needs with API’s team 
  • Why golden samples are important 
  • Why defining your product specifications are important 
  • The key benefits of each inspection type that API can offer you 
  • How important data based insight can be utilized for improvement strategies

This inspection guide is for every quality manager, importer and retailer that seeks to understand the benefits and importance of the quality procedures you choose to use for your product and what they can do to improve your overall factory performance.  

*Bonus – We have also added checklists to help further assist you in improving your product quality!  

Are you ready to learn more about how our customized quality inspection solutions can benefit you? Fill out the form and click ‘Download eBook’ to download your very own copy.

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ebook Resources

eBook: How To Build Systems To Ensure Product Compliance For Large Supply Chains

Free Download: "How To Build Systems To Ensure Product Compliance For Large Supply Chains"

As an importer, how do you address the need for compliance within your supply chain?

How To Build Systems To Ensure Product Compliance For Large Supply Chains

Importers the world over have needed to keep up with the constant changes in global regulations. These constant changes and growth in the market have meant that things like product compliance and supply chain transparency have become essential to operational success.

In this ebook, “How to build systems to ensure product compliance in large supply chains” We discover exactly how to build these systems.

Here’s a quick look at what’s inside:

  • Why is compliance necessary
  • How to turn compliance challenges into opportunities for growth
  • Specific audits that are needed for compliance in your supply chain
  • Ever wondered how to create a compliance culture? We show you how

This eBook is for any importer who understands that product compliance and transparent supply chains are the only way to remain globally competitive.

Are you ready to read this FREE eBook and begin creating that desired compliant supply chain? Just fill in the form and click “DOWNLOAD NOW” to request your FREE copy.

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ebook Resources

eBook: Implementing a Global Quality Assurance System

Free Download: Implementing a Global Quality Assurance System: How to build consensus and ensure buying offices are implementing quality systems effectively

How to build consensus and ensure buying offices are implementing quality systems effectively.

In the modern economy, retailers no longer operate as a single entity but compete as a global supply chain. It is the cumulative effect of every node in the geographically dispersed network, effectively performing its tasks in alignment with the corporate strategy that creates and develops a competitive advantage.

In the ebook, “Implementing a Global Quality Assurance System: How to build consensus and ensure buying offices are implementing quality systems effectively,” we explore the challenge of aligning buying offices with a corporate strategy that is flexible and agile enough to adapt to customer demands and respond to competitors’ actions without compromising on the quality of the final product. 

Here’s a quick look at what’s inside our latest ebook:

  • Demands on the retail supply chain
  • The challenges faced by buying offices
  • How to develop consensus between buying offices and corporate strategies 
  • Best practices for implementing quality systems

This eBook is for any manager who understands that quality is the litmus test for how effectively a retailer is at implementing its strategy across its supply chain.

Ready to read this FREE eBook and implement quality systems effectively? Just fill in the form and click “DOWNLOAD eBook” to request your FREE copy.

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Blogs

How to get your outdoor furniture summer-ready for next season

Blog - How to get your outdoor furniture summer-ready for next season

Summer is just around the corner, and as customers get their gardens, terraces, and balconies ready for the balmy months, outdoor furniture brands and retailers are already preparing their collections for next year’s season. Demand for outdoor furniture has soared as a result of the pandemic, but the industry hasn’t escaped the supply chain crisis that began in 2020. Two years on, the journey from raw materials to the end customer remains challenging and lengthy.

 

While increased demand is great news for the outdoor furniture industry, this has led to a backlog of orders and tasks that has been difficult to manage. While business is returning to normal in prominent manufacturing countries like China, Vietnam, and Indonesia, manufacturers are still facing delays and the scarcity of raw materials needed to build the furniture. Furthermore, once the product is ready, it still needs to reach the consumer, and shipping times remain long with container shortages and products getting caught in the supply chain traffic jam. With no option to delay the outdoor furniture season, products must arrive on time, or businesses risk losing customers to competitors.

 

That said, the arrival of products on time isn’t enough to satisfy increasingly demanding consumers. According to the Outdoor Garden Furniture market study by Fact.MR (Feb 2022), consumers desire outdoor furniture that is:

  • Resistant to climate conditions
  • Good quality
  • Durable
  • Insect and mold resistant
  • Crack-proof
  • Sustainable (using eco-friendly materials and processes)

 

What does this mean for brands and retailers? Businesses need to operate speedily while ensuring the quality and fit-for-use of their products, which means that getting things right the first time and anticipating mistakes has never been more crucial.

How to ensure quality outdoor furniture from the beginning

The best way to get outdoor furniture products right the first time is to detect issues as early as possible in the supply chain. The easiest way to achieve this is to go upstream and anticipate risks from the earliest stages of raw materials and manufacturing.

Key points to look at include:

  • Ensuring you have the right design
  • Ensuring product compliance
  • Ensuring the right production process
  • Defining the right control plan

Utilizing the support of a third party can help brands and retailers address these challenges while relying on an independent expert to secure product quality and fit-for-use. This will reduce issues at the end of the supply chain, avoid delays, and satisfy customers with products that arrive on time and meet their expectations.

At API, we provide comprehensive expert solutions for outdoor furniture. With more than 25 years’ experience and a portfolio of international brands and retailers that trust our knowledge, our suite of solutions is dedicated to securing the quality, safety, and performance of outdoor furniture products across the entire supply chain from the earliest stages of development. Some of these include:

  • Help during product development
    Ensure better products from the early stages of development through:

    • Raw material traceability
    • Suggestions on sustainable processes
    • Suggestions on product improvement
    • Validation of control plans, marking, product characteristics, golden sample
    • And more 
  • Design/prototype review at the factory or lab
    This includes expert reviews at the factory, showroom, or at our network of laboratories at the moment of product selection, including conformity criteria, risk and issues anticipation, and recommendations for improvements. 
  • Sample validation
    Validation of a final sample before production will define the model to follow and ensure the rest of the production is manufactured according to the brand specifications. 
  • In-production process assessment and root cause analysis
    This aims at understanding the processes for improved finished products with a high focus on identifying, assessing, and improving the manufacturing methods critical to quality and safety to prevent failures. 
  • Fit-for-use and performance testing
    Evaluate your products’ performance and durability, including:
    • Resistance to aggressive environments
    • Corrosion, UV aging, rain and water resistance, heat resistance, etc.
    • Usage resistance (scratches, stains, washing, tearing, metal finishing adherence, etc.)
    • Product feel and support
    • Textile performance
    • And more
  • Recycled polyester testing
    This scientific method verifies and quantifies the amount of recycled polyester in products to ensure what you bring to the market while supporting your marketing claims. 
  • During production inspection
    Inspection of the finished goods at 5% or 10% of the production completion will identify issues early in the production line.

Interested in finding out more about how API can help your brand with our adapted outdoor furniture solutions?