Quality Assurance is essential to the efficient operating systems of your supply chain and, ultimately, your brand’s bottom line. But, the question is how often do you get caught up in procedural changes that leave your supply chain trapped in a web of complexities that you are unable to get out of or make sense of?
As a retailer, you know better than anyone that these complexities come with the territory of managing a supply chain, with the continuous changes in product regulation and compliance issues, to audit and inspection essentials, to also being able to get your product to market on time, having sufficiently passed all the compliance and quality inspections necessary.
At this stage, you have either considered revising all of your operational procedures to encompass all the changes that need to be adhered to, or you have likely considered a third party QA provider. The thing to keep in mind here is that you are not alone. The web of complexities that have you entangled can be dealt with efficiently and according to your exact specification.
“What do I mean?”
Our case study takes a closer look at the QA challenges that two large European retailers were facing, and delves into exactly how they overcame this through API’s uniquely devised QA solutions.
The Challenges
Retailer A – Underwent major procedural changes and experienced 50% of their shipment being held due to basic procedural non-compliance rendering them “pending”.
“I am sure you are aware of how this can put huge pressure on your supply chain and bottom line.”
Retailer B – Began experiencing a large number of product recalls due to incomplete or unavailable Technical Compliance Files.
If you have had experience with the authorities, then you know exactly how complex acquiring a full and complete TCF is!
The Solutions
Retailer A – After implementing a customized quality management program, they were able to reduce their “pending” rate for non-compliance from 50% to 15%.
Retailer B – In a year they experienced a 60% decrease in the number of product recalls they had, owing to API’s in-house designed compliance software.
Both of these retailers experienced significant challenges within their supply chains, one had even previously adopted the services of a 3rd party QA provider, who made no strides in overcoming their challenges with them.
“There is no one size fits all approach to QA.”
Keep this in mind when you begin pondering over the use of an external QA provider.
This case study seeks to showcase the huge value in using a provider that is able to customize and tailor their quality assurance solutions based on your exact needs and requirements. This provides valuable insights into your supply chain allowing you to identify risks early, but also create somewhat of a partnership with your provider, based on trust and a quantifiable solution promoting growth and sustainability for your brand.
More often than not performing an inspection after the production of toys is finished is problematic and too late to rectify any quality problems found within the product.
Enter During Production Inspection (DUPRO).
This inspection type is designed to catch quality issues right on the production line to prevent any delays in getting your product to market.
The quality of a product can be defined in many ways and is almost always dependent on your specific consumer and their definition of quality for your specific item. So in that light, you will need to know exactly what your consumer is looking for to create the quality your brand is looking to achieve.
When a consumer sets out to look for a quality product, they want to feel as though they have paid less than what the actual product is worth, the quality of the product far surpassing the amount they ended up paying. Fulfilling the need to exceed the consumer’s expectations, this is what true quality is all about.
If fulfilling the need to meet your consumer’s expectations is at the top of your company’s agenda, is it not essential for your brand’s products to meet a level of quality that does just that? Let me leave you pondering that for a bit.
In attempting to understand your customer’s definition of quality, it will be important to note that fulfilling consumer expectation and experience forms a part of that definition.
Let me give you an example; If a consumer orders a product that has met and passed all quality tests it needed to meet, that product for all intents and purposes is a quality item. But, if the order arrives later than promised or arrives with a missing screw or the incorrect color, the consumer may not define this product as an item of value and quality.
Striving for product quality is a stems right from the raw materials used, to the way in which it arrives to your customer, therefore every step needs to be taken into consideration.
craze of fidget spinners and, where 200, 000 of these spinners have been recalled due to it 
they want to know where its raw materials were sourced, how it was made, who made it and what its level of quality is. They ask themselves whether or not your product will be an investment in their lives.
The key here will be to know your target market, know your consumer. If you do not know what they want, you will struggle to be their go-to brand; you will lose out on their brand evangelism and praise affecting your bottom line
“Is this the type of brand and product you wish to create?”
Retailers today are under so much pressure with the current supply and demand of products, that quality and/or compliance is not always a priority.
“But, it should be!”
Bad quality and non-compliance both mean that your brand is at an unnecessarily high risk with regards to meeting regulations and your reputation. It will be worth all the hard yards that you put in from the creation and design to the manufacturing and distribution of your products. This will help mitigate unnecessary risk, saving you money and precious time.
A POA is essential for filling out shippers exportation documents. This exportation document cannot be completed without a valid POA. Without it, your shipment will not be released, costing you time and money.
“So, what happens when one of these documents are not in order?”
You incur costs that begin adding up on a daily basis. Your shipment will be warehoused, where you will be billed for every day your shipment is there. It will be time consuming. Much of the paperwork mentioned above takes time to complete, but now you will be waiting on paperwork while raking up warehouse fees. This is not an ideal situation but can be avoided with thorough, well-kept, organized paperwork and a dash of patience to go along with it.
will provide an easier platform to discuss these matters in-depth, with absolute understanding and clarity. Personally I find Zoom a favorite for all conference calling, it has helped me stay in touch with a lot more ease than just relying on email.
Now that we have spoken about the means of communication, we need to address the frequency and manner of communication.
“How often do you phone your supplier to just talk about basic business operations?”
The more constant the flow of communication is, the more you will begin to get to know your supplier, and where your business sits in the grander scheme of their operations (and how much they stand to lose if they make mistakes).
This level of trust that you begin to build with your supplier will help to keep them honest and accountable if you happen to receive a delivery of products that are non compliant.
This kind of communication provides clarity and indicates to your supplier that you trust them to fix the problem to achieve the level of compliance that your company has set as the standard.
importers that do not pay on time so as to avoid those kinds of risks for themselves in the future.
What is advisable with regards to payment is ensuring that you have laid out all your payment terms with your supplier. In doing this you create a level of transparency with your supplier which can prove to be invaluable.
If you have been in this position before, as I am sure you have, I would say that the best practice here would be the same as tip #1;
Communication
You need to communicate your situation immediately, creating an honest and open relationship with your supplier which will put you in good stead for future orders.
This knowledge creates an improvement in their service to you as operational times and 
To minimise the possibility of heavy metal migration in toy manufacturing, the EU has tightened the regulations of toy quality control. Testing according to the revised EN71-3 standard includes 19 elements and the migration limits have been revised. The update has divided toys into three categories:
As a quality manager who is responsible for producing toys you know that where quality is concerned the stakes are sky-high.
You need to know that toys adhere to the demands of every test they might face when being exported globally to markets with different demands.
At API, our quality inspectors and laboratories follow a comprehensive set of 8 toy quality testing steps (built through decades of experience) that helps quality managers effectively manage quality right from the outset.
This article will take a brief look at 
Raw material quality control is paramount in helping to prevent product failure and ensuring a consistent level of quality that you and your customers expect.
Making sure that players in your supply chain are continuously subjected to testing of raw materials being used in your toy production, or when they decide to switch suppliers, verifies that the materials are at the level of quality you’re paying for and that no toxic elements such as lead and cadmium finding their way into your finished product.
Complying with chemical restrictions in raw materials laid out by the EU and US chemical content regulations such as REACH, 
