During the sometimes long and tiring product design process, it is easy to get swept away in the excitement and rush into production. As the age old saying goes, don’t rush the process. Before production, there are a few tasks that should be completed before production. These tasks can differ greatly depending on your industry but for the purpose of this article, the tasks will be more all-encompassing.
Accomplishing these tasks can help ensure you will have a successful product launch. Below are four tasks to complete before starting production.
Manufacture Your Golden Sample
Your golden sample is the perfect sample to be used as a reference that can prove you are able to make the perfect product using mass-produced tools. The golden sample is different from the prototype. While the prototype uses cost-effective processes, the golden sample follows everything that will be used in mass production.
During production of the golden sample, you can learn about the tolerances of your product. Although mass production can be highly efficient there is still the possibility that parts could be made imperfectly. There are tolerances based on measurements, colors, textures, and so on. For this reason, it is important to have limit samples that will complement your golden sample.
What are limit samples? Limit samples are samples used to establish the upper and lower limits of acceptable performance or quality for a product. Any products that fall outside of those limits are considered defective.
Quality Requirements
After manufacturing the golden sample, it will be easier to determine the quality requirements. Before the start of production, there needs to be an objective quality standard to be checked for parts coming in, being processed, and being assembled. Standards and requirements should be outlined and confirmed with your contract manufacturer (CM) before starting production.
Work Instructions
During early stages of prototyping, a lot of time will be spent building the perfect product theoretically devoid of any incompetencies. However, during the mass production process, this time will be drastically reduced but the expectation of quality will be the same. Therefore, it is necessary to identify and solidify the steps during production. The work instructions are a set of instructions that manufacturers can easily follow.
Bill of Materials
Defining the Bill of Materials (BOM) is a necessary task that needs to be done prior to production to ensure the procurement process goes smoothly. Unfortunately, it is very common for manufacturing companies to keep their BOM updated due to the constant changes in the design process.
It is best practice to update the BOM after any change is made to prevent problems such as, purchasing or fabricating the wrong parts, ordering parts with the wrong quantities, or having the wrong colors, materials, and so on. Before production, it is paramount to confirm the BOM is up-to-date and comparable to the golden sample.
Contact Primo Corporations for Your Mass Manufacturing Needs
Primo Corporations offers a number of comprehensive engineering services and large scale manufacturing of products. To learn how we can apply our expertise to your next project, contact us today.
