When running any sort of business it is important to maintain a high level of quality at all times. When you outsource your work or supplies overseas it could become difficult to maintain a consistently high quality product. In order to make the process as easy as possible for you, here are 4 things to keep in mind when trying to maintain your quality.
Have Quality Partners
If your manufacturing partner is not high quality, then forget about producing high quality products. Do background checks and see reviews about your future partner in order to know if they can deliver the quality you expect. Don’t accept a partner that does not pass a quality test.
Be Vigilant
Always keep an eye on you business partner to make sure quality doesn’t drop. Set scheduled meetings and quality reports to assure that everything is running smoothly.
Sometimes things can happen even while being vigilant, but there are things that can be done to prevent an overall drop in quality.
Contact the Manufacturer
Tell the manufacturer what happened and keep a detailed record of the situation so the problem won’t occur again. Have pictures and documents detailing the problem ready to present to the manufacturer and keep a copy for yourself.
Let everyone know
Don’t let your people stay in the dark, tell them what happened so they don’t cause any further problems. The best result would be that everyone is working at peak performance despite the setback.
Help out
Help the manufacturer with anything they might need, maybe even suggest a faster way to fix the issue. The faster the problem can solved the better. By doing this you also strengthen the relationship with the manufacturer which could benefit you in the long run, they might even return the favor.
Set Standards
To help everything run more effectively, set clear expectations for the supplier. Do this early on to have consistent quality throughout the partnership. Have clear documentation of what you expect of your supplier and make sure they are consistently meeting those expectations. If your partners can’t meet these expectations then tell them that you might have to cancel the partnership and look elsewhere.
Despite this, don’t make the expectations unreasonable. If you do let a supplier go then you have to start the entire process over again along with building a relationship with a new partner. Don’t let your partner go too quickly because you might have a tough time finding another one.
Be of High Quality
The best way to control quality is to have your business be high quality. When you have a high quality business, a lot of options open up for you. High quality manufacturers and suppliers might seek you out because they want to work with high quality businesses. All the previous checks will work much better if you have a high quality team that can keep up with your expectations or even exceed them.
In order to be a high quality business, you must set the same standard you gave your partner for yourself. Each department and employee must understand what you expect and be motivated to meet the standards you set. Doing this will make sure that mistakes are few and far between, and the ones that do happen are taken care of immediately.
Now you know how to control the quality of products and services that come in and out of your business, you are ready to make quality control a key aspect of your business.
