Steer Clear of the Recall Abyss

Is your brand deploying active recall prevention measures or waiting for disaster? [Source: NatGeo]

We are witnessing the once-unstoppable Peloton being swallowed by bottomless safety recalls. The fitness equipment and training giant is facing millions in losses due to defective seatposts from the flagship PL-01 stationary bike. Peloton is accelerating into free-fall because of the ongoing 2021 recall of the Pace+ treadmill. Sober reminders that marketing dominance and huge customer bases don't protect against brand-breaking defects and oversights!

Take stock of your recall prevention strategies. What are your active countermeasures against brand-breaking recalls?

Every company can build conditioning and muscle to avoid recalls. Dominate on new product release sprints and hold marathon pace for long-term growth and stability. True Quality Engineering is sharing strategies to keep your brand clear of recall pitfalls:

Take Ownership of Quality:

Create bulletproof internal brand quality standards. Regulatory requirements are fixed & non-negotiable. Set internal quality standards that provide daylight above regulatory and safety minimums. Train all stakeholders to implement your standards. Require regular reject and scrap rate reporting from all vendors and OEMs. High internal standards protect your brand from the occasional rough edges of statistical variations.

Get Compliance Expertise:

Employ compliance and regulatory experts. Audit your current compliance status. Stay updated on all regional and international standards and implementation deadlines. Your compliance team should educate all stakeholders on how to achieve all requirements. Note regional regulatory differences in functional, chemical and safety standards. Your experts must know precisely how to achieve and pass every mandatory compliance requirement (Testing, Certifications of Conformity, Registration in National or Regional Trade/Safety Databases, etc).

100% Clarity:

Don't bury compliance requirements in the fine print of your product designs. Topline your specific compliance requirements in every product name and all drawings, tech packs, spec sheets, product SKUs, BOMs etc:

Example of a Bike Helmet Product Description:

CPSC/ANSI/ISO Adult Bicycle Helmet for "REMCo Bikes",

Color: Hi-Viz Orange/Blue trim  “CRUSHER” 2024

Reference your regulatory requirements in every vendor communication regarding engineering and testing. Make it clear to stakeholders and vendors that failing regulatory requirements simply isn't an option. If problems persist, consider if your brand needs clauses inserted into new purchase agreements that can trigger termination if finished goods fail testing.

Missing the Markings:

Review all mandatory product labeling and special tracking information. This includes container & carton shipping/tariff importation codes. Monitor notices and updates from regulatory bodies like the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and European Commission Safety Gate. Don’t allow the rewards of great product development and manufacturing to be held or seized because of missing or incomplete labeling!

Know Thyself, Know Thy Neighbor:

Perform rigorous failure mode engineering analysis (DFMEA/FMEA) on your products and those of your competitors. Review older generations of similar designs during all new product development kickoffs. Do your ideas truly improve on older iterations or is your brand unknowingly summoning ghosts of past mistakes? Your innovations won’t succeed unless your brand is learning and building better.

Glass cases are for museums, not product development. Break the glass and put all samples and prototypes to hard use. [Source: Marin Museum of Bicycling]

Brutalize Samples and Prototypes:

Your prototypes and engineering samples aren't precious shelf candy or shiny boardroom showpieces. Subject samples to extended “normal” use and then push test duration until failure. Simulate the most extreme conditions including knockout forces, hard impact, intense heat and cold, humidity/salt spray, over voltage etc... Test items to see how both skilled users and small children might encounter them in the home. Consider all use cases including how exposure to pets or common household products (such as humidifiers, cleaning solvents, carpets and curtains...etc) might trigger malfunctions.

Use-Case Testing: Cats [YT: Creamheroes]

Hold the Line, Test the Line:

Repeat identical testing with your factory-tooled finished goods. Get confidence that your mass-production items deliver the same results as pre-production samples. If your team or vendors are unable (or unwilling) to produce requested production samples, this indicates problems ahead. Vendor outsourcing of sample production or stingy sample availability are serious problems that shouldn't be overlooked.

True Vendor Qualification:

Assess your vendor’s capabilities thoroughly before finalizing your to-market plan. Has your vendor network fully proven their abilities to produce goods with appropriate precision and consistency?

Do your staff or 3rd party inspectors have full access to visit, audit and supervise all production sites? Can your brand fully assess working conditions, staff safety and environmental concerns?

How much do you know about your vendor and supplier network? [Photo: Guardian.com]

Can your vendors provide valid certifications and licenses? Are your vendors ready to pass 3rd party qualification and audits? Is your brand making strategic decisions based on hopes and prayers or hard data and proven vendor performance?

Fix Problems BEFORE Shipment:

Create realistic production monitoring plans for all your productions. Employ skilled QA & QC engineers to identify, contain and order rework during production. Empower your factory team to reject non-conforming goods and require immediate replacement of defective items. Fix problems at the factory, not in your warehouses or customer's homes and garages.

Cradle to Grave Traceability:

Implement product lifecycle traceability for every stage of production and sale. Serialization coding, Barcodes, QR codes, Microdots, RFID tags and other data capture methods should be utilized appropriately to match your needs. Your goal should be real-time production, QA/QC and shipment tracking. This is especially true for products with IoT connectivity and high-capacity battery packs.

Stay Involved:

Vendors will always work to optimize materials & processes to increase their factory margins! These cost-cutting changes will happen with or without your brand’s involvement. Stay engaged with vendors. Review and approve process changes together. Collaboration will prevent corner-cutting that impacts quality and safety. Your guidance will result in win-win scenarios for both vendors and brands.

Regular Checkups Not Emergency Room Visits:

Plan annual or quarterly audits of both vendor and brand operation sites to ensure all QA & QC operations are nominal. Set achievable KPIs and give recognition and rewards for great vendor performance. Shared goals for success drives collaboration and trust between your brand and vendors/OEMs.

Fear-free Communication = Better Intel:

Create internal lines of communication and reporting that allows your staff to anonymously report sensitive information regarding quality and safety. Eliminate organizational fear of reprisals. Liabilities increase when organizations ignore early warnings of problems. Listen to credible concerns and perform timely risk evaluations. Determine which executive or c-suite members are responsible for reviewing and actioning these reports. Require monthly briefings on all recall prevention activities.

...

If recall prevention is a business-critical priority for your organization, reach out to True. Quality Engineering. We can assist with assessment, audits and strategic planning. True Quality Engineering will on-board vendors with enhanced brand requirements. We perform factory audits to ensure vendor & OEM/ODM quality management systems are working at peak efficiency to protect your brand. Contact us for a free consultation to discuss your needs.

#recalls #qualitymanagement #Qualitycontrol #Productsafety #Qualityengineering #consumerproducts #d2c