Welcome to Work Instructions 101. As a contract manufacturer routinely involved in new production launches, we develop work instructions for showing our operators what they are expected to do on every separate production. There are a number of FAQs about work instructions that it will be helpful for anyone manufacturing in Asia to have answers to. Table of Contents Toggle What format should a new work instruction take? Work Instructions FAQs Learn more about work instructions   What format should a new work instruction take? No 101 about work instructions could be complete without sh ..read more

In a previous article about the quality standard for prototypes, we explained why most development prototypes don’t need to look as good as mass-production products. Those early prototypes are useful for validating the product’s ability to “do its job”, to confirm that users like the general form factor, and so on, but they are generally not used to sell to a wide audience.  (There are exceptions, of course, such as the samples used for a crowdfunding campaign video, to be used by a sales force to pre-sell to retailers, and so forth.) In this article, we will start from two examples – one ..read more

Not every prototype needs to be perfect, as they fulfill different purposes. We often discuss this topic with our customers to align expectations, and we found it can be confusing. So let’s look at some examples of what prototypes do, and we’ll explain how to define a quality standard for prototypes, and what you can expect in terms of quality, and when.   Table of Contents Toggle The difficulty of defining a quality standard for prototypes early on Why defining a quality standard for prototypes early in development is tough Let’s look at another development process as an example: W ..read more

ISTA testing is short for the ‘International Safe Transit Association’ testing. It’s testing done on packaging to make sure that your products are going to get to you in the condition that you expect them to be in if you’re manufacturing overseas. The issue here is that quite a few people are confused about what kind of ISTA testing they should use, so that’s the question that we’re going to answer. (more…) The post ISTA Testing: Navigate the Maze and Choose Wisely appeared first on Agilian ..read more

As a product designer, I’ve witnessed firsthand the transformative power of using injection mold textures to add a finish or texture to a part, elevating it from simply functional to captivatingly delightful. And believe me, choosing the right texture is an art form in itself, a delicate balance between purpose, form, and production feasibility. Adding texture isn’t just about creating eye candy. Sure, it can play a crucial role in aesthetics, adding visual interest and personality to a product. But the real magic lies in its functional potential.  That’s why, when approaching a part to a ..read more

Visiting Agilian from Shenzhen? Here’s what you need to know… When to visit us Agilian in Dongguan Tuesdays and Thursdays are preferred for customer visits at Agilian in Dongguan and visits are always by appointment only. Sofeast group Shenzhen HQ We also provide the option to have a meeting in our group’s main Shenzhen office in the Huaqiangbei area of Shenzhen’s city center, but it is mainly an administrative office and you will not see any assembly or manufacturing-related activities there. We prefer customer visits on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, but visits are also always by appointm ..read more

Ongoing reliability testing, ORT testing for short, is the last stage of reliability testing once you’ve already designed and developed your product, done all of the testing and validation for it including reliability work to make sure that it’s going to be reliable and durable once it’s manufactured, and you’ve launched the product it’s being sold. Even though the product is now on the market, we’re still doing ORT and we’re going to explain exactly what it is, the tests involved, the costs, how to analyze results, and the risks you face if you’re not doing it.   Table of Contents Togg ..read more

Our customers often ask us how to get a UL certification mark for their products, and they often believe they need to work with UL (Underwriters Laboratories) themselves to achieve certification. That’s not correct. They also ask us very often if such or such testing or certification is mandatory. The answer is ‘it depends.’ Let’s clarify all this in the following Q&A sections.   Table of Contents Toggle Q: What is the purpose of going through the process of putting UL certification mark on a product? Q: Do USA retailers require the UL mark for all electrical products? Q: Can only ..read more

Sometimes, if things have really gotten bad, you’ll need to leave your current Chinese supplier and transfer manufacturing to a new one. Side note: to see some reasons why you might need to leave an existing Chinese supplier for a new one, read our many posts about disputes with Chinese suppliers and how to handle them over on Sofeast’s blog. In this post, I’ll explain how to transfer manufacturing from the current factory to the next, and when it is prudent to give your incumbent manufacturer the bad news, as going too early with this might leave you with even more problems to deal with ..read more

You need to be able to source electronic components for your new product that reach your cost, quality, and reliability expectations. In fact, the success of your product is riding on the components that it’s made up of being perfect for the job. It’s not as simple as just going online and choosing something that works, either. In order to find perfect components, we follow this process… What follows is a summary of the electronic component selection steps, but I discussed it in far more detail on our group’s podcast here. The electronic component selection process is more complex than many ..read more