Project management and Quality control
In the UK, design and development projects are managed on a one-to-one basis with our clients. Initial discussions, the origination of the product design brief, the mechanical design details and assembly concept of the product are all resolved before each project moves on to the manufacturing stage.
There are specific details that can only be finalised by discussion with our colleagues in China, for instance specialist component availability, specific assembly details relating to production and final material choice for components that need to perform to a high specification, for instance the material availability choice for a component that will be subjected to high heat levels.
In essence our UK and China offices function as a single project management unit during the design and development process to ensure that the product we design for manufacture conforms to the design brief and is optimised for envisaged production processes.
All TQ suppliers have been vendor assessed and approved by a Chinese staff. If necessary we will seek out new vendors to supply us with specialist components or services for a particular project. In all cases the UK office is supplied with copies of all vendor assessment reports so that we control the quality and know the capability of each and every company that supplies us. Design and manufacture of production tools are project managed by our UK tooling manager; if clients or their agents have the expertise to be included in this process we welcome their involvement. Tools are made to a production delivery schedule and are quality managed to ensure that correct grades of material are used to manufacture form inserts, that correct standard components are used and that the final build complies with the detailed tool design drawings in every respect.
Project management is also paramount when clients order production parts after prototype approval has been given. Every order placed is acknowledged and our staff check all purchase order details, materials availability and manufacturing schedules before confirming delivery dates.
After delivery dates are confirmed a detailed project plan is drawn up and our project manager has the responsibility to ensure that at all stages of the production process delivery dates are met. In some cases we ask our clients to forward order specific long lead time components so that we can achieve a considerably shorter overall delivery time .
For each project we have a work instruction sheet (WIS) that includes the BOM, part drawing files, tooling list, material specifications and suppliers, photographic record of all production processes and lastly a snag list of accumulated production issues that require special attention to ensure that the risk of product rejection is minimised.
Our quality control manager discusses the WIS in detail with the manufacturing team to make sure that all issues are addressed. In addition our QC personnel carry out checks on all components supplied by our network of approved vendors, regular checks on quality levels on the factory production line and lastly random quality checks on outgoing product.