Many importers are now moving their supply chain to other developing countries in Asia like Indonesia and Vietnam in order to get cheaper products. But this job is not as easy as it looks. Price should not only become the main consideration when buying products. As importers, you should pay more attention to the quality of the products as well. Because it can influence your brand reputation. Sourcing from the wrong location or wrong supplier can lead to longer production times, higher costs, and more quality issues. We have performed thousands of Product Quality Inspection in Indonesia, and here are our list of the most common quality issues:
PRODUCT DIMENSIONS
Products from Asian countries, especially Indonesia are famous because of their natural material and eco-friendly production process. Most of them are hand-crafted and use minimal harmful chemicals. And do you know what the most common issues of hand-crafted products are? Yes! Product imperfection. The finishing of the products are rarely perfect, sometimes it has different size and design from the original master sample. Furthermore, for Western customers, too many defects are a sign of inferior products.
In most of the cases, importers require factories to rework the products because they have too many defects and cannot be sold.
PACKAGING LABELING & MARKING
Packaging is playing an important role in promoting a brand. However, it usually becomes an issue. For example, the colors of the logo and the font might be off, and the wrong placement of the fragile or others icon. Mistakes on general labeling and the cartons’ shipping marks also frequently happened.
PRODUCTS DISFUNCTION
This issue frequently happens in both Softline and Hardline industries. For example, in the furniture industry, the products’ crack, high MC percentages, and wormholes could influence the products’ function that belongs to critical defect (the most serious defect, that could harm the consumer). On the other hand, the textile and apparel industry, for example, the wrong size of the collar, and broken zip could lead to product’s disfunction that could harm the customers.
PRODUCTS APPEARANCES ARE DIFFERENT FROM THE SAMPLE
Making sure the product appearance is the same as your standards as well as the supplier’s master sample is the goal of conducting product inspection. Because as we stated above, bad product quality could influence your brand reputation. For instance, when you want to order natural wall décors made from macrame, however, your supplier makes them in white color.
This issue frequently happens because of miscommunications issues between importers and suppliers.
FAILED CARTON DROP TEST
A good product is usually durable and does not break the first time it falls on the ground. Conducting a Carton Drop Test is the most common test conducted by the inspector to know how the supplier packed your product. By doing this test, you will have some information on how the cartons themselves will hold up the product during shipment and what potential damage could be done to the products inside. The test is based on the ISTA (International Safe Transit Association) standard.
Unfortunately, some factories are not allowing the inspectors to conduct this test due to some reasons. However, having your supplier agree to compulsory drop testing will help to ensure that your products are packaged safely and will not be damaged during shipment.
WRONG PRODUCT QUANTITY INSIDE THE CARTONS
This issue happened in the factory in Indonesia. The human capital and the working environment influenced it very much. Usually, the employees in the packing department of factories are often the lowest paid and the least trained because the management thinks it is an easy job. However, if they have to pack the whole order one day before the container loading, the result will be a mess. They often do not count the pieces when they place them in the export cartons.
HOW TO AVOID RECEIVING DEFECTIVE PRODUCTS?
To avoid these issues, conducting quality control in Indonesia can be a solution. There are several quality control services that you can perform, such as:
Factory Audit
Conducting a factory audit in Indonesia will give you more benefits and detailed information about the supplier you want to work with, several of them are:
- Avoid scams and inexperienced vendors
- Compare potential vendors and select reliable sources
- Check the needed certificates and licenses for the specific factories
- Check the factory’s experience in manufacturing your products
Product Inspection
Product inspection is the key element of quality control in Indonesia. This service will give you more information about your product’s quality from the very beginning until it will be shipped.
Excellencial independent third-party inspection services in Indonesia will provide you with confidence that your products comply with both your standards and government regulations. For more information about product inspection in Indonesia, you can find it here or contact us here today