I have a very good customer developing a new product in one of their divisions. This new product is a cover used in outdoor applications. We are at the point of pre-production and determined today that the material that has been received at the factory is not acceptable. The customer sent material from the US early in the process for us and the factory we are using to find a local equivalent. We found one that was approved and made a prototype for testing.
After several weeks of testing the customer let us know the material was approved and we should move forward. This week we sent them a piece of the production material and they decided to do a test of the waterproof capabilities. Of course, the production material is not as water proof as the US material. They tested the prototype and found it also is not water proof enough.
The customer realizes they should have checked the prototype for being water proof before approving it. They said they were more concerned with durability and performance and ASSUMED the material was as water-proof as the US material.
Luckily we still have time to fix the situation, but it will impact the planned development time line. The lesson for this customer and all companies sourcing in China is - DON'T ASSUME ANYTHING. Test for all relevant performance factors. Our engineer and the factory came up with what they believed to be a good local equivalent to the US material. It was a similar pattern, color, weight, durability, and had a similar water-proofing mechanism. During testing I did ask to make sure the customer was testing the prototype in different weather conditions, but I didn't specifically ask about a water -proof capabilities test.
The result is we have more work to do with the factory. I will be in China in June to help with this situation, among other reasons. As my partner Dan always says, "If it were easy anyone could do it."
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