In today's global supply chain environment, many companies face complex issues and questions that require more than a simple pass or fail test report. Questions such as: Do the bids you receive from multiple vendors reflect the product and the quality you expect? How can you most effectively benchmark a product against the competition? And if a product failure occurs, how do you fix it? When you find yourself facing these and other complicated questions, our Engineering Services team can assist you. Engineering Services are currently available for hardlines, electrical, toy and juvenile products.

Our Engineering Solution team is comprised of experienced engineers who specialize in consumer products and have the ability to tap into the resources of our 6,500 quality professionals worldwide. By offering a broad spectrum of services, including consulting, engineering and analytical assessments, this dedicated team can identify the best options to address your concern.

Yes, our Comparison Study can assist you in better understanding how your product compares to one or more competitors. Our comparison reports can provide you with a benchmarking study, whereby a product is compared to several other similar products. Benchmarking studies are useful to determine where in the marketplace does your product fit when compared to competitors' product or the national leading brand.

How can I clearly communicate product expectations to my vendors?
Product Specifications are documents that define the basic features and the physical, analytical, and performance characteristics of a product. They highlight important areas of concern, performance requirements, and critical characteristics. They also are a useful communication tool that you can use in the sourcing process. A distinct advantage of Product Specifications is that the document defines the quality and performance level expectations upfront, thereby eliminating or reducing "misunderstandings" in the supply chain. Product specifications also create consistency in the sourcing process, because vendors are bidding on the same product quality levels. All of this contributes to reduce lead times.

With literally thousands of similar products on the market today, how to decide which factory, vendor, or product to select is quite a challenge. Our Comparison Study service is a convenient and effective way to compare multiple products and/or vendors. These comparison studies can assist buyers and procurement agents in making informed purchasing or sourcing decisions, by clearly identifying comparative product strengths and weaknesses among the products or vendors in the study. Key information is summarized into an easy-to-read report format that includes a consolidated rating and ranking table making it an efficient and user-friendly tool. And since the scope of the comparison can be customized to the critical-to-quality areas, the focus is on what matters most to you and to your customers.

What can I do to reduce customer returns?
For this type of situation, a Failure Analysis can help identify the problem defect associated with the product. With a sample of the defective product, our Engineering Services team can use a variety of resources, including laboratory evaluations, to analyze and isolate the failure defect. The root causes leading to the defect then will be identified and outlined in the failure analysis report. This type of analysis is useful as an investigation into design flaws, product, abuse, manufacturer defect, operator error, material defect, or warranty claims. With this information, a retailer can request a corrective action plan from the appropriate party within the supply chain.

A Design Evaluation can be a very effective tool to reduce time-to-market. A Design Evaluation at the conception or prototype stage can identify the performance requirements and the mandatory and regulatory compliance standards early in the product lifecycle. This can save valuable development time by defining the requirements upfront in the design stage rather than later in the design cycle, such as the testing stage.

Comparison Studies work well for branded products, such as private label products. A comparison study can help protect brand image by ensuring that the branded product remains competitive in the marketplace. A comparison study can also ensure that a product's quality and performance levels are on par with the leading national brand. Useful in benchmarking studies, a comparison study can highlight the differential advantages of your private brand product to consumers.

Product Specifications, as described previously, also work well for branded products by defining the quality and performance level expectations upfront, eliminating misunderstandings, and establishing consistency in the sourcing process. All of this can assist in driving your branded product penetration strategy. Finally, product specifications protect a brand image by allowing control of the product quality levels by the retailer rather than by the vendor.

For more information, email info@us.bureauveritas.com.