Sofeast's CEO Renaud and Andrew Amirnovin, reliability expert and our head of New Product Development, explore two high-profile product reliability nightmares that have been in the news recently: the destruction of the Oceangate Titan submersible that catastrophically imploded near the wreck of the Titanic and the reliability failures of the Siemens Gamesa wind turbines that suffered from vibration landing them with a $ 2 billion price tag to fix and denting their stock prices 

00:00 - Greetings and introducing today's topic.

02:23 - 1. The destruction of the Titan submersible visiting the wreck of the Titanic.

22:14 - Do strict standards actually stifle innovation and make it hard for new companies to enter a market?

27:46 - 2. Vibrating Siemens Gamesa wind turbines.

34:52 - Comparing possible testing solutions for the Titan sub and the wind turbines.

39:52 - Summary: What it takes to manufacture and keep manufacturing a reliable product.

• The Oceangate Titan submersible

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Sofeast CEO Renaud welcomes our friend Fredrik Grönkvist of Compliancegate.com to the show today to talk about EU product compliance, in particular, harmful substances of note, common regulations or directives you need to comply with, and what we can learn from recent data about non-compliant products found by EU market surveillance authorities. They also provide some great advice about how to ringfence compliance from your suppliers during the procurement stage of your project which is helpful no matter where you're listening!

00:00 - Introducing our guest: Fredrik Grönkvist of Compliancegate and our topic today.

03:16 - Why has the EU banned certain substances from being used in products?

05:40 - Examining the list of non-compliant products caught in the EU since 2022 for chemical composition safety reasons. What can we learn?

10:00 - 4 directives or regulations related to the chemical makeup of products imported into the EU.

16:02 - What are the key non-compliances and problem substances found for common product categories imported into the EU in the past year?

23:09 - Are there any problems with using data about harmful substances found and common non-compliances to predict future issues with your products?

27:36 - What actions do importers need to take to be compliant in general?

29:16 - What's the role of procurement when it comes to product compliance?

36:35 - Wrapping up.

• Don't forget to visit Fredrik's site Compliancegate.com and request help with your project. Their tool is great for most consumer products and will give you a detailed understanding of your potential compliance requirements.

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Renaud and Adrian tackle the issue of whether partnering with your Chinese factory is a misguided intention. The Western win-win mindset doesn't mean as much in China, and buyers may find that neglecting basic protections such as a manufacturing contract in the name of not upsetting their supplier and having a 'strong partnership' is a big mistake. Here's why...

00:00 - Introduction.

01:22 - Why some buyers are attracted to 'partnering up' and what it really means.

05:18 - What is the basis for a good partnership that really makes sense for buyers who develop their own products?

08:24 - How about the relationship for buyers purchasing existing products from an ODM?

13:33 - Why there is an unspoken assumption by Chinese ODM suppliers that if they do you a favor, you will owe them one back.

15:57 - Leaving things open because you want a good partnership with a supplier and don't want to upset them by enforcing a contract is a recipe for trouble.

22:31 - Activities you can take as a buyer that will help to build a good relationship with your supplier.

31:02 - Be aware of your track record with suppliers, because word spreads.

35:00 - Wrapping up.

• Negotiating terms, leverage over suppliers, and describing your needs

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Sofeast's Andrew Amirnovin, product reliability expert, joins Adrian from the team to introduce reliability testing and explain the kinds of questions you'll need to answer if you're bringing a new product to market and want to assure that it's as reliable as possible. You may know that you need your product to be reliable, but what's involved? Listen in, and you'll get a good grounding in reliability and be ready to answer the questions your reliability engineer will be asking you.

00:00 - Greetings and introduction to today's topic.

02:01 - What is product reliability?

04:41 - Quality is not the same as reliability.

07:06 - Someone doesn't know how to get started with reliability testing. What questions might we ask them in order to proceed?

• What industry is the product in?

14:29 - What are your reliability needs for the product?

16:54 - What if someone's reliability demands are too extreme or not strict enough?

18:45 - Examples of common reliability testing requirements for a typical consumer product (a smartwatch in this case).

22:11 - Reliability does have a cost, but is it a worthwhile investment?

28:45 - For many consumer products, focus on your product being at least reliable enough to last beyond its warranty period, but without over-designing and testing it to the point of overkill.

30:49 - Wrapping up.

• Design for Reliability Secrets [Podcast]

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Renaud answers four exciting questions from our listeners in this episode. We cover new product development, if and how to start purchasing and importing electronics, supplier bankruptcy, and tips for controlling product quality and reliability. 

00:00 - Introduction.

01:22 - 1. New product development for a product with a GSM module. How to integrate the module (if at all)?

11:34 - 2. How to buy and sell electronics like laptops, smartphones, and their accessories on a budget?

20:11 - 3. How to know if my manufacturer is going to go bankrupt soon?

31:16 - 4. The products I receive keep breaking, how to control quality?

38:23 - P.S. If you are visiting China, activate digital wallets!

42:22 - Wrapping up.

• Alipay and WeChat wallet for foreign users

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Sofeast's Andrew Amirnovin, reliability expert and head of New Product Development, joins Adrian from the team as they discuss which factors impact electronic product design costs and why. This will be a helpful reminder for any business designing a new product that wants to keep a control over costs.

00:00 - Greetings and introducing today's topic.

01:14 - Why controlling product cost is more important these days?

03:26 - 1. Component Selection

05:35 - 2. Manufacturing processes.

08:01 - 3. Material Selection.

09:58 - 4. Assembly and Labor Costs.

14:14 - 5. Product size and Weight.

17:31 - 6. Energy Efficiency.

21:03 - 7. DFM (Design for Manufacturability).

24:14 - 8. Testing and Quality Assurance.

28:18 - 9. Regulatory Compliance.

33:24 - 10. Product Lifecycle Costs.

37:29 - How we handle the above factors when working with customers.

43:02 - Wrapping up.

• Ultimate Guide To Sourcing From China And Developing Your Suppliers [eBook]

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Renaud and Adrian discuss responsible and sustainable purchasing, the latter taking things even further than the former, and why buyers play an important role in their suppliers' ESG performance. This episode will give you food for thought on how your actions affect the supply chain.

00:00 - Introduction.

02:44 - What is responsible purchasing? (+ 3 examples)

14:34 - Responsible product design practices is a linked topic.

16:29 - What is sustainable purchasing?

18:55 - How sustainable procurement affects the supply chain.

25:50 - 'Big buyers' are in a position to make positive changes. Small buyers, less so, but you still have options.

30:30 - Forthcoming EU regulations will demand buyers to purchase more responsibly and sustainably.

35:06 - The good news: You will save money!

36:51 - Wrapping up.

• RPP quote source

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Renaud and Adrian are both coming live from China for the first time on the podcast. Now they've both been able to visit following covid, what has most obviously changed? What tips do they have for business visitors? How's the economic landscape? Here are their observations, focusing on Guangdong, as that's where Sofeast is based.

00:00 - Introduction: China's sluggish recovery from Covid.

03:55 - Are Covid restrictions still around?

05:26 - Fewer foreigners in China now.

09:33 - Chinese EVs rule the road.

15:05 - E-bikes are now permitted in the city center.

19:24 - The transport system across the 'Greater Bay Area' is expanding faster than anyone can imagine.

25:26 - High-speed rail is easier for foreigners to use, just beware of new crowd control measures.

27:25 - Facial recognition technology is in use in a lot of places, especially to pay for goods and enter buildings.

29:08 - Restaurants in Shenzhen are pricier and ordering may be harder for foreigners now.

32:43 - LinkedIn is now blocked in China. 

36:13 - Paying by cash and even card is more difficult. You need to go digital.

39:52 - Online deliveries have exploded.

46:00 - People seem to socialize a bit differently, congregating in malls.

47:32 - Is China as hostile to foreign business as the media suggests?

51:27 - Wrapping up.

• Health Declaration Form via the China Customs website

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Sofeast's CEO Renaud and head of New Product Development, Andrew discuss how to build a product while keeping the whole customer journey in mind. There is more to launching a product than just making a good product, strange as it may sound at first, and you'll see that manufacturers need to consider the whole customer journey when designing and developing their products. The customer journey can be split into 8 steps, and we go through them here...

00:00 - Greetings and introducing today's topic.

04:49 - 1. Awareness.

13:06 - 2. Education

17:51 - 3. Acquisition.

24:31 - 4. Product.

27:39 - 5. Onboarding.

32:15 - 6. Usage.

38:08 - 7. Support.

41:51 - 8. Loyalty.

48:22 - In conclusion.

• An Importer’s Guide to New Product Manufacturing in China [PDF eBook]

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Renaud and Adrian from Sofeast are talking about forthcoming sustainability requirements which are going to require importers to have a LOT more visibility over their supply chains, especially those who sell in the EU. They dig into how this will affect you in this episode...

00:00 - Greetings and introduction.

01:40 - The EU 'Green Deal's' new sustainability requirements and what they mean.

07:35 - What sustainability information must be collected?

17:12 - How easy will it be to get visibility into your supply chain?

29:18 - Approaches used to oversee supply chains.

43:46 - Why the old business model of buying off-the-shelf products from an ODM will probably need to change?

46:14 - Conclusion: What you can do to prepare and how this will affect many areas in future.

• Get help from Sofeast to comply with EU sustainability regulations: EU Ecodesign Regulation Risk Assessment & Preparation

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