Does the following scenario sound familiar? A marketing leader in your organization identifies a product line extension that will broaden the breadth of your portfolio, allow you to enter target market segments, and give your customers products they’ve been clamoring for—all while making a decent profit margin. All you need to do is import it, mark it up and sell it. Such a commercial move would not be a strain on your existing manufacturing organization; all that is required is a little paperwork and a distribution plan.
That’s all well and good—until you start selling the product and begin hearing feedback from the field that the product does not exactly work in the application. Instead, it goes into a highly specified industry that requires lot-to-lot traceability, etc. This simple business model suddenly turns organizations upside down, and the ancillary product line begins to pull resources away from your core business.
In a global economy, suppliers and customers are no longer separated by a short drive or flight, but by continents. Shipments are planned months in advance,
and orders are taken by the container load. A company may use email as the primary source of communication. Specifications and drawings may be written in a different language or using different units of measurement than the ones the buying entity is accustomed to.
If the product specifications are not clearly transferred between companies, a tremendous risk is created for both the buying and selling entities. This triggers the possibility for supply chain hiccups, strained customer relations, organizational confusion, transportation expenses, potential legal implications and overall reduced margins. One way to mitigate this risk is to establish an ongoing independent testing protocol.