 |
Total Recall - Product Safety in Licensing
The toy and premium industry still has sharp memories of the huge recall of 25 million Pokemon™ Balls by Burger King in 1999 because the balls were considered a suffocation hazard to children under three years of age. Even more recently, 70,000 Barbie™ sunglasses by IMT because the frames of the sunglasses were breakable, allowing the petroleum distillate and floating glitter to leak out.
Being in the CPSC's (Consumer Product Safety Commission) Spotlight (www.cpsc.gov) is not something to be proud of. In most cases, it means that a manufacturer or importer is forced to recall his products from the market. CPSC's mission is clear and simple "Keeping families and children safe from dangerous consumer products".
A product recall almost inevitably means a steep drop in sales, a drcrease of market share and a dramatic impact on the brand's image. As consumers are often much less familiar with the manufacturer's and/or importer's name, it is not the licensee but the licensor whose image will suffer the most. With enormous investments required to create and market a licensed property or trademark controlling product quality and safety is of prime importance for the licensor. These are the major options for exercising control over licensed products:
 |
|
Product Requirements
To be able to produce safe high quality products it is important to clearly identify the product requirements. This means understanding the safety requirements for consumer products as well as the product features, reliability and performance criteria.
Process Requirements
As soon as the product requirements are defined it is necessary to specify the processes which will be used to manufacture the product. To control these processes it is indispesable to understand the technical capabilities of the various suppliers.
Factory Audit
The technical capability can be ascertained by performing a factory audit. This includes an assessment of quality systems, workforce, equipment, key processes and management capability. |
 | |
Pre Production Tests
Before starting to manufacture the products it is advisable to test and inspect the safety and quality of any parts and components coming from third-party suppliers, on safety and quality before proceeding to the production. This is necessary to prevent the finished product, containing, for example, a paint that is toxic and is banned on the targeted market.
In-Line Inspection
During production it is important to control the process by inspecting the parts and components as they are manufactured, in order to assure their conformity with the criteria of the finished product. |
 | |
Pre Shipment Inspection
The last control option before shipment is to conduct a pre-shipment inspection by performing laboratory tests and visual checks on random samples. |
 | |
For a licenser it is important to apply at least one, but ideally a combination of these control points. The licensor can set up a quality program himself, or he can subcontract this to an independent testing and certification company. The only way to control manufacturers is to be on the spot at the time of production. A good quality program will save a licenser not only a lot of troubles, but also a lot of money.
The Author
Dimitry van Toorn joined LGA's products division last year. He is the head of LGA in the People's Republic of China and is based in Shanghai. Prior to his current position, Mr. Van Toorn has worked for Mattel Europe. He studied Electronics, Business Administration and Engineering in the Netherlands. He actively participates in national and international standardisation groups.
eMail:dvt@lga-asia.com
Published 04/2001 in Licenstar by Advanstar Publication
http://www.advanstar.com/
|
|
