quality

Sometimes the little things can slow down a project with your contract manufacturer. When production slows down, it can be frustrating when all they needed was some general information that you didn’t originally provide. Whether your manufacturer struggles with finding the right contact, or waiting on a response, it wastes valuable time on both ends. The solution involves making information accessible for your manufacturer from the beginning, but it can be hard to know what they need until you have guidelines. That’s why we created this checklist to help you reduce order entry stops with your contract manufacturer.

The people who handle customer service for B2B companies quickly become the voice of the company when it comes to managing customer relationships. It’s an important role, because those team members are the customers’ first point of contact when they need help, need updates, and when they run into problems. That’s why it’s so important to create a system where customer service representatives can build strong connections with the customers. I sat down with Kathy Vogel, HUI’s Customer Service Coordinator, to see what advice she could provide about how to build these strong relationships.

When people first learn about our build to order policy, they tend to be a little skeptical that we can actually accomplish what we’re promising. Most manufacturers aren’t in place to follow the same build-to-order (a.k.a made-to-order) strategy as us, so it can be hard for people to believe it until they see it. However, once we do get a chance to prove our capabilities, they’re often impressed. It gives them a few reasons to question if they should consider switching to a supplier with a build-to-order policy, and here’s why:

We’ve been implementing LEAN manufacturing principles at HUI for over 15 years now. One of the best improvements to come from those changes was our made to order strategy. To give you a snapshot of all the advantages that come from working with a contract manufacturer who has a made to order manufacturing strategy, we put together this infographic:

You may have noticed that we proudly display our ISO 13485 and ISO 9001 certification at the top of almost every page on our website, but you might not understand why we put so much value on these certificates. In short, it comes down to consistently being able to provide a world class product to our customers. In order to help you both see and understand this value, we put together this list of a few benefits our customers experience because they work with an ISO 9001 certified supplier like HUI.

Have you ever received a shipment of industrial products only to find out that several of them were damaged in shipping? Did you know what to do? The process can be tedious, but skipping any step can result in very costly mistakes when some—or all—of the liability could be placed back on you. Here are a few basic steps to help you successfully file a freight claim.

IP ratings define an electrical enclosure’s level of protection against ingress of water and solid objects based on the enclosure’s ability to pass performance criteria outlined by the international standard IEC 60529. The rating consists of the letters IP followed by two digits, e.g. IP54. The first digit indicates the level of protection against solid objects. The second digit indicates the level of protection against liquids. To help you understand what kind of protection each IP rating offers, we’ve created this guide for your reference.

There are two types of enclosure rating systems. One is the National Electronic Manufacturers Association (NEMA) rating system, which is primarily used in the U.S. and Canada. The other is Ingress Protection or International Protection (IP) rating system. Both of the standards establish specifications about the performance criteria for different enclosures. To help you determine which type of enclosure is right for you, we’ve put together a list of NEMA enclosure types, IP Equivalency Ratings and definitions to help you compare your options.

Have you ever wished you had an instruction manual for your job? Imagine how nice it would be to have one sheet of paper with instructions and advice on how to do your job in the most efficient manner. Well, that’s what our engineers create for everyone on the shop floor in the form of standard work instructions, also referred to as job instructions or a JI. Creating these instructions involves a lot of planning up front, but they’re vital for the consistency and quality of each customer’s parts. That’s why we’ll cover what information your manufacturer needs from you to create effective work instructions for their fabrication floor.

HUI began implementing lean principles in 1998, and from the start, we included the offices in the lean transformation. Though it’s common for companies to implement lean processes on the manufacturing shop floor, it’s easy to see how lean thinking adds value to any work setting. I sat down with the Industrial Business Development (IBD) team to learn more about the lean principles they use today and discover how those principles have influenced their office environment.