In this article, learn about:
The various types of product testing
Common product testing practices
Product testing certifications and regulations
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Product testing (also known as consumer testing or comparative testing) helps measure a product’s performance, safety, quality, and compliance with government regulations and industry standards.
Testing a product helps to:
identify problems before they reach the consumer
ensure the product complies with the company’s technical standards and marketing claims
ensure consumer happiness and safety
A product is only as good as the quality of its components and tests. All products should be safe, high-quality, and able to withstand regular use. It’s essential for long-term marketplace success to meet or exceed industry and government standards when rolling out new products.
Related Reading: Vendor Compliance Checklist
Types of Product Testing
Product testing is essential to ensure product safety. Except in the case of children’s items, manufacturers can test their own products. However, the most objective testing comes from a third-party testing service or lab.
When creating internal product tests, a manufacturer should ensure that these tests are valid and replicable. To do so, make sure your research and development processes are transparent and thoroughly documented. Some manufacturers hire engineers to develop tests for new objects.
Product testing comes in a variety of forms, including:
Functional testing: Ensures that a product is working as intended.
Usability testing: Tests that a product is being used as intended by the consumer.
Performance testing: Determines how a product performs under high-stress usage conditions.
Product safety testing: Ensures that a product is safe to use.
Durability testing: Tests to see how well a product can withstand continuous use over a long period of time. There are several key components to durability testing:
Stress testing: How well the product performs under phyisical stress.
Environmental exposure: How the product deterioriates under a variety of environmental conditions.
Repeated usage: How well the product performs after repeated use.
Load testing: How well the product performs under different amounts of weight.
Material analysis: The durability of the materials the product is made from.
Quality control: The quality and sourcing of raw materials.
Component testing: Examining individual components to ensure they meet specified requirements and are reliable.
Environmental testing: Ensuring that a product meets all necessary environmental standards and regulations.
Validation testing: Ensures that a product works as designed and is suitable for its intended market.
Product Safety Standards and Regulatory Compliance
Ensuring product safety helps prevent financial losses from product returns, liability fines, loss of contracts, and costly product recalls.
Industry and Governmental Standards
Major industry trade organizations develop industry standards. Voluntary standards usually exist to protect the consumer from product hazards. While the term “voluntary” sounds like standards a company can ignore, they are the minimum performance standards a product should meet. Ignoring these should never be optional.
Governments also create regulations surrounding industries or products. Unlike industry standards, government regulations are mandatory. Governments usually introduce these standards when an industry fails to prevent or solve serious problems.
The U.S. government requires manufacturers to use a third-party, CPSC-accepted laboratory to test all children’s products they produce. However, non-child products do not require third-party testing.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) maintains a database of industry-specific government regulations for U.S. goods. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) also has a regulation resource to help companies move forward with their design process. The CPSC provides manufacturers with a list of regulations, mandatory standards, and bans for all types of products. However, the Federal Register is the official, primary source for all regulatory information.
Suppliers should not only comply with current safety regulations, but should also stay informed about pending legislation within the industry to make sure the product is already compliant with potential future regulations.
Keep in mind that imported products manufactured outside the U.S.A. must adhere to U.S. consumer product safety standards. Direct import suppliers must also comply with these regulations.
Product Certification Requirements
Some specific general-use products (such as bike helmets and bunk beds) require manufacturers to issue a General Certificate of Conformity (GCC) to verify that they meet defined safety regulations and standards. Manufacturers must test each applicable product or have a reasonable testing program (often defined within specific product regulations). The GCC must accompany the product. CPSC maintains a list of product regulations that require a GCC.
Product Quality
One way to produce a quality product is to learn from competitors. A supplier that notes problems with a competitor’s product can prevent these problems with initial designs. A company can also reap the benefit of competitors’ research by noticing what changes they make to their products. Changes might be made based on market research or new trends, but can also be made to anticipate pending legislation or address safety issues or recalls.
The consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry is highly competitive. In a fast-paced industry, the quality of products can be a major determining factor in what items consumers decide to purchase.
Many types of products, such as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and dietary supplements, are subject to additional quality control regulations, such as the Current Good Manufacturing Practices (CGMP). Suppliers need to be aware of these additional regulations when manufacturing goods that might pose a risk to public health and safety if produced incorrectly.
Quality Suppliers
The quality of a product is only as good as its materials and components. Auditing potential suppliers helps determine if they can meet supply needs and provide materials that meet quality standards.
Supplier audits can include:
Quality system audit: Evaluating a supplier’s quality management system (QMS) to ensure it meets all necessary standards and regulatory requirements.
Process audit: Assessing a supplier’s efficiency by focusing on specific processes within a supplier’s operations, such as manufacturing or quality control.
Product audit: Inspecting the quality of a supplier’s goods or services.
Related Reading: What Is Procurement and How Does It Benefit CPGs?
Sustainability Standards
Sustainability testing ensures that products meet environmental standards and consumer expectations for eco-friendly practices throughout the product lifecycle. Various types of sustainability testing include:
Efficacy of packing and packaging
Evaluation of product performance under sustainability requirements
Material testing
Climatic conditions simulations
Carbon footprint testing
Product Specifications
Finished product should conform to detailed, pre-determined product standards and specifications. Components and final products should be uniform in shape, taste, color, size, weight, labeling, appearance, etc. Any differences that consumers experience should only come from future product improvements.
Product Inspection
Quality control is essential throughout the production cycle. Ideally, there should be product inspections during several parts of the production process to catch problems as early as possible. Inspections during production prevent wasted time and materials. Random checks and end-product inspections are also essential.
Inspectors should have a detailed list of product specifications. It should include classifications to help inspectors determine gradations of quality to determine whether defects are minor, major, or critical.
Some areas for scrutiny include:
Appearance: Do all the products look the same?
Quality: Has the manufacturer made all the products equally well?
Performance: Has the supplier verified that all the products are in working condition?
Quantity: Do all packages contain the same amount of product?
Packaging: Is the packaging strong enough to protect the product during shipment?
The Consequences of Inadequate Product Testing
Failing to adequately test products can have a major negative impact on your business. Untested products are more liable to break, malfunction under normal use, cause customer dissatisfaction, or decline rapidly in quality—all of which lead to more frequent returns and therefore greater compliance deductions.
If customers can’t rely on the consistency of your products, then the public perception of your brand will decline. In a worse-case scenario, untested products can even lead to recalls, which can have a severe impact on your bottom line.
Testing your products to ensure their efficacy and safety is always worth the investment. Though you might be spending more initially, you’ll save money down the road by avoiding costly fines and even costlier returns.
Final Words About Product Testing
Testing and quality control can help increase customer loyalty from positive branding, earn repeat business, and entice new customers. It can also improve safety for customers and reduce liability risks for the company. Suppliers that have high standards in testing and continuously produce high-quality products earn a reputation for excellence, which helps suppliers place their products at major retailers such as Walmart.
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