Whether your product is a commonplace household item or one-off “bespoke” special, what matters most is the overall reputation of your brand. If consumers know and trust your brand, they will consistently turn to it again and again, meaning a lifetime or revenue for all of your product lines.
That level of trust has to be earned through consistent quality. And that raises concerns when you need to consider turning to other companies for contract manufacturing or burst capacity manufacturing needs. Will the manufacturer uphold the same brand quality standards that you’ve established? What steps should they take to ensure this happens? What steps can you take to verify that the quality is there?
In short: How can you trust that your brand is in good hands?
The Unique Challenges of Manufacturing Liquids
While the point about brands is universal, there are some unique challenges when it comes to manufacturing liquid products for categories such as household, industrial, and institutional cleaning (HI&I); home and garden supply; and specialty pet products.
Purity. Unlike a widget with multiple solid parts, liquids are always at risk for being contaminated by other substances. Materials need to be handled carefully, in a clean environment, to minimize that contamination, while appropriate filtration and testing must be in place to ensure purity. Proper cleaning and sanitizing of contact surfaces such as mix tanks and transfer pumps is important too.
Blending. When liquids are blended, they must be combined with the correct ratios and mixed in a precise way to ensure a consistent end-product.Accurate and precise raw material additions are paramount in re-producing a consistent finished product.
Packaging and bottling. Packaging must be designed to contain and protect the liquid product while still looking attractive to the customer and adhering to any and all applicable labeling laws. Bottling and fulfillment must be done carefully to minimize waste.
Here at PCI, we understand these unique challenges, because we specialize in the contract manufacturing of liquid products and work hard every day to minimize quality issues that can potentially arise from such challenges.
But it’s not enough to simply say we strive for quality. A reputable contract manufacturer will offer their clients a chance to prove that this is the case.
Transparency and Quality at PCI
We know that the only way for you to know with certainty that your brand is in good hands is for us to show you that it is. So, that is exactly what we do: We are committed to maintaining the high standards of quality that our customers expect, and to transparency so others can see how we implement our quality-first mindset.
Here are a few of the ways we demonstrate our transparency and dedication to your product’s quality:
- On-site visits. Current customers, as well as prospective customers, are welcome to visit our facilities to see our work first hand.
- Observation. During a visit, customers are welcome to observe the blending, filling, packaging, and testing of their products as it happens.
- Audits. Customers are welcome to audit our quality procedures and documentation.
Are You Seeing Any Red Flags?
Maybe you are already using another contract manufacturer for formulating, blending, and packaging your liquid products. If so, are you getting the quality that you had hoped for? Or are you seeing any of the following “red flags” that might indicate your contract manufacturer is not ready to adhere to your brand quality standards?
- Long production times/extended schedules. Do production times seem to be much longer than necessary? It could be that your products are not their first priority.
- Their processes are a “black box.” If the manufacturer is not open to facilities visits and observation of their line, it might be because they know they are not adhering to best practices for maintaining quality.
- Poor documentation. If a manufacturer does not care enough to produce the appropriate documentation for things like procedures and testing, what are the chances that they are putting in the appropriate effort into those procedures and tests themselves?
- The bidding process is not transparent. Any bid process should include a thorough vetting of the equipment and processes to be used. If a vendor is or was not totally transparent during this process, it’s a red flag.
Your Brand Matters to PCI Inc.
Both your customers and your brand matter to PCI Inc. What’s more, we love to prove it.
If you need contract manufacturing for liquid blending and/or bottle filling, and quality is your first concern, reach out to our team and we will respond promptly to discuss your needs.