In Longjoin, NPI (New Production Introduction) is a teamwork jointly participated with marketing, engineering, PMC (production and material control), purchasing, production and QA. Above is a schematic flow showing how they get into the work at different stages.

The whole NPI is managed and driven by a NPI manager who is from engineering department and has sound technical and project management background.

It starts with the quotation stage which is initiated by marketing. Engineering study the technical package, estimate the production process time and preliminarily work out a list of tool and fixtures needed. Purchasing quote the pricings of the components listed in BOM (bill of material). Our quotations are all true open book quotations. That means, we can provide all the cost break down and we don’t put any hidden mark-up on the materials.

The project is confirmed and set to kick off. Engineering load the BOM into the MRP system. PMC generate the material shortage list and signal purchasing to start materials procurement. Prior to all these, a master schedule has been made by the NPI manager. So, material planner and purchasing co-work the material schedule with the suppliers based on the schedule.

Meanwhile, engineering and QA need to prepare quite many documentations: a draft of work instruction, a draft of process flow, a draft of quality plan; and make the tools and fixtures needed for productions and inspections.

When everything is ready, engineering make a few pieces of samples. This is to make sure: the BOM is correct; the testing procedure is correct; and the production standard is correct.

Sample is OK. Pilot run starts. It is an opportunity for engineering to transfer their knowledge gained in sample making to production. Everything (BOM, operators, production facilities, processes, inspection standard) in pilot run is supposedly same as that in following mass productions.

Mass production starts after pilot run with very limited, if not none, of engineering support. It is because production has already learned the knowledge and experience from engineering during pilot run.

Before the shipment, QA inspect the products as planned.