― Mobile Application Offers First Comprehensive, Real-Time Digital
Inspection Guide ―
GARDEN CITY, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun. 19, 2013--
Lifetime
Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ GS: LCUT), a leading global provider of
kitchenware, tabletop and other products used in the home, has achieved
a breakthrough in quality management with the launch of its proprietary,
mobile software application, Lifetime
QMTM. Lifetime QM is a digitized, real-time, portable
tool that standardizes factory and product inspections, providing
inspectors with systemized directives, instant access to information,
and corrective actions. Lifetime QM improves quality, reduces warehouse
re-work costs, and gives retailers and consumers a better experience
with Lifetime’s brands and products.
Lifetime Brands Revolutionizes Quality Management (Photo: Business Wire)
According to Cliff Siegel, Executive Vice President, Global Supply
Chain, Lifetime Brands, Inc., “Quality assurance has always played a
critical role in ensuring we deliver the best possible products to
market. We are constantly challenging ourselves to find even better ways
to manage quality, but found that nothing on the market could meet our
desired requirements. Therefore, we developed a solution tailored to our
needs, which culminated in the Lifetime QM application.”
Siegel continued, “We created Lifetime QM to run on iPads, which allows
us to go mobile. We can now put a complete digital resource into the
hands of our inspectors, guiding them through all steps in a
standardized product inspection process - from end to end. Lifetime QM
offers cutting edge-technology. Lifetime Brands is the first company, in
any industry, to come out with this type of application; the potential
for revolutionizing the industry is tremendous. Lifetime QM empowers
inspectors with a wealth of information to ensure our criteria is met at
every step of the inspection process. It gives inspectors the
documentation needed for performing each predefined step, and allows
them to capture all relevant testing data (pictures, notes, and a
predefined list of possible defect types).
Lifetime QM is designed to capture data pertaining to product
inspections, social compliance, and factory compliance. This takes place
prior to shipping and distribution, with emphasis on easy adoption,
simple workflows, and legibility, as well as speedy and accurate
reporting. Lifetime can oversee and manage quality control inspections,
in real time, regardless of where factories, product lots, or
distribution points are located. Lifetime QM can generate
up-to-the-minute reports to allow high-level analytics and immediate
identification of potential issues, along with corrective action plans.
Lifetime designed the patent-pending user interface from scratch with
custom-tailored features built directly into the application. The
proprietary software measures performance, records results, and
identifies issues. Industry and retailer standards for product and
packaging are built right in. Lifetime QM integrates seamlessly with
Lifetime’s existing SAP system, allowing inspectors to produce
quantifiable quality reports on the product level that product managers
can view simply by logging into SAP on their computers. Lifetime QM
currently has inspection plans for over 16,000 items.
Lifetime QM was successfully rolled out in January 2013. Since then,
Lifetime has seen a dramatic decrease in quality issues for the products
that are being inspected. Issues are being identified before they enter
the supply chain, reducing the number of defective products/materials
being received and allowances paid to customers by providing proper
quality measurement data. Lifetime QM is saving time and the cost to
rework products after they arrive in Lifetime’s warehouse. Visibility
into the inspection process has allowed Lifetime to fine tune its
inspections, contributing to an ongoing improvement process.
Lifetime Brands is continuously striving to deliver a five-star
experience. Lifetime QM will help it to deliver an even better brand and
product experience. Consumers and retailers can feel confident that the
products they’ve purchased from Lifetime Brands have passed strict and
sophisticated quality tests.
If you have questions or would like to request additional information,
please contact Lisa Lochner at 516-740-6723 or lisa.lochner@lifetimebrands.com.
Click
here to watch a video about Lifetime QM.
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/multimedia/home/20130619005363/en/
Source: Lifetime Brands, Inc.
Lifetime Brands
Lisa Lochner, 516-740-6723
PR Manager
lisa.lochner@lifetimebrands.com
