PILOT RUN

What is Pilot Run?

It simply means launching a very small production run (a few tens or hundreds of pieces), to be made in
EXACTLY the same conditions as mass production:
• Same materials
• Same machinery, tools, jigs, and fixtures
• Same operators working off the same instructions
• Same process controls
 As part of the pilot run, engineers should observe the run rate and the defect rate, and note any other issues.
And they should work on improvements – often in processes, in training, or in incoming component quality.
 If something totally fails, the worst case is that the few pieces made have to be disposed of or reworked.
Think of it as a sandbox where issues are found without huge consequences.
 We have seen large batches entirely thrown to the dump because of an issue that was noticed too late. This is
bad for the buyer and bad for the producer!
 That’s why we strongly suggest that importers who develop a new product make this step a MUST
 BENEFITS OF PILOT RUN
 1) Planning a production line with respect to build order sequence and where components are fed into the
line and where test stations are is a critical step to getting the product flow right. It is not until products are
run down the line, however, that the line arrangement can be reviewed to see if the line is set up properly.
 2) Training the people needs to be done before they start working on mass production. An important
aspect here is to create clear and concise work instructions for staff to follow. It is also good practice to
train more than one staff for any one process, particularly on the more critical workstations.
 3) Making sure the people know what they are supposed to do is another benefit of pilot runs. Every
single person involved with building the product should know what to do and when to do it. Watching them
do it consistently is the only way of ensuring this.
 4) Test areas and equipment readiness can only be established once the product is built on the production
line. It will become very apparent if a piece of equipment is in the wrong place or is the wrong type or size,
for example, a bearing press not powerful enough to press in bearings. The factory needs to ensure all the
test equipment and all the relevant test stations function as they should. And they need to check that bad
products are caught — it is important that bad products do not get pushed down the production line to the
next workstation!
 5) Testing the processes at ‘run at rate’ to make sure that you can make the product at the rate
you are supposed to. The main purpose of this action is to verify the output of the production line
at full speed – from pulling raw materials to packing the goods ready for shipment. If the line can
only make 20 products per hour, you can make your projections… It will take about 100 days for
this one line to manufacture your 10,000 pieces order if no improvement is made! Better to know
about this now than later, isn’t it?
 6) Stress the processes, stress the testing, and stress the people that will be making the product
to really see if what you have set up is correct. If your timelines mean the line should be able to
make 60 pieces per hour, challenge the factory to get to at least 50 in the pilot run. (This is what
car assembly factories do, but Chinese factories usually won’t have the patience for that.)
 7) Identifying failure modes and production issues is at the heart of the pilot run. In mass
production, the obvious issues are usually detected, whereas subtler issues (which might also
have strong consequences) are often missed… or ignored by production operators. Remember,
they are focused on pushing products down the line as fast as possible.
 Control measures detailed in the control plan (if the factory has prepared one), or as
conclusions to FMEA analyses (again, if the factory took that pain) should be monitored and
verified. Unfortunately, 99% of Chinese factories have NEVER performed those types of
exercises. Again, they wait for problems to come up rather than doing the hard work up front.
 9) Final step before production — this is the last chance to make changes to the line layout
or processes, or even to the design if design issues have been found. Remember, it is much
less costly to correct problems at this stage than in mass production.
 The output from the production pilot run is the authorization to go into mass production. And
a lower chance of finding serious issues that will cause long delays and/or poor quality.

Hopefully, you can now see the importance of conducting a pilot run on every new product!