There are two quality processes in this business, and they are constantly described as if they were one. We know, because we described them wrong ourselves for a while. Here is the distinction, plainly.
Process A — the per-model qualification (once per model)
Every new model goes through a three-stage quality check once, before we offer it. Once per model — not once per order: it is not repeated for the orders that follow.
The three stages in sequence: the first 100 units go to a US third-party laboratory; the next 200 units go to partner brands, who test them with their own real oil formulation; and 500 units move through designated channel trial sales. Only when all of that passes do we offer the model externally as a sample and open it for mass production and OEM.
Why it works this way: if the same work were run “once per batch” — that phrase is another supplier’s wording, not ours — the workload and the cycle time for both the factory and the customer would multiply, and you would be paying for a test programme on every purchase instead of ordering a model that has already cleared one.
Process B — the per-unit test (on the line, every unit)
Devices are inspected in a cleanroom area, and each unit goes through electrical testing before it moves on. Before anything is packed, units are checked against the order: model, colour, quantity. A problem found at this stage is fixed before the goods leave the factory; the same problem found after shipping is not.
Both are true at the same time
Process A is about whether a model is allowed to be sold. Process B is about whether a specific unit is allowed to be shipped. Neither replaces the other.
How to read a supplier’s quality claim
When a supplier tells you “we test every batch” — that sentence is that supplier’s own wording, not our claim about our process — ask which of the two processes they mean.
If the answer to a qualification question is a batch statement, you cannot tell whether the model itself was ever validated. If the answer to a unit question is a model statement, you cannot tell whether the unit in your carton was checked.