As a lean brand, Nori aimed to scale QC efficiently alongside sales

As Nori entered a period of hypergrowth, its team faced a common issue for popular yet lean brands: an increase in purchase orders that outpaced operational capacity. To get ahead of this growth, Courtney Toll, Co-Founder & CEO at Nori, aimed to scale their quality control accordingly. 

After all, the massive surge in orders meant a ramp-up period of hiring and training new factory staffers. While the Nori team already had a regulated quality control process in place, they proactively sought out an extra layer of assurance. 

To ensure utmost confidence in every unit, Courtney wanted a third-party QC partner who could: 

1. Partner with Nori and their factory in China to build on and maintain existing QC
2. Serve as an extra detailed checkpoint before units shipped for the holidays 
3. Deliver on both of the above at a reasonable cost for a younger brand

As Courtney explored QC solutions, Factored Quality repeatedly came up on her radar. She eventually looked into FQ and loved what she found: a centralized QC platform, a global network of top-tier inspectors, and a team of supply chain experts — all wrapped up in one solution. 

“With our factory being in China, the time and energy required to navigate the distance and language barrier to find a local QC team was incredibly intimidating. Factored Quality made that whole process shorter, faster, and cheaper.”

After Courtney reached out to Factored Quality, our teams dove straight into a seamless onboarding and leveled up Nori’s quality control in three steps: 

Step 1: Learning your product quality needs from top to bottom

Explaining the nuances of your SKUs, UPCs, supply chain system, and more to an unfamiliar third party can be daunting. FQ simplified this for the Nori team by meeting them where they were. Through our white-glove onboarding process, FQ collaborated with Courtney to: 

1. Identify Nori’s most urgent inspection needs and timelines
2. Build a thorough, standardized QC checklist and workflow
3. Communicate all of this info directly with Nori’s factory

Step 2: The FQ platform becomes Nori’s single source of truth for QC

Equipped with a list of product features, mechanisms, and internal pieces to be checked, Nori’s QC has reached peak organization. With every booking, they receive extra support from FQ’s global network of 2,000+ trained, certified, and vetted quality inspectors. 

This entire process lived in the FQ platform, a one-stop shop for Nori to: 

• Book inspectors
• Upload and edit checklists
• Receive documented inspection results
• Analyze manufacturing and QC data

Step 3: Nori enjoys expert, hands-on support 24/7

Leading up to the Q4 holidays, the Nori team typically works at a breakneck pace to prep products for shipment, often within a two-day window. Luckily, FQ’s client support is well-equipped to match that pace. 

• The FQ team provides decades-worth of tailored, expert-level support in the QC and supply chain spaces, and makes sure to understand your company fully. 

• FQ provides around-the-clock support, regardless of your time zone. This is possible due to our internal team members across the globe. Whether it’s regular working hours for Nori’s U.S. team or its factory staff in China, the brand has an active point person. 

“The FQ team has helped us turn around crucial reports within 24 hours. They provide high-quality documentation and overviews that give us confidence when we send our units out.” 

With FQ’s help, Nori is confident in its product quality at scale

Since partnering with Factored Quality, the Nori team has successfully leveled up their QC operation. They’re now reliably set to scale sales and production—without compromising on the quality of a single unit. Plus, Nori has saved notable time, cash, and headaches in the process. 

Here’s a snapshot of the results driven by Factored Quality for Nori so far: 

• <15 days for results of inspection
• $1M+ of inventory with guaranteed internal confidence

Even with these numbers, what Courtney appreciates most is the peace of mind she’s gained thanks to FQ. That’s just another reason she looks forward to keeping Nori and FQ’s partnership going for the long haul. 

“I find Factored Quality’s guarantee to be really comforting. That’s why I definitely look forward to working with them on an ongoing basis, especially as these growth multiples we’ve seen only continue over the next 2–3 years.”