For companies and inventors working on products that are highly regulated – electronic products, for example, or industrial products – ensuring that those products meet all the regulatory compliance standards can be a challenge.
When you’re getting your product components from facilities located across the globe, or selling the product in different countries, wading through the red tape and various compliance requirements gets complicated – quickly.
Even if your product is being designed, manufactured, and distributed exclusively in the U.S., and has relatively few regulatory requirements, it can help to have the assistance of an expert. Here are a few of the reasons why.
Product Compliance Requirements Vary.
While every product, more or less, is subject to compliance regulation, the requirements can vary greatly from product to product.
General consumer products have certain requirements, while children’s products are subject to much more stringent regulation. When it comes to industrial products, each industry has its own specific compliance regulations. (What nearly every product does have in common, however, is that it must pass a testing program before it can receive its certificate of compliance.)
Navigating these complex regulations, and figuring out which requirements your product must fulfill, can be a headache and require a huge investment of time. Enlisting the help of an expert can help you greatly reduce the time you spend on compliance and get your product to market faster.
Regulations change
In certain industries, like computer science and technology especially, regulations change and evolve on a regular basis. As you can imagine, this can be hard to keep track of – and the last thing you want is to be slapped with a fine or penalty for non-compliance with a certain regulation you didn’t know existed. At the worst, this can even lead to product recalls or lawsuits.
The best safeguard against this is to work with a professional – someone who’s been through the regulatory process before and stays up to date on the regulations for the industry or products you’re working with.
The most successful products go beyond just compliance, pushing themselves to surpass basic safety and industry regulations.
There’s a lot to be said for doing more than just meeting baseline industry regulations. In some cases, that can mean the difference between your product and a competitor’s.
After all, every product must comply with regulations if it’s going to be sold. Depending on what your product is – for example, if it’s a medical device, a children’s toy, or an industrial product – going beyond basic compliance can provide a real competitive advantage when it comes to getting your item into the hands of users.
Compliance provides an opportunity to strengthen your business.
On that same note, if you or your company is planning on putting out multiple products, or multiple lines of products, building a reputation for going above and beyond the basic compliance regulations can elevate your business to a higher level.
Not only can doing so help you earn the loyalty of your customers, but it can challenge you and your team to continue to improve the safety and functioning of the products you create. And if you’re working with a trusted compliance partner, rather than trying to handle it all yourself, you’ll have more time to spend on developing those products.
When we at Pivot assist with regulatory compliance, for example, we’re able to work directly with the lab certifying the product. We provide them with all the data they need in order to do their testing, cutting down on both compliance costs and the time it takes to get your product certified.
We can do this for existing products, too. Suppose you have a product that is no longer compliant, due to a change in regulations. Pivot can work with you to bring that product back into compliance. And it goes without saying that any product that we develop will pass certification.
Are you ready to enlist some help in getting your product to compliance standards? Contact Pivot today!
