Does SF test each light they make?

I was wondering if SureFire flashlights go through some sort of inspection after being assembled, to make sure they do in fact put out at least the amount of lumens as they state they do. Is each and every light "checked" to make sure the electronics and everything is working as should before being shipped out for sale? Anyone have a clue?

SF is a very trustable company, and I'm sure if it didn't output as advertised they would give you a refund (depends on who you buy it from).

I would think that each light goes through a quality assurance check of some kind, especially considering the price of the products. Most manufactured items have some for of quality control that they have to pass.

My very large post didn't make it

Like every other production operation, when they run a batch, they will test X amount. Reliability tests, run time tests, output tests, etc.

You can't test every one to make sure it's perfect. If you get X amount of bad ones in a batch, or lot, you either check more, or if it's like where I work, you scratch the lot and blow up what you messed up. I doubt SF does that

However, if you test 10 in a lot of 500 and X amount are good, there is a very good chance it's a good lot. The odds are small of the ones you are testing being the only good ones in a large lot.

What I do, we test almost a quarter of what we make, then we fire almost all of those to ensure they are exploding on contact. Have an idea of what I do yet lol.

The fact that SureFire ships their lights with batteries, points to a simple guess that someone on the production line hits the button to ensure the thing even works before stuffing it into a package. Now this depends on how automated SFs production line is and how many they run a day.

That information is from production lines in general.

I could be very wrong, I doubt anyone at the Coke facility is twisting the tops of the cokes to make sure they are on tight. I also highly doubt they are taste testing them hehe Well, I hope not.

All of Surefires lights are assembled by hand and are tested before they are shipped out

I'm not absolutely sure that they test every unit for operation, in the past I had received one new SF that malfunctioned upon the very first turn-on, I did wonder if it left their factory like that or was just borderline but went wonky during shipment?

Search said:

if it's like where I work, you scratch the lot and blow up what you messed up.

Click to expand...

Wow, I want to work where you work...:thumbsup:

Kestrel said:

Wow, I want to work where you work...:thumbsup:

Click to expand...

Making explosive ordinances has it's ups and down.

Obviously the downs far outweigh the ups :naughty:

Search said:

Making explosive ordinances has it's ups and down.

Obviously the downs far outweigh the ups :naughty:

Click to expand...

So does work require you to have an intrinsic safe light?

BTW I have this feeling that you get to see some cool stuff at work.

I would love to see some behind the scenes of surefire!

:thumbsup:

When you build quality into your manufacturing processes, it is almost impossible for defects to exist. I am talking about Six Sigma. I'm sure SF jumped on the bandwagon to some degree.

Surefire lights are engineered to the point where they almost can not fail. They trust their suppliers, they build products that if assembled correctly will work with less than 1 defect per million.

Search said:

Making explosive ordinances has it's ups and down.

Obviously the downs far outweigh the ups :naughty:

Click to expand...

Thanks for making quality stuff Search...makes my job easier and safer...don't want anything going when it's not supposed to!

I did look up jobs at SF, and they had a few QA slots open (a few months ago...), and with all the military people employed there, I'm sure they have a very stringent QA process. 1 or 2 may slip through the cracks, or may get damged during shipping & handling, but with a CS like there's, does it matter? LOL!

jp2515 said:

So does work require you to have an intrinsic safe light

Click to expand...

I do work for the government so that's a very large no.

I carry my E1B but if I ever went near powder for instance I would very very careful to not turn it on. Given it isn't explosive approved.

The mechanics are the only ones to be given lights. That isn't saying much either.