Appliance Manufacturing Glossary
Twenty-three terms that decide whether an appliance order is quoted correctly. Each entry gives the definition first, then the practical consequence that the definition implies.
Most sourcing disputes trace back to a term being used with two meanings — a Pa rating quoted without the operating mode, an IPX7 claim made for a splash-rated model, a certification file assumed to cover a family it does not. These definitions are written to remove that ambiguity: each one states what the term means and what it does not mean.
2
- 20GP / 40HQ — Container loading
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20GP and 40HQ refer to standard shipping containers — 20-foot general purpose and 40-foot high cube — whose internal volume determines how many units fit per shipment.
Loading quantity is a quotation-table item, not a guess: the compact G017 scrubber loads 12,600 units per 20GP, while the D2-series robot loads 1,200 per 20GP because each carton carries 4 robots. Freight cost per unit swings by an order of magnitude across a range, which is why the loading table belongs in the quote.
A
- AOI — Automated Optical Inspection
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AOI is a camera-based inspection station that compares soldered boards against a golden reference to detect missing, misaligned or poorly soldered components after reflow.
AOI catches everything visible from above, and nothing else. A BGA ball under the package can look perfect optically and be an open joint — that specific failure is why an X-ray machine belongs in the same line for boards carrying BGA parts.
B
- BGA — Ball Grid Array
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A BGA is an integrated-circuit package whose connections are an array of solder balls on its underside, reflowed onto matching pads on the board.
The joints are under the chip, invisible to cameras, so process control is everything: reflow profile, paste volume and board warpage. On an appliance main board, the WiFi module and main SoC are typically the BGA parts that decide whether a field failure is a board or a firmware question.
- BLDC Motor — Brushless DC Motor
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A BLDC motor is a direct-current motor that commutates electronically instead of using carbon brushes, giving longer life and higher efficiency at the cost of a driver circuit.
In a 3 W fountain pump, brushless means the pump does not wear out in months of continuous circulation; in a 150 W handheld vacuum, it means the runtime-to-weight ratio the marketing page quotes is achievable. The trade is the driver board — the component that in-house SMT exists to control.
C
- CE
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CE marking is the manufacturer's declaration that a product meets the applicable European Union directives, such as the EMC, LVD, RED and RoHS directives.
CE is a family of directives, not one certificate: a radio-equipped product falls under RED, which is a heavier test path than plain EMC+LVD. When a supplier says "it's CE", the useful question is which directive and which report number — that is what an EU market-surveillance check will ask first.
- COB — Chip on Board
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COB is an assembly method in which a bare die is bonded directly to the circuit board and encapsulated, instead of being packaged as a separate component first.
COB saves component cost and board space on cost-driven appliance boards, at the price of repairability: an encapsulated die cannot be replaced, so a COB failure means a board swap. Bonding speed (our line runs 6 AB530 bonders plus a die bonder) determines whether COB helps or bottlenecks throughput.
F
- FCC SDoC — Supplier's Declaration of Conformity
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FCC SDoC is the US compliance route in which the supplier declares that a device meets the applicable FCC rules, supported by test reports, without a certificate issued by the FCC.
Unintentional radiators (a vacuum, a scrubber) typically take the SDoC route with Part 15 B test reports; intentional radiators (anything with WiFi or BLE) need an FCC ID granted for the radio module. The distinction decides both the test scope and what wording is lawful on the product page.
- FOB — Free On Board
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FOB is an Incoterms rule under which the seller delivers goods on board the vessel at the named port, with the buyer paying main carriage and insurance from that point.
FOB Shenzhen means our costs end at the port of loading: everything after — freight, insurance, destination duties — is the buyer's account. Quotes that look cheaper on EXW terms often cost more delivered, because the buyer inherits origin-side handling at retail rates.
G
- Gyroscope Navigation
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Gyroscope navigation is a dead-reckoning guidance method in which the robot tracks its own turns and travel to follow a structured cleaning pattern, without building a visual map.
Gyroscope platforms cost less and hit entry retail price points, but a bump that rotates the robot introduces heading error that accumulates over the run. That is why gyroscope models re-clean overlapping areas rather than trust a map — coverage is safe, room-specific commands are not possible.
H
- HEPA Filter
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HEPA refers to a filter class that captures 99.95% or more of particles at the hardest size (about 0.3 µm), used in vacuum exhaust paths to trap fine dust.
In appliance-grade vacuums the "HEPA-type" label covers a range of real efficiencies; the washable cone filter in a handheld car vacuum is not the same class as a sealed robot-vacuum exhaust filter. Claims should match the actual filter grade per model — this is a detail EU and US buyers increasingly check.
I
- Injection Moulding
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Injection moulding is a process in which molten thermoplastic is injected under pressure into a steel mould, cooled, and ejected as a finished part, repeated every cycle.
For an appliance buyer the practical consequence is colour and iteration: when housings are moulded in-house, a Pantone change is a material change with no tooling fee, and a housing revision is a mould bench job instead of a supplier negotiation. When moulding is outsourced, both become quoted change requests.
- IPX4
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IPX4 is an ingress-protection rating meaning the enclosure resists water splashed from any direction, verified in a spray test — it does not mean the device can be submerged.
For a handheld scrubber, IPX4 covers bathroom splash but not dropping it into a bucket. Marketing a splash-rated tool as washable-under-water is the single most common cause of returns in this category, which is why the rating is stated per model, not per brand.
- IPX7
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IPX7 is an ingress-protection rating meaning the sealed enclosure survives immersion in 1 metre of water for 30 minutes under test conditions.
IPX7 requires gasketed enclosures and sealed ports, which add cost and complicate charging access. Verify the certificate, not the box copy: our IPX7 models (G002, G003, G017) have third-party immersion reports per model, and a "waterproof" claim without a report is a returns problem waiting to happen.
L
- LDS Navigation — Laser Distance Sensor, Lidar navigation
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LDS navigation is a robot vacuum guidance method in which a spinning laser turret measures distances to walls and objects, building a map of the room in a single cleaning pass.
A single-pass map is what enables no-go zones, room selection and "clean the kitchen only" commands in the app. Gyroscope models without LDS clean in structured patterns but cannot show or edit a true map — a difference that matters most in homes above roughly 80 m² with multiple rooms.
M
- MOQ — Minimum Order Quantity
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MOQ is the smallest order quantity a manufacturer will accept for a given product and configuration, set by the economics of tooling, setup and material minimums.
MOQ is configuration-specific, not brand-wide: colour changes and accessory kits raise it because each variant consumes a minimum production run. Our platforms run from 500 units (entry robot and scrubber configurations) to 2,000 units (the aluminium-barrel car vacuum), and quoting below those numbers means someone is quietly skipping a step.
- MSDS — Material Safety Data Sheet, SDS
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An MSDS is the standardised safety document for a chemical product — for lithium batteries it states the chemistry, hazards, handling and transport classifications.
Carriers and customs often check the MSDS watt-hour rating against the package label before anything else. A pack whose label says 7.4 V × 2,000 mAh while the MSDS describes a different configuration is a shipment held at the terminal, not a paperwork correction.
O
- ODM — Original Design Manufacturer
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An ODM designs and manufactures a product that the buyer sells under their own brand, as opposed to an OEM that builds to the buyer's own design.
The practical dividing line is who owns the design change: with an ODM platform, the buyer configures (colour, accessories, packaging, app branding) and the factory maintains the engineering; with true OEM, the buyer owns drawings and the factory executes them. Most "OEM" enquiries in cleaning appliances are actually ODM configurations, and pricing should be quoted as such.
R
- RoHS
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RoHS is the EU directive restricting hazardous substances — lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, PBB, PBDE and four phthalates — in electrical and electronic equipment.
RoHS testing is done per homogeneous material, which is why a report lists dozens of part numbers. A housing change or a new supplier for a cable can silently void an old report; responsible practice is re-checking the report scope whenever the bill of materials changes.
S
- Self-Emptying Base
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A self-emptying base is a dock that pulls dust from the robot's on-board bin into a larger bag or bin after cleaning, so the consumer empties the dock weekly instead of the robot daily.
The trade is capacity against cost and floor space: a 260 ml on-board bin becomes an 800 ml bin plus a 1 L bag, but the dock adds roughly a third to the bill of materials and requires the base to be listed in customs declarations as part of the SKU.
- SMT — Surface-Mount Technology
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SMT is the electronics assembly process in which components are placed directly onto the surface of a printed circuit board by automated machines and soldered in a reflow oven.
Line quality shows up in the inspection chain, not the brochure: solder-paste inspection (SPI) before reflow catches volume errors, AOI after reflow catches placement errors, and X-ray catches what optics cannot — the hidden joints under BGA packages. A line with all three is a different risk class from one with AOI alone.
- SPI — Solder Paste Inspection
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SPI is a pre-reflow inspection step that measures the volume, height and alignment of solder paste printed onto a circuit board before components are placed.
Paste volume defects cause roughly half of reflow soldering faults, and they are only correctable before the oven: after reflow, a starved joint is scrap or rework. SPI before reflow is the cheapest quality point on the whole line.
- Suction Pressure — Pa, Pascal rating
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Suction pressure, quoted in pascals (Pa), is the static pressure a vacuum can generate against a blocked inlet — a proxy for how strongly the machine can lift debris from carpet pile and gaps.
Pa is measured at maximum mode with restricted airflow, so a 20,000 Pa handheld and a 4,000 Pa robot are not four-to-one comparison in cleaning power; airflow in litres per second matters as much. Two honest numbers beat one marketing number, which is why our car vacuum quotes both the 8,000 Pa ECO and 20,000 Pa MAX modes.
U
- UN38.3
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UN38.3 is the United Nations transport test series that lithium batteries must pass before being shipped by air or sea: altitude, thermal, vibration, shock, short circuit and more.
Forwarders ask for UN38.3 by pack configuration, not by product model — a changed cell or pack layout technically requires new documentation. Every pack family we ship carries UN38.3, MSDS, 1.2 m drop and stacking reports, which is what keeps a battery shipment from being held at the airport.
Definitions follow IEC 60529 (IP ratings), EN 300 328 / FCC Part 15 (radio), UN 38.3 (battery transport) and standard SMT industry terminology where those standards apply. Where industry usage differs from the standard, the practical usage is noted in the detail paragraph.
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