What developers should approve before cabinet mass production

Why the gate exists at all

ALUMAX's repeatable model is deliberate: design one unit, approve a real prototype, freeze the specification, then run bulk production, batch delivery, installation and QC/handover. The whole point of that sequence is that one approved unit becomes the reference for every repeat across a development. That is also its risk — production faithfully reproduces exactly what you approved, so an ambiguity you let through is manufactured into every apartment, not one. The gate is the moment where cheap changes stop being possible and expensive ones begin.

Approve the prototype as a physical unit, not a render

Sign off a real, built prototype unit on site or in the showroom — the actual carcass, front, edge, hardware and finish assembled together — not a drawing, render or mood board. Open every door and drawer, load them, check reveals and alignment, and confirm the unit behaves the way a resident will use it. A render hides sag, rattle, tolerance stack-up and how two finishes read against each other in real light. Skip this and the first thing the client sees at handover is the first time anyone saw the product resolved — across the whole block at once.

• Built and assembled, not flat-packed or mocked up
• Correct material for each moisture zone, not a stand-in board
• Every moving part cycled and loaded
• Viewed in the light conditions of the actual room type

Freeze the specification and control changes from there

Once the prototype is approved, the specification is frozen: carcass and front materials by zone, finishes, hardware, dimensions, edge treatment and inclusions all locked to one controlled document. From that point every change goes through a written change request against the frozen version, with a new sample or prototype if the change is material. Without a freeze, site instructions, verbal 'small tweaks' and undocumented substitutions drift the product away from what was approved, batch by batch. Half your units are one spec and half are another, and nobody can say which is correct.

Hold physical samples: material, finish and hardware

Approve real sample chips and hardware, not names on a schedule, and keep signed retention samples on both sides. Colour and gloss must be judged against a physical reference under agreed lighting — the standard colour-difference concept, delta-E, is what you are controlling batch to batch, so agree that finishes must match the retained sample rather than trusting a screen or a swatch photo. Hardware needs its own approved schedule: hinges, runners, soft-close, handles, and the fixing grade (for example SS304 or SS316 stainless where corrosion matters). Zone discipline lives here too — moisture-resistant is never waterproof, so wet zones step up from particleboard to plywood, ACP or aluminium rather than being 'the same but sealed'.

Approve shop drawings and agree tolerances in writing

Sign the shop drawings ALUMAX produces from the specification — dimensions, cut-outs, service penetrations, appliance and sink interfaces, and how units meet walls, floors and each other. Raise every gap as an RFI and close it on the drawing before production, because an appliance or plumbing clash discovered at install repeats in every identical kitchen. Agree tolerances explicitly and in writing — the acceptable gap, reveal and alignment range, and what counts as a reject — and hold production to that agreed figure rather than to opinion on the day. A tolerance nobody wrote down becomes an argument on site, one unit at a time, with no reference to settle it.

Lock the QC and handover plan before the first batch ships

Decide, before production, how each unit and each batch is checked, who signs, and what happens when something fails. Fix the inspection points — production QC, delivery/goods-received check against the frozen spec, post-install inspection and a snag list closed before handover — and tie acceptance to the retained samples and agreed tolerances. Manage dye-lot and batch consistency so units delivered in different runs still match the approved reference. Without an agreed plan, defects surface unit by unit during occupation, the warranty interface has no baseline to judge against, and every complaint reopens the whole question of what 'correct' was.