In establishing a valid strict products liability claim, what is a manufacturing defect?

A lot of thought goes into creating a product. Long before the product is ever made, people begin to plan the product out and how to create it. Those plans are then used to manufacture the product. In some instances, the product that is actually created is not the product that was actually planned for. That is the key to identifying a manufacturing defect: the defect is a result of the manufacturing process not matching the product's intended design.

Another key point to be aware of for manufacturing defects is that not all defects are problematic. There's nothing necessarily wrong with a product that isn't identical to its intended design — the problem is when that deviation makes the product less safe than it would otherwise be. For example, a bike manufacturer may accidentally produce a bicycle that uses a thicker metal than planned for, resulting in a safer, more sturdy bike. On the flipside, a bike may be created that uses slightly less metal than intended, creating a bike more at risk of breaking while being used.