A tribute to Wen Huang – Product safety professional
2 minute read
Last month the Australian product safety community lost a valuable member. Wen Huang passed away after a long illness and will be very much missed by his many colleagues in the consumer product sector.
I knew Wen for many years while he was working with children’s nursery product companies. Wen worked as technical product manager at Melbourne nursery product company CNP Brands for almost 15 years. Since 2018 he was head of quality assurance and compliance at leading retailer Baby Bunting, with carriage of safety over its vast range of baby products.
Qualified in manufacturing engineering at Swinburne University, Wen applied these skills in the service of children’s products – with a focus on safety and quality.
Contributions beyond his day job
Beyond his day to day work, Wen voluntarily contributed to improving the safety of products across the industry. This included active participation on the Infant and Nursery Product Alliance’s Product Integrity and Consumer Safety Working Group and the National Retail Association’s Technical Standards Committee. He was also a member of several Standards Australia technical committees for products such as high chairs, cots and strollers. I always found his conscientiousness and knowledge to be impressive in these forums.
Head of INPAA, Tim Wain said ‘Wen was a major contributor to the industry through his active participation in industry technical groups. He possessed a strong intellect and his engineering background helped create advances in the understanding of hazard management. Wen was an outstanding mentor to many in the baby product industry who selflessly gave his time to support product safety. He will be sadly missed by our industry.’
Wen was a passionate advocate for infant safety.
Tim Wain, Infant and Nursery Product Alliance.
Such was his dedication, Wen continued his work at Baby Bunting despite his illness, only finishing a few months before his passing.
A friend and colleague
Always accommodating and willing to go the extra mile to help – with a smile on his face – he was a friend to many in the retail and product safety communities.
Wen’s legacy is hard to measure, but there’s no doubt that he made a considerable difference to children’s safety over his long career. Anyone wishing to donate in Wen’s honour can do so at the Monash Cancer Centre. Click on the Donate button and select Monash Cancer in the ‘Highest priority service’ dropdown.
