I had an interesting conversation about the job of quality inspectors. I was talking to the manager of the local office of a large importer.

That person is in factories several times a week, for the unique purpose of auditing the job of the third-party inspection firms that work for his company. He’s been working in manufacturing and sourcing in China for over a decade. He knows his way around much better than I do.

He told me he felt Chinese QC inspectors were getting lazy. Ten years ago, inspectors were working really hard, and often in bad conditions. These days, they expect to be received as guests in factories, and they tend to take shortcuts to finish earlier.

Do I agree? Yes and no.

Yes, Chinese employees in general are demanding better working conditions. They can easily switch to another employer. That’s not a bad thing (especially for them). And this trend will continue, as China develops.

But let’s see the bright side of things. Today’s inspectors are more aware of what happens outside China. They have a bit more common sense. There are thousands upon thousands of English-speaking young people following this profession in China.

I bet it is now easier and faster to hire a good one than it used to be, 10 years back. And it is much easier to hire 22-years-old QC girls with a couple of years of factory work experience, with a basic English level, and to train them to work for a professional inspection agency.

And no, not all Chinese inspectors take shortcuts. I know most of them do, but there are also a few that I know I can trust.

To take an example, if the factory presents a mass of cartons piled up against a wall in a way that makes it impossible to pick samples from all sides, what should the inspector do?

• The previous generation, when they were really dedicated (and not all were), used to work for 20 min and extract cartons from everywhere. They ended up sweaty and dirty from the process. I know, because I was doing exactly that when I started on the job.
• The new generation, when they take shortcuts, only select a few cartons from the front of the pile, and expect to be invited to a nice lunch by the supplier.
• The new generation, when they are clean, ask the factory to rearrange the cartons. If the factory refuses, they do their best to get random samples, and to write a SERIOUS remark about the factory’s attitude in the report. Personally, I am fine with that. If the importer has retained some power in his relationship with the supplier, he can react and take appropriate actions.

My conclusion is that properly-managed and -motivated inspectors will do a good job by respecting the procedure. And badly-supervised inspectors will cost a lot of money to their employers because of their shortcuts (or their conscious decisions of accepting bribes).