Let's discuss factory audit selection, covering the ins and outs of different audits and how to select the best one for your needs. You'll learn about initial factory evaluations, quality system audits, social compliance audits, and … [Read more...]
A Guide… To Guiding! How To Be Effective As A Quality Audit Guide? (with special focus on IATF 16949)
Guest post by Brad Pritts - a followup to How To Prepare For A Factory Audit? Note from Renaud: Let's say your factory is undergoing a quality audit requested by your customer. The auditor will arrive and you are advised to have a … [Read more...]
How To Prepare For A Factory Audit?
From time to time, someone asks me for advice on how to prepare for a factory audit. Since we have run an auditing service for years, we have a few ideas about this. I collected some of my usual advice in this article*. *(I am assuming … [Read more...]
Is there a Relationship between Factory Audits and Better Quality Products? [Real Data Analysis]
![Is there a Relationship between Factory Audits and Better Quality Products? [Real Data Analysis]](https://qualityinspection.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/IsthereaRelationshipbetweenFactoryAuditsandBetterQualityProductsRealDataAnalysis.jpeg)
Prof. Neale O’Connor, a China business and accounting expert and international keynote speaker, recently analyzed some of our own factory audit data and other third-party data about customer complaints and came up with some really … [Read more...]
Want To Prevent Assembly Problems? Use This Checklist.
Pilots follow a checklist before they fly. Same thing for doctors & nurses. But, for some reason, I see very few Chinese factories follow a checklist that can help them avoid assembly problems before they make a new product (for the … [Read more...]
Using Factory Audits To Qualify Your Chinese Suppliers
When I talk to someone who is contemplating whether they should work with a particular supplier, I advise them to visit the factory and/or have it audited. And this can lead to confusion, as the next question is usually "what type of … [Read more...]
Environmental Audit On Your Factories: 6 Questions To Ask First
With the increasingly pressing imperative to slow climate change down, and with the recent COP 26 conference, a few clients inquired about ways to confirm that their suppliers have taken steps to protect the environment with a view to doing … [Read more...]
Defining and Enforcing Manufacturing Processes for Better Control
As David Collins from CMC often says, there are 5 key success factors that determine a factory’s performance: Production Planning, Incoming Material, Workforce Training, Process Control and Equipment Maintenance. In this article, I'd … [Read more...]
Exploring Process Audits | Vetting Chinese Suppliers (Part 7) [Podcast]
Why perform process audits? So far in this mini-series of podcasts about vetting Chinese suppliers we've discussed what quality audits and social compliance audits are and their respective benefits. Since auditing prospective suppliers is … [Read more...]
Why Conduct On-Site Social Compliance Audits? [Podcast]
![Why Conduct On-Site Social Compliance Audits? [Podcast]](https://qualityinspection.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/WhyConductOn-SiteSocialComplianceAuditsPodcast.jpg)
In part 6 of our mini-series of podcast episodes about vetting Chinese suppliers, I'm discussing social compliance audits. After regular factory audits are done on a prospective supplier, it may make sense to assess their social … [Read more...]