A friend of mine asked me an interesting question:

If a buyer wants to ensure he sources quality products from China and avoids any losses, which combination of tools would you recommend to him (max 3)? And how would you rank them from the most effective to the least?

– Factory audit

– OEM contract

– QC inspection during production

– Pre-shipment QC inspection

(Let’s assume he knows the factory is not a scam).

I thought about it, and here is my response. Two cases have to be distinguished.

For a buyer of standard (off-the-shelf) products, involving very little customization:

No. 1: A final random inspection is a must, if possible with a precise checklist and/or a perfect sample approved by the buyer.

No. 2: An inspection during production is good for the first order.

No. 3: A quick factory visit is good to weed out the obviously terrible workshops. An in-depth factory audit is appropriate only if the order is fairly large and the factory itself claims to be well organized.

For a buyer of made-to-order products:

No. 1 Ex aequo: An early inspection (either on a pilot run or on the first finished products of bulk production) is probably the most important. If the product is really complex, this can take the shape of a process review when production is being launched.

No. 1 Ex aequo: An in-depth factory capacity audit is a very good thing, especially if the products are rather complex. Hopefully, the buyer will have taken time to define the ideal profile of the factory it needs to work with.

No.3: A final (pre-shipment) inspection is a good idea to confirm average quality.

Bonus: if the buyer has to pay for some custom-made molds of tooling, and/or if some confidential information will pass through the supplier’s hands, and/or if the payment terms are not very protective of the buyer, an OEM agreement is a very good idea.

To read more about this subject: What Options For Quality Control In China?

What do you think?