Over the years, we have provided feedback to many clients on their product specification sheets and their inspection checklists.

Rather than a step-by-step guideline, the most useful is usually to provide them with a few real examples for different types of products.

3 examples of inspection checklists

Last year, when personal protective equipment was severely lacking in many countries, we released some of our templates on our commercial website.

I believe they are good starting points to understand what typically goes into one of these documents, how they are structured, and what level of detail is necessary.

• Example for soft goods (3-ply face masks)
• Example for hard goods (protective goggles)
• Example for electronic products (thermal camera)

How to organize a QC inspection checklist

First, you have to think of the best way to guide an inspector through the job. For consumer goods, it generally involves:

• Picking cartons and checking those export boxes (as well as pallets etc.)
• Checking inner packing (be it carton boxes, polybags…), if any
• Checking the products and their unit packing

Then, at each stage, you need to think, what to check?

• Were specific requirements given to the supplier? Go through those requirements that are really important.
• Any safety or regulatory considerations? Definitely cover them.
• Are aesthetics important? Define what to look at and what common issues are to be counted as defects.
• Any function test, endurance tests, or any similar?

Once you know what needs to be checked, the most important questions are:

• How to check this criterion, and what will consider a pass or a fail?
• How many samples should I check for this point? (Some checkpoints take a long time and/or destroy samples, so smaller sampling sizes may make sense.)
• What measuring/testing equipment will be necessary? Will the inspector bring it, or will the factory have to provide it?

A good checklist is central to managing quality

Managing quality is a bit like coaching a professional sports team. A big part of the job is about repeating the same thing over and over, to get the basics right.

If you buy a product from a supplier located thousands of miles away and rooted in a different culture, you really need to focus on the basics:

1. Document your requirements
2. Make your requirements s specific and testable, so that they are ready to be used as an inspection checklist
3. Ensure your supplier, and especially the people who really count (their purchaser, their manufacturing staff, their quality staff), is aware of your requirements and commits to hitting them
4. Inspect products based on your checklist, and request rework/reproduction if needed

More reading on this topic

More advice on setting up a good checklist

How to prepare a QC inspection checklist [infographic]

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