Insurance experts XXUNI

Some companies that imported from Asia have set up local offices to conduct factory audit. Others have secured the quality of their imports by hiring a large QC company. Together, buyers and QC companies have organized the supply chain to fit their needs.

A lot of audits take place after the production finishes and just before shipment. If an audit fails, the factory has to reproduce and then they also need to pay for a re-inspection. The QC companies perform audits in a very in efficient way. They just send the inspectors to a factory and pass their photos and notes to the typists, who finally write the report. Product inspections are a way to collect samples for lab-tests. And a factory audit is invoiced at double the price of a product check, even though it is simpler and less risky. Then the client gets the final report one or two days after the audit.

This was reasonable about ten years ago. Factories are kept under pressure since they see the inspectors as the “cops”. But now the situation is different, and the traditional QC offer is not adapted for many importers. First, now it is easier to source from Asia and thousands of smaller companies have joined the game. Second, Trading companies are slowly pushed aside since the buyers want to go direct to the factory and get better pricing. Third, the large QC companies often do not have the competence to help a factory set up their factory audit processes.

Now the established corporations refuse to offer low-cost inspections of standard items and they are not organized for assistance in production of highly complex products. And now the real case is that only 20% of shipments are audited professionally. Thus, millions of products are recalled every year and full containers are thrown away after delivery.

So it is wise to organize the factory audit before shipment, because it can save your cost in the future and you do not need to worry about that the goods are not accepted by importers.