How To Ensure Your Product Quality In China : From Factory Audit to Pre-Shipment

Posted by Florin JS on March 5th, 2020

China is the world’s largest exporter of goods with an endless list of suppliers and factories. However, the incredible wealth of cheap products from China is only matched by the sheer number of quality issues that arise.

Sure, a reasonable percentage of defects can be expected for the price. But losing money, seeing your brand name being criticized, or worse, dealing with a recall are some of the most people who buy from China fear.

After all, doing business is all about managing risks. Today, let’s talk about how to implement cost-efficient supply chain risk management.

1 – Quality Control in China – start on the right foot-

At the start of each import from China, there is the sourcing phase. Sourcing from China is not always an easy task. It is one of the most time-consuming tasks in all the purchasing process in China. Including a few simple safeguards during the Sourcing stage can considerably increase your chances to avoid quality defects in China.

A. Know your product LIKE A PRO: 

This means that you should at least be aware of the materials, and performance of your product. Product durability and compliance with national or local safety standards.

Usually, customs, or people from the various Nandos will be able to give you reliable and concrete information about standards (i.e: ISO, ASTM, ANSI, IEC, BS, PAS, ….). If not, feel free to contact, I will be happy to help. 

B. DO NOT TRUST your supplier to think for you: Years on years out, our team of engineers and project managers have had to put up with blatant ignorance, or just unwillingness to meet general manufacturing practice standards. Also, when processing quotations, always ask your supplier to mention specifications and packaging in their offers.

C. Show how SERIOUS you are about Quality Control: The most effective method so far has been to spend a bit more time explaining to salespeople the key Quality Milestones that will be implemented in the manufacturing process. Usually, we handle that part on behalf of our clients once terms & conditions have been set. But before a PI and deposit are made.

D. Order a quick SAMPLE from China before placing an order: 

Once you get the sample of your product you can get a pretty good idea of the non-conformities the factory in China actually considers standard. Inspecting the sample or prototype from China can be considered a First Article Inspection.

Following your inspection, issue a quality control report with your conclusions. Even if it’s a few pictures and a few sentences. Explain why you refuse these defects, and perhaps how to avoid them.

Sourcing will get a bit more complicated, especially when it comes to your contact’s English proficiency and potential misunderstandings. But eventually, following the above guidelines when sourcing from China will help a lot with layout out the Quality Operations in China groundwork.

For specific testing (performance or composition) feel free to contact a well-equipped laboratory that can test your product. If your sample passes your tests, it can become a GOLDEN SAMPLE (to be used as a reference for upcoming DuPro and Pre-Shipment inspections.

2 – Factory Audit: see through the smoke and mirrors-

I often like to refer to some Chinese business and marketing practices as “smoke and mirrors”. It is not specific to the country and its export companies, but it has a specific manifestation.

A. Know the limits of Alibaba.com and Made-in-china.com: 

For example, I cited Alibaba.com and Made in China earlier on. They both exhibit the same kind of “Smoke & Mirrors”, that is, they both feature inaccurate, infringing and falsified information and resources.

- Traders can be featured as “Manufacturers”. This is a big inaccuracy;

- So many pictures, product names are actually not the property of the Chinese supplier using them;

- There are many “fake” certificates (plain old fakes, but also legit certificates that actually belong to another company);

- Many suppliers on both platforms display ridiculously low prices that mislead buyers.

B. Visit the factory yourself, or via an auditor in China:

In this light, traveling to China, for a factory audit, or booking a factory audit with a Quality Control Company may help your business tremendously.

- Traveling to China to visit the Chinese factory helps you prevent small middlemen;

- Auditing suppliers in China can help you pinpoint failures in manufacturing or quality management;

- the best factory audits will clearly state which manufacturing operations are conducted in-house and those sub-contracted;

- even a quick factory audit, or visit, can give you a sense of manufacturing speed, and how lead times are managed;

 - Conducting a factory audit yourself, or through a Quality Control Company allows you to assess the range of products and otherwise hidden opportunities;

- Visiting factories in China in person shows how serious you are about your operations in China.

3 – Placing your order in China with minimum risks-

Finally, you are now decided to trust one of the dozens of Chinese suppliers who participated in the RFQ process (Request For Quotation). Now is the time to be thorough and pro-active above all. It is now time to place your order.

A. Proforma Invoice, what to check: 

As a general practice, I would suggest that you first request a Proforma Invoice before making any payment. Always check the Proforma Invoice for the following elements :

 - Seller information on the P.I matches the information showcased on the internet, in previous documents;

 - Product specifications, packaging are featured in the P.I;

 - InCoTerm is displayed with Pricing info, or in the “Terms and Conditions” section of the P.I;

 - Delivery time (preferably “Manufacturing Leadtime”) appears on the document.

B. Terms and conditions to feature in Chinese contracts: 

Based on my experience at JS Quality and other firms, I strongly suggest the Buyer to include the following information on P.I such as :

 - Terms of acceptance of the goods. For example, based on conclusions of appointed Quality Control Company after a Pre Shipment Inspection;

 - list the documents (files, emails etc…) in which are listed your quality requirements should be considered as binding;

 - conditions of acceptance of goods in case of late delivery;

 Placing an order with a Chinese Supplier can somehow be a time-consuming task because people and corporations here may not be using the same standards. However, this should not be an excuse to take unnecessary risks. When dealing with a supplier, a balance shall be created. This balance of risks bore by both parties plays an important part in securing a long and stable purchasing from China.

4. Types of Quality Controls to implement when manufacturing in China-

 A. Pre-Production Quality Control: It is the foremost step in the entire quality control process. In this step, the quantity and quality of the raw materials and components are evaluated. The objective of a preproduction inspection is to make sure your supplier is: 

- on schedule, and should not be slowed down by a shortage of materials or goods;

-is delivering on the product’s requirements and specifications. 

 B. During Production Inspection/ DUPRO:  During Production Inspection allows you to confirm product quality when manufacturing reaches 20 to 80% of completion. The commonly used name for this kind of production is DUPRO.

DUPRO inspection stands out because it allows for the early detection of non-conformities. Compared with other Quality Controls, a DUPRO quality control also includes checks on the manufacturing processes.

 C. Pre-Shipment Inspection / Final Random Inspection: This is the most famous quality control of all. A Final Random Inspection (FRI) or Pre-Shipment Inspection (PSI) allows the Buyer, to assess the level of conformity of its products before they are shipped from China. A professional pre-shipment inspection gives Buyer the assurance that their goods are ready for shipment from China and are safe to market.

Importing safely from China is not an easy task. But thanks to various resources such as this article “How to Ensure Your Product Quality inform China – From factory audit to Pre Shipment Inspection”, international buyers are now more than ever, able to strengthen their hold on the quality. In recent years, we have witnessed a decreasing number of rejected batches. We attribute this fact to the improvement of both Chinese manufacturers practices and international buyers, or sources.