China Quality Control (Quality Inspection, Factory Audit, FAT) During Travel Ban for Non-China Residents

The process of manufacturing varies between batches and manufacturers and quality issues will arise. They can be minor or severe, for example
Minor issues: dirt, scratches, minor cosmetic issues, and mark.
Severe quality issues, such as wrong colors, inappropriate labels, lose parts, non-functioning items, broken items, missing items etc.
The problem with ordering in China (and other overseas suppliers’ markets) is that if you find the problems after importing into your own country, returning goods or even reclaiming damages is impossible. That’s why it is important to conduct a quality inspection before shipment.

A quality inspector can perform any type of checks based on available products. Some of the examples are:
• Taking photos of equipment and its labels.
• Product measurements.
• Product’s visual inspection where the quality inspector check for defects and damage.
• Packaging.
• Product function verification.
• Drop test and more.
The quality inspector aims to make sure that the product comes with the necessary quality and specification requirements.

Quality checks by third parties will be done according to your instruction. Make sure to precisely define what needs to be checked, how large the sample size should be and how you the report should be presented and with which supporting documents, video’s photo’s etc. Our staff can, based on their long experience, cooperate with you to prepare a QC-protocol.

The QC data help to assess if the goods are acceptable, and preferably you will have agreed on detailed specifications and minimal acceptance rate with the supplier before confirming the order. From the report, you know about defects and the quality of the product and decide whether to reject or approve the order.

Inform your supplier that you will do a quality control inspection before accepting the goods before ordering the products. It is important to make the vendors understand that you adhere to certain processes to make sure that you get what you ordered.

Start planning the QA/QC procedure from the moment you prepare the product specification. If you seek valuable advice from the Wacon in the setup of the protocol, contact us as soon as possible.

Depending on the specific project you are working on we will make a proposal. Our rates are very friendly and are based on rates ranging from US$ 100-US$ 300 per day, per person depending on expertise and seniority required.

We generally inspect the product before the commencement of the product shipment and payment of the rest amount. Well, you can also go for an on-site product quality inspection while the products are under the production stage. The reason behind this, by carrying an inspection during the production stage, you can identify the issues like incorrect materials, colors, and more, which can be corrected during the process.
It is advisable to conduct production as well as a pre-shipment check of the product if your order amount is more than USD 10,000.

It depends on the things that you have mentioned in the checklist or that we agreed on in the protocol we created together. We will make sure all the quality inspectors come with a solid track record.

If available, do that. It will help us to understand the product in a better way. An early inspection can help to know whether the product is good or not.

Some tests are destructive, and samples will render useless. Nevertheless, you may require these to be passed on to you. Mostly however, the inspected samples will remain in the batch and available for shipment. Inspection samples may be required for further approval before shipment.

It is good to inspect every order. As mentioned above, product manufacturing is a complex process. One mistake can affect the whole batch. Manufacturers may use different (cheaper materials) for follow up orders, test where they can cut corners. Unqualified subcontractors may have been used to manufacture goods. So, it will be better to do a quality check before initiating each shipment. Also, your suppliers will try the bet to keep the defect level lower if they know you will inspect the product.

The inspection agent can check the product labels. By checking the labels, they verify the product’s compliance with different requirements. We may not have the tools to conduct lab testing but this can be done through 3rd parties. If you want to do the lab test, then you will have to pay for it separately. But remember that it is quite expensive than traditional product tests.

If the quality inspectors find a few and minor issues, you can move ahead and give a green signal to the order, maybe after negotiating a compensation. However, if they find severe issues, you may ask the vendors to rework the goods. Once done, inspect the product again.

You can but if you find issues, you can’t do anything. In fact, you can’t even return the products and ask them for a refund. Even if the vendors accept the return, you may find it difficult to clear the Chines customs. On the other hand, the refund process is also very complicated. But you may not need to deal with all these processes, as the vendors can reject your return. In short, check before you ship!

You can expect that the suppliers have a perfect quality management system for product development. But when it comes to the product inspection report, you can’t expect an honest report from the suppliers even if there are some issues.
This is where you need the help of a professional third party, with experience in this field. You will find some suppliers claiming that their products are good, and there is no need to go for any third-party inspection. You should not trust such claims.