Around the world, while product pricing plays a significant role in attracting buyers, quality is equally important. This is because high-quality products attract repeat customers. However, if the quality disappoints, customers won’t return, no matter how competitively a company prices its products.
That’s why Western businesses sourcing from China, apart from the pricing, also focus on the ability of Chinese manufacturers to produce products that meet their quality expectations.
Quality control processes during manufacturing can help businesses worldwide ensure their products are manufactured to specified standards. In China, while all good manufacturers conduct internal checks as part of their processes, it’s always advisable for buyers to conduct process inspections themselves, through third parties like Chinese procurement agents or companies specializing in such inspections. This is particularly crucial if the products need to meet government-mandated safety standards.
During these inspection processes, checks or tests are made to identify deviations from product specifications so they can be rectified, ensuring subsequent production doesn’t encounter these issues.
The aim of these third-party quality control inspections is to discover these issues before it’s too late, as issues identified during manufacturing are typically cheaper to rectify than those found after production is completed.
Of course, the ideal situation is to have no issues at all. To achieve this, buyers must ensure they choose reliable suppliers and provide them with detailed specifications, outlining what deviations are acceptable and unacceptable.
Despite taking all these preventive measures, issues during production are not uncommon. Process quality inspections, typically conducted in two stages, can detect these issues:
In-Process Inspections These inspections happen during production to identify any deviations from product specifications and ensure consistency among all products. They are typically conducted when about 20% of production is completed. By identifying and addressing issues early in the production process, these inspections help minimize waste and prevent costly delivery delays. However, it’s better if these inspections don’t happen too early in the production schedule because the first few items off the assembly line are usually not perfect samples, and factories often adjust their processes after inspecting these pieces as part of their internal quality control checks.
Pre-shipment Inspections During pre-shipment inspections, quality inspectors randomly select items and check for issues. They also check if any improvement suggestions were made after the process inspection. Sometimes, the quality of packaging and labeling is also examined to ensure it meets customer specifications.
What do inspectors look for during QC inspections? Quality control inspectors aim to ensure the products meet customer requirements, which can include any of the following: Is the color the same as the sample? Are the dimensions within the tolerances specified on the drawings? If not, are they within acceptable deviation ranges?
Inspectors also check if all items in a batch (e.g., 100 pieces) fall within the same quality range. Even if some are defective, it’s hoped that their level of defectiveness is consistent, as this often indicates a systemic issue somewhere that can be relatively easily fixed.
However, if deviations are widespread, with some pieces being excellent and others being poor, then there’s a bigger issue at hand; this might reflect that the factory struggles to implement clear production controls. In such cases, it may be wise to identify the root of the problem, attempt to resolve it, and if issues persist, perhaps look for another factory.
What to Do When Issues Are Found During Inspection? When issues are discovered, the factory is instructed to rework the products that have already been produced and ensure the issues don’t appear in the rest of the order.
Sometimes, reworking batches with defects can be costly and time-consuming, leading to delivery delays. Whenever we encounter such situations during quality control inspections for our clients, we decide on the course of action based on the specific circumstances.
For example, if we understand the product’s application and know that the deviations won’t truly impact its use, we might forego the batch with defects but definitely complain to the factory and inform the customer. Most of the time, customers agree that we made the right call, as the defect won’t truly affect usage, and the end customer might not even notice it.
However, it’s still an issue that needs fixing, so it will be addressed in the next batch. So, it all depends on the usage and situation.
In conclusion, quality control inspections must be carried out at every production cycle, whether it’s the first or the hundredth. This ensures consistency and helps your business attract repeat customers.