Do I need to visit the factory during production?

Planning to visit your factory in China, Vietnam or India? The key to success is to make sure that you go for the right reason, at the right time. In most cases, it’s actually better if you don’t go at all and let professionals handle it for you.

This is covered:

• Visit your factory before starting production
• Use a third party factory inspection service
• There is not that much to see in the factory
• It’s the quality inspections that really matters

1. Visit your factory before starting production

The purpose of a factory visit is to assess if they are qualified before you commit to placing an order. Visiting your supplier only after you’ve paid the upfront deposit, which is normally 30% of the total order value, may only reveal problems once it’s already too late to do something about it.

If you’re truly interested in visiting your factory, then do so at an early stage. Preferably, this should be done before you even order product samples from a certain supplier.

I also recommend that you visit more than one factory. Given the cost and time it takes to fly over here, you might as well make sure you get as much out of it as possible.

At a minimum, schedule visits with 4 to 5 suppliers.

2. Use a third party factory inspection service

You don’t actually have to fly halfway around the world yourself to check out a factory in Asia. Companies like Bureau Veritas offer factory inspection services for far less than it’ll cost you to get there.

The purpose of a factory inspection is to verify if the factory exists and benchmark their internal quality management system. Normally, the inspector will rate the supplier.

In other words, they’ll let you know if it’s a good, average or bad factory. Or, if it’s even a factory at all.

A factory inspection report also includes images and other information about the supplier.

The only drawback is that you can’t sit down with the factory management, select materials and get quotations.

3. There is not that much to see in the factory

The standard production time is normally between 30 to 50 days. However, this doesn’t mean that the factory is busy assembling your products for the entire time duration.

Instead, most of that time is actually spend waiting for the material and component suppliers to do their part. The final assembly normally only takes around a week, sometimes only a few days.

As such, arriving in the factory a week or two into the production means that there’s absolutely nothing there to see - other than ongoing production for other buyers. But that’s probably not what you’re after in the first place.

That said, you must ask these questions to your supplier if you insist on being present in their factory during production:

• When will you start the final assembly?
• For how many days will you assemble the products?
• When do you estimate that production is complete?

Benefits

There are in fact a few benefits to being present in the factory during the later stages of production. First, you’ll verify if the supplier is actually manufacturing your products in house, or if they are subcontracting production to another factory.

Second, it can also help to detect quality issues before it’s too late to stop them.

4. It’s the quality inspections that really matters

On-site factory visits are still not a substitute or replacement for proper quality inspections. You need to get a professional quality inspector to the factory to perform product checks before shipment.

You can also send inspectors to check the products during assembly, so it’s not critical that you show up yourself.

It’s also a matter of cost. Using a service like Bureau Veritas InSpec is much less costly, compared to the cost of flights and hotels - not to mention how much time it takes.

It’s also a matter of expertise. Unless you have experience in the field of quality inspections, you’re almost always better off having a professional doing it for you.

During Production Quality Control

Quality checks can take place during production. For example, you can instruct the quality inspector to check that specific components and materials are matching your specifications before the final assembly begins. Thus, you can detect quality issues (which are in most cases caused by misunderstandings) before the final assembly.

In other words, you can catch potential problems while there’s still time to do something about it.

This is something I especially recommend when you either work with a new supplier or if a new product enters production for the first time.

Keep in mind that it’s your responsibility as a buyer to prepare a checklist for the inspector. Without that, they cannot do their job.

Pre-Shipment Inspection

The pre-shipment takes place after the products are finished, but before delivery. This quality inspection is absolutely mandatory every time you place an order.

All quality and functionality aspects must be taken into consideration during this final inspection.

Here are a few standard checklist items to include:

• Visual inspection (e.g. marks, damages, bad polish)
• Dimensions
• Label check
• Logo check
• Full functionality testing
• Basic functionality testing
• Drop tests
• Color comparison
• Rub test
• Water-resistance testing
• Charging test
• Barcode check
• Packaging check

The inspection company can also collect a handful of product samples directly from the factory and send it to you via DHL or FedEx. As such, you can see, feel and test your product before shipment, without ever having to set foot in the factory.