Quality Assurance Across a Sourcing Order
One inspection before loading catches what is wrong on the day it is attended. It does not stop the same fault appearing on the next run, and it does not help you when a defect only shows up once the cartons are open in your own warehouse.
Our quality work is the layer around the inspection: how a factory is qualified, how the specification is fixed, how a deviation is recorded, and what happens when something goes wrong after delivery. It opens at sourcing, where a factory is first qualified, and it closes only when a repeat order is checked against the same specification.
How our quality system works
- Supplier management: each factory we use is recorded, together with the products it is approved for and the history of the orders it has run
- Product archive: every product a customer orders gets a file holding the specification, the approved sample record, the inspection report and the shipping documents
- Specification control: the document the factory quotes from is the document the goods are checked against, so nothing drifts between sample and bulk
- Sample approval: the signed sample and its photographs stay in the archive, which is what a disagreement is settled with
- Order records: quantities, lot numbers and packing details held together, so a fault can be traced back to one production run
Where problems get caught
- At quotation, where an offer that looks cheap is checked for the process, material or certificate it left out
- At sample stage, before tooling or a bulk run is paid for
- During production, so a fault is corrected while the line is still running
- Before loading, against your specification and the approved sample
- After delivery, when a defect that only appears in use is reported and pursued
When something goes wrong after delivery
You send photographs and the quantity affected. We go back to the factory with the record already assembled: the approved sample, the specification and the inspection report for that lot. The conversation then turns on a specific deviation rather than on opinion, and it ends in rework, replacement, a credit or a return.
The on-site inspection itself is a separate service, described under factory inspection and product quality control.
What you get
- A written record for every order, not a verbal reassurance
- Evidence that stands up when you claim against a factory or a forwarder
- A named contact who knows the history of your product
- Repeat orders quoted and checked against the same specification as the first
Frequently asked questions
Is this the same as an inspection?
No. An inspection is one event attended at the factory. Quality assurance is the system around it: the supplier record, the specification, the archive and the follow-up when a defect appears.
What if the factory disputes the defect?
Then you argue from documents instead of from memory. We hold the approved sample, the inspection notes and the packing records, and we make the case with those. Where a factory still refuses, we say so plainly and hand you the evidence to take it further.
Can you take over quality control on a supplier you did not introduce?
Yes. Send the specification, the current sample and the order history, and we start the archive from there.
Talk to us about quality
Send the product, the supplier and the problem you are trying to prevent. We will tell you which stage is the gap.
