As an importer that resides thousands of miles away from the manufacturing site, your reservations about the quality of products being produced are more than justified. In such a situation, many importers employ an external third-party quality inspection team to overlook the production process as well as the final products before they are sent out- also known as pre-shipment inspection. This process has multiple benefits for the importer: reducing costs associated with repair and rework of faulty products, improving relations with customers by delivering quality products, as well as a tool to potentially screen out any doubtful suppliers.
However, with all these benefits in mind, choosing a trustworthy and competent team of third-party inspectors is an extremely challenging task in itself. There are multiple cases where the quality inspectors are seen to collude with the manufacturing staff, often as a result of bribery, which results in inaccurate reporting of quality- which ultimately results in lower standards and quality of products.
The following guide presents a simple list of qualities and practices to look for in a third-party inspection team that will help you identify a competent team which will act on your behalf to make sure that the products that you receive are exactly according to the standards that you have asked for.
1. Ethical practices by the inspectors
Due to the nature of their work, quality inspectors spend a great deal of time with the manufacturing staff when examining the production processes and goods. This relationship demands the inspectors to have cordial relations with the staff in order to ensure that they can do their job adequately without facing any sort of animosity from the staff. However, this relationship can become troublesome when the inspector misuses this relationship to seek out opportunities that will earn him some private benefit by compromising on his duties; this may be in the form of outright bribery, or more subtle benefits such as gifts, meals or transportation arranged by the staff for the inspection team.
These benefits from the staff may act as incentives for the inspector to act in favor of the staff, which would often be against the interest of the importer. The most prominent ways through which this misconduct can adversely affect your business include:
- Incorrect reporting of fabric quality: the inspector may report false quality standards by either concealing the defects found in the fabric or overstating the quality of the fabric to give an advantage to the manufacturing staff.
- Not inspecting the whole sample size as decided: the inspector may inspect only a part of the sample size that he has been instructed to do, perhaps to inspect only the pieces of goods that meet the quality standards required by the importer
- Overstating the quantity of the goods being produced, especially in cases when the factory is lagging behind on the production schedule. This saves the staff from any repercussions they might face for not being able to deliver on time.
- Not providing accurate information about factors such as factory location, conditions, and treatment of sub-suppliers. An example of this would be using child labor in developing countries which should be reported by the inspectors, but due to bribery, they fail to do so.
These acts result in clear misinformation on the part of the importer, which will inevitably result in decisions made by the importer that is not optimal for the business, such as shipping and delivery decisions. On a much larger scale, compromised integrity of the inspectors can lead to extremely grave issues such as intellectual rights violation, or even involvement in crimes such as child labor which have severe penalties.
How can you gauge the integrity of the third-party inspection company?
The following characteristics may give you a wholesome idea of what qualities should be prevalent in a trustworthy third-party inspection team:
- A clear code of ethics: the third-party inspection team should ideally have in place a precise code of ethics that presents grave repercussions for any employee involved in any cost of misconduct that compromises the firm’s image. This should be entirely independent of both the clients as well as the clients’ suppliers.
- Clear procedures for any factor that might affect the integrity of the firm: these may include reporting any, even the minutest, favor the firm has received from the staff. This information helps the transactions remain as transparent as possible, such as receiving a transportation facility from the supplier.
- Active efforts by the QC provider to make sure that integrity issues do not arise. These may include steps such as internal auditing of the inspection staff as well as to discourage any unnecessary relationship between the inspectors and the staff.
Your third-party inspection company should be able to adequately explain any procedures or steps that they are taking in order to make sure that there is no corruption within their firm. If a firm has a set of measures in place to fight corruption, it is a sign that the firm values ethical behavior within their workforce.
2. The third-party inspection team should act as a single point of contact
As an importer you already must be aware of how difficult it can get to manage the flow of information between several parties spread across different parts of the world: suppliers in one county, customers and internal staff in another, perhaps even the freight forwarders located far off- coordinating data to ensure that the business flows smoothly is nothing short of a battle. To add another trouble on top of this would be to draw several different contracts between each party involved in the transaction.
This is where a reliable third-party inspection team can come in handy. As it acts on your behalf in order to ensure that no party in this business transaction provides anything short of what is agreed upon in the contract.
How can you gauge whether your inspectors are a reliable communication spot?
Owing to the fact that you might work with a third-party inspection team on a contractual basis, it is extremely important that you are assured that you will be in contact with the same person every time so that you do not have to explain your needs and requirements to a new person each time. in addition to that, the following criteria set apart a reliable, trustworthy third-party inspection team among the rest:
- Proficiency in both English as well as the local language, so that there are no language barriers while performing its duties.
- Familiarity with both your as well as the local culture, so that the team is able to fully understand and respect how to operate in both the countries, as well as act according to the surroundings. This becomes especially important when your suppliers are located in regions where the culture differs significantly from yours, and the person has to adapt well in whichever area he is present.
- Should be available to answer any queries or requests easily, using a wide network of facilities such as email, phone, or skype- whichever you feel most comfortable with.
- The dynamic personality that is able to respond quickly to any unforeseen circumstances, and should be available to solve any hurdles as quickly as possible so that the production process is not disrupted for too long.
3. Swift reporting of fabric quality inspection
The quality report of the fabric is one of the top most priorities of a fabric importer because it is perhaps the only viable way through which the quality of the fabric can be judged. This is especially true when most of the production process is finalized at the manufacturing site, so the importer has little room for any alterations when he receives the shipment. Therefore, the sooner the importer receives the quality reports, the better decisions he can take regarding whether the standards are acceptable- and if not, ask for reworks without facing delay in customer orders.
What problems can slow reporting cause?
As mentioned earlier, if the importer is on a strict deadline then receiving the report late can result in significant delays of orders: you would be faced with the situation where if you find that the fabric is not in accordance with the quality standards that you asked for, you would have to either agree to receive substandard goods or face a delay in your schedule. This could have been prevented had the inspection been carried out on time and the report sent promptly to the importer.
- If you inform the workers on the last minute about any reworks needed, there are chances of even more defects being introduced into the products due to the rush caused.
A good third-party inspection firm should be able to deliver the report to you in about 24 hours of the inspection process.
4. Correct procedures and results embedded in the fabric inspection report
Not only is it important to receive the inspection report on time, but it is also just as important to make sure that there are no flaws in the inspection report itself. The report must be a comprehensive summary of details in the production process as well as the products that the importer will find valuable to assess the quality of the goods. A good report will include the following:
- details related to the importer’s provided specifications
- any potential issues regarding packaging
- fabric quality outside of the importer’s requirements
- The total quantity of finished and packed fabric
- Number and type of defects
- Any nonconformance in the fabric found, such as a difference of shade in the actual and specified fabric
- Results of any on-site testing: these will include fiber content testing, fabric density test, etc
- Pictures of the inspected fabric, as well as tests or any other defects, found
Photos provided by the inspection team can come in extremely handy, especially if you are not able to pay visits to the manufacturing sites yourself. They will accurately show the conditions of the workers, the workplace, as well as the product itself in different stages of production. For bulk textiles, inspectors will typically use the industry-standard 4-point system to assign appropriate “penalty points” for each defect found within a section of fabric.
Why a ‘pending’ result isn’t always bad Although you as an importer will prefer a report that indicates whether the products pass or fail the inspection process, in some cases the firm might give you a result that says pending. Though this may be frustrating due to a shortage of time and sharp deadlines, it is important to note that the reason why the firm has not passed the products could have been ignored altogether. The firm is acting honestly by disclosing that perhaps some part of the inspection process is incomplete, such as an incomplete test due to unavailability of equipment required to perform a certain test.
5. Additional services for fabric importers
Assessing the product’s quality isn’t the only worry that you as an importer’s face. In fact, it forms perhaps a rather small portion of the requirements that you have to fill for your clients, such as social compliance in the suppliers’ factories. A good third-party inspection team will be able to adequately provide you with a comprehensive set of services that will help you meet all your requirements adequately.
Example of such additional services include:
- Social compliance audits in accordance with retailer frameworks or international standards like SA8000.
- Supplier reviews to evaluate supplier facilities, typically during the sourcing process. These audits often focus on a factory’s quality management systems (QMS) and are based on ISO9001 standards.
- Supplier identification
- Lab testing by certified laboratories, typically to verify material composition or other properties.
Using the same staff yields the benefit that you do not have to explain your requirements to new people every time you require a service. The firm also builds familiarity with the staff, which acts as a plus point in favor of you because the firm will not face any hostility from the staff.
Conclusion
Hopefully, with the help of the five traits mentioned above, you’ll be able to differentiate a good third-party inspection firm from a bad one. Make this decision carefully, because the firm will act as your eyes and ears in the foreign country- and you want your eyes and ears to be sharp!