QUALITY ASSURANCE
We Provide Professional Inspection Services
Factory Audit (FA)
From a client’s point of view before placing an order at a factory in China, you would like to know more about this factory. After all you want the products that you have paid for.
In principle, a factory audit may be conducted at any location. Our remit is to carry out a comprehensive audit that covers at least the following aspects:ISO9001 certification
- Factory appearance (onsite hygiene, efficiency and orderliness)
- Plant statistics (including factory size, number of workers, land area, etc.)
- Management information (including the organization’s management structure)
- Market overview (covering the company’s primary markets)
- A SA8000 audit, highlighting human rights abuses, child labor, race or gender discrimination, workplace safety and labor disputes
SAPL did many factory audit and inspection through the years, normally our clients are companies that have not done a quality assurance service before or they have had bad experiences in factory inspection by themselves. We deliver a clear and detailed factory audit of the factory on the above offered points. Also a client in Netherlands intentionally request that the factory does not have child labor or any discrimination whatsoever.
We support the client with clear information and more for the factory inspection, so you do not have any doubts doing business in China.
Pre-Production Check (PPC)
This check is conducted during the very early stages of the production process (between 0 and 20%). The purpose of the check is to inspect the process parameters and to verify that the final product will meet the desired quality requirements.
We are humans and naturally humans make mistakes, so do factories in China. About half of the factories in China have production issues. If no strict quality check is performed, factories will make according to their standard. That is why to determine the faults earlier is a time and cost saving process; when you figure out the problems when all goods are finished; it will waste lots of time and money to revise. In our experience, we did a quality control while the production just had started, we figured out the color the factory used was totally different from what the customer wanted. This is a major fault. After check up, the factory revised the color immediately. If we performed a quality check after the products are almost finished, this could be a major issue and the shipment will be delayed due to the revision of the issues found at the quality control.
So it is strongly recommended to do a quality check in the early stage of the production process. This quality control is required in China especially to avoid misunderstanding and faults in the further production process.
In summary, SAPL offers you this quality assurance service with the following benefits:
- Find faults at early stage
- Revise issues at early stage
- Save time and costs
- Clear and detailed report of the early production process
During Production Inspection (DUPRO)
This check is conducted approximately halfway through the production process (40-50%). The objective is to verify that remedial steps defined during the PPC have been implemented. Last minute product changes are also introduced at this stage, insofar as possible. Here too, our aim is to ensure that the finished products meet your requirements and expectations.
After the PPC has been done, an inspection service, During Production Inspection, in the middle of the production process could be advisable, that is to determine whether the faults found in the early stage quality check have been revised or not. In other words this inspection service is to double check the manufacturing process. SAPL performed this quality assurance service in China to many customers in Holland and Belgium. These cases were mostly based on projects where no faults were accepted. So every process in the quality assurance needs to be precise. However we did find some requirements that were not up to par, but these last minute issues were revised during the quality check in China.
Choosing DUPRO quality assurance service at SAPL gives you the following benefits:
- Double confirmation of the production process
- Last minute revision
- Clear and detailed report of the quality control
Pre-Shipment Inspection (PSI)
The PSI is conducted towards or at the end of the manufacturing process (80-100%). During this inspection we will randomly check finished products in accordance with the agreed Acceptable Quality Level (or AQL – an international inspection standard for the maximum number of permissible defects within a given sample range).
This quality assurance service is performed when all products are nearly finished. This inspection service is the most balanced and common one of all the quality assurance services. As mentioned above the goods will be checked randomly according to the Acceptable Quality Level (AQL). AQL is an inspection standard describing the maximum number of defects that could be considered acceptable during the random sampling of the quality control. The defects found during inspection are classified into three levels: critical, major and minor.
Critical defects are those that render the product unsafe or hazardous for the end user or that contravenes mandatory regulations. Major defects can result in the product’s failure, reducing its marketability, usability or sale ability. Lastly, minor defects do not affect the product’s marketability or usability, but represent workmanship defects that make the product fall short of defined quality standards.
Different companies maintain different interpretations of each defect type.
In order to avoid misunderstanding, SAPL and our customers agree on an AQL standard, chosen according to the level of risk each party assumes, which we use as a reference during pre-shipment inspection.
All of our customers usually choose this inspection service at SAPL, because it is the most convenient and easiest quality assurance service, you will get:
- Before the goods are shipped out you will know whether the products are up to par.
- Revision can be made when discovered at the inspection
- You will have clear and standard requirements how and what will be checked according to the AQL table.
- Detailed report of SAPL within the same day.
Container Loading Check (CLC)
The CLC check is conducted in the manufacturer’s warehouse or at the forwarder’s premises. Apart from checking the quality and quantity of goods to be shipped, we monitor compliance with the bill of lading and ensure that all containers are in good condition.
This quality check is performed when all products are finished and the goods will be especially checked on how they are being loaded in the containers. This is necessary to avoid short or wrong shipment of the goods from China to the destination.
The bill of lading and other necessary documents for shipment from China will be checked to compare them with the actual quantities of the goods in the containers.
The container needs to arrive smoothly at destination. So we will check on the quality of the container, whether it is airproof, dry and clean and so on.
This is the last step of the quality check before the goods will be shipped from China.
For a company making solar products in Holland, we checked the container loading before the goods were shipped. We found out that the container had some cracks at the corners. Immediately it needed to be replaced with a new approved container. If we did not perform this quality check the goods will be all wet and broken after arriving in Holland.
100% Inspection
This type of inspection, which involves an examination of all manufactured products as opposed to a sample, is recommended for high-value items. The entire production run will be inspected in accordance with your instructions.
This inspection service will be conducted on all the product quantities. So each and every product will be checked on whether it is up to your requirements. For this quality control it is required to have more inspectors and more days to fulfill this quality check.
This is especially needed for products that have a low decline and a high value percentage.
For several companies in Germany and Netherlands we performed this QC service for a project that was exposed on national television in those countries. If something went wrong the local media will challenge the customer. Accurate workaround in the quality assurance is the most important part. For this case 100% inspection is the most appropriate QC service. In the end we managed to inspect the goods according to the customer’s requirements and they had a successful campaign.
The above quality control gives you the following benefits:
- Each and every product of the production process will be inspected
- 100% accurate whether which product is faulty and which is not
- Detailed report of the quality check.