Running a third-party factory audit on a case manufacturer
What to ask an inspection company to look at, what evidence to require, and how to read the result without over-trusting it.
Short answer
- A pre-shipment product inspection, a factory capability audit and a social-compliance audit are three different documents with three different conclusions.
- Which forming process is owned rather than subcontracted; the number and tonnage of machines; whether moulds are made or maintained in house; how gaskets, latches and hinges are sourced and inspected on receipt; whether the plant performs its own drop, stack and sealing checks; and how colour and texture are controlled between runs.
- Photographs of the process being run, not the factory gate; the machine plate or model number; the business licence name matching the entity on your purchase order; the inspection AQL actually applied; and measured results against your stated tolerances.
- A clean audit is a floor, not a guarantee.
Decide what the audit is for
A pre-shipment product inspection, a factory capability audit and a social-compliance audit are three different documents with three different conclusions. Most buyers sourcing cases need the first two. Naming the type in the brief prevents paying for a checklist that answers a different question.
The capability items that actually matter for cases
Which forming process is owned rather than subcontracted; the number and tonnage of machines; whether moulds are made or maintained in house; how gaskets, latches and hinges are sourced and inspected on receipt; whether the plant performs its own drop, stack and sealing checks; and how colour and texture are controlled between runs. Ask for the records, not the description.
Evidence to require in the report
Photographs of the process being run, not the factory gate; the machine plate or model number; the business licence name matching the entity on your purchase order; the inspection AQL actually applied; and measured results against your stated tolerances. A report containing only pass or fail checkboxes tells you the auditor looked, not what they found.
Reading the result honestly
A clean audit is a floor, not a guarantee. What you are buying is the right to walk away before a deposit and the paper to argue with after a bad lot. Where the audit finds a gap, the useful question is whether the plant fixes the process or offers to fix the report.
Who pays, and when
Standard practice is for the buyer to pay the inspection and for the supplier to bear the cost of a re-inspection after a failed one. Put that in the order before production, because after a failed inspection it is a negotiation you have already lost.
Questions buyers ask
Should the audit be announced?
For capability audits, announce them; you want to see the line running with the lights on. For quality-system reality, an unannounced visit to the goods-in area is more informative.
Can a remote audit substitute?
It can screen a supplier cheaply and catch a name mismatch. It cannot confirm that a mould exists or that a test station is actually used.