We often explain to clients the different types of product inspections that we can do at different stages of production. the first question normally would be “Is It Possible To Send Someone To The Factory?” in 99.5 percent of the cases, it’s a yes. but with Covid-19 and different kinds of political upheavals, sometimes it’s not possible. in some cases an off-site inspection or off-site sample review through a real-time video call might make sense. by the way, this also might make sense for very small orders that don’t call for a full-blown traditional inspection and can be checked within just 20 minutes. in most cases, and it does bring a lot of value to do it in the factory. that’s how the inspector can pull samples at random, otherwise, it’s a little bit too easy for the factory to to play a game.
The next question is “Is This The First Time That This Factory Makes This Product?” if it’s a new product for this factory, there is always a risk, always an extra risk. let’s say they’ve been making this same product for a long time, the only thing that changes maybe is the logo or the color, then a final random inspection may be sufficient, especially if the amount of the order is not very high. if the amount of the order is relatively high, then you’re still better off inspecting production. but otherwise, you might just go for a final random inspection, which takes place typically when everything has been completed. and the products are also mostly packed.
Pre-Production Inspection
But then the next question is “Is It From Time To Time You Have Two Three Four Five Percent Of Defective Products, Is That a Big Problem Or Not?” if it is, that’s fine, it’s not a big problem, then final random inspections are good to go. however, if that would hurt your business a lot and if you don’t know that manufacturer very well, you might need to consider having an inspection on 100% of the products, which is quite a different approach from final random inspection, but if it’s done outside of the factory, it can be done in a cost-efficient manner in some cases.
During Production Inspection
If this is the first time that this factory makes this specific product, well then you need to check more carefully several times during production. with most types of products, hard goods with or without electrical modules in them, you will start with the first article inspection, which is pretty clear. checking the first one-piece or five pieces or ten pieces coming out of the line fully completed and doing a very careful inspection. with an in-depth inspection of these first pieces, everybody can know if that’s going well or not. the idea is to give feedback as fast as possible. if there are issues, you need to be study these issues right now with the people at the factory on-site. so for one is that they are contained and not shipped to the customer yet; and number two, they are investigated and the rest of production doesn’t have these same issues. and then probably an inspection also later during production. if these show everything is fine, very good and packing is not very risky, then you can let them ship. in most cases that would make sense. however, if there are some issues in some of these inspections, you still want the final random inspection probably.
Onsite Products Inspection
It’s very much the same idea with onsite products, people usually call it the pre-production meeting, thinking of the risks and checking the first few pieces coming out of the line and so on. it’s the same general approach also inspection later during production if there are some issues. also, it is a final random inspection to confirm the packing because these inspections typically are not on fully packed products. if it’s a very small batch, forget about the inspection during production. you might go with the FAI or the PP meeting and then right away a final random inspection.
Two things very important to keep in mind, you always need a quality standard. otherwise, what does the inspector know about what you want? what are they going to flag? you need to document your quality standard as well as possible. and approved samples do help a lot. the second thing is that if that there is another factory upstream, your sub-supplier or your tier 2 supplier that is making a customized highly critical component, you might also want to do the same in that other factory or at least with a final random inspection so that he bad components maybe are contained in that sub-suppliers facility. we hope this is helpful, let us know if you have any questions!