For many entrepreneurs who want to outsource their production line to China, the focus will be finding professional and reliable manufacturing suppliers. When it comes to product quality, maybe they will ignore or pay less attention.
In fact, it is hard to maintain quality consistency when you have your products manufactured in China if you don’t have a quality assurance plan in place. You can visit your manufacturing partner in person to verify their qualifications, but you may not take a long journey to China to check the product quality yourself, which is unrealistic and unfeasible for most entrepreneurs due to the huge waste of time and costs.
Therefore, this is the reason why you need to work with a third-party quality control service provider to ensure your goods can meet your expectations and the import regulations and standards.
What Are the Common Quality Inspection Services In China?
Typically, there are three main categories of quality inspection services to cover all stages of the production line including before, during, and after inspections.
- Pre-Production Inspections (PPI):
- Factory Audits & Verification
- Social Audits
- Pre-Production Inspection
- During Production Inspections (DPI/DUPRO)
- First Article Inspection
- In-Production Quality Control
- Defect Sorting Service
- Pre-Shipment Inspection
- Container Loading Inspection (LS)
In the previous article, we have explained how During Production Inspections (DPI/DUPRO) works and why do you need it. In this article, we will go deep on things you should keep in mind before you choose the pre-shipment inspection.
What is A Pre-Shipment Inspection?
The pre-shipment inspection (PSI) is one of the most important quality inspection measures among the main quality control services for checking the item’s quality that clients order from manufacturing suppliers.
The PSI is conducted before at least 80% of the whole production line has been completed.
Why Do You Need A Pre-shipment Inspection?
Quality is put aside too often. Imagine you are satisfied with the first deliveries, but the quality of the following lots is slipping, what do you think? You will be worried about how this low-quality could affect your sale volume.
Thus, even you have worked with your suppliers many times and built solid relationships, or even a tier-one supplier in place, you still run the significant risk of ‘quality fade’ or systemic failure of the factory’s own internal quality procedures along with other potential factors.
- Inexperienced Workers
The new staff without good attitudes and experience in the relevant industry could be the main factor to spoil your product quality.
This situation getting worse due to the unexcepted Covid-19 outbreak in the recent two years, leading the factories around China to suspend operations occasionally. Whenever the pandemic is recovered, factories need to hire more employees to restart their production lines to speed up the lead time. However, the item quality may be differed due to the workers’ experience and the heavy workload.
- Power Shortage in China
China is facing a power supply shock in recent months, forcing cuts to factory production in the main manufacturing provinces like Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Guangdong.
This measure slowdowns the productivity in most of the manufacturing facilities, leading western business owners to have to work with multiple manufacturing suppliers to avoid supply chain disruption. In this situation, the possibility of getting more poor items is high.
- Outdated Technology
Even your supplier has great tech workers, if the technology and equipment are outdated, you will be disgruntled with their work.
As we know, China is pushing the “Made in China 2025” strategy, embracing advanced technology in the manufacturing sector. However, for most factory owners, it’s impossible to replace all the equipment or applications in a short time, especially during the age of uncertainty like a new variation during the pandemic and trade war.
- Uncertain Quality Assurance Standards
Let’s say you’ve done everything up to this point right. You have a smart factory partner with in-depth training employees and an advanced production line. Don’t ignore to review if their quality control standards can meet your exceptions when you do not apply any pre-production inspection services.
What Is The Purpose Of Pre-shipment Inspection?
A Pre-shipment inspection involves testing items and determining the defective rate. In this procedure, inspectors pull samples randomly from all batches of the order to ensure that the products compile with your specification and purchase order. The general purpose of the PSI is to determine if there are any needs to adjust or recall the production.
The main purpose of PSI depends highly on the product in different industries. In the food manufacturing sector, PSI needs to ensure the product is clean and healthy, so the PSI service provider needs to conduct chemical testing.
How Do You Benefit From Pre-shipment Inspections?
As a business owner, the last thing you want to see is that customers receive poor-quality products and complain, even ask for a refund, which would do great harm to your business reputation.
Pre-shipment inspection is the final opportunity for you to make any adjustment or other corrective action before releasing your production line from the manufacturing facility and getting ready for the shipment to your final required destination.
Additionally, you have a specific idea of the defective rate and that is inevitable. So when the customers complain about the defects, you know how to deal with them.
For instance, if you are getting apparel and garment manufactured in China, you would probably know that seam puckering is a common issue in fabrics. The minor seam puckering problem is acceptable to you but not for every customer. Therefore, you should prepare to be responsible for those who buy the defective garment.
Why Should You Choose C2W Over One Of The Other Inspection Companies in China?
C2W is a British owned and operated company with a team of experienced inspectors on the ground.
Being in business since 2005, we know how to help you avoid costly product defects and shipment delays by applying our pre-shipment inspection service. And we are familiar with the Chinese and foreign regulations to reduce the risks of getting unverified.
Now, C2W is ready to help your business build a robust quality inspection process. Our many service locations are around China, preparing to be your one-stop-shop for your inspection needs.
Contact us today to find out how we can help you navigate current quality control challenges.
