Manufacturing Process Audit
With nearly two decades’ experience in Quality Control and Quality Assurance Services, ET2C provides the on the ground presence to validate your suppliers and oversee the production of your goods. Using a rigorous sampling methodology, our inspectors can quickly identify areas of concern or quality problems and report these back in a timely manner.
Trust our Team of Experts
Our inspectors are highly trained and specialized so that our clients can leverage their product expertise. Based on the audit requirements, we will suggest an audit plan based on a risk assessment and agree a way forward our client. This includes different Acceptable Quality Levels (AQL) in line with statistical sampling methodology through to different timing of audit.
Third Party QC Process
As a starting point, we will need to collate all the product and supplier information. This will enable us to set up the quality control plan.
Our QC team will undertake a complete review as part of our risk assessment which will determine the quality standard we implement. This will include the AQL level for final inspection and any other specific quality checks that we think are needed.
We will propose a daily rate, which will usually be inclusive of all travel and other related expenses. There will be some exceptions where we need to add on additional expenses (such as lab testing or additional travel costs) and this will all be agreed up front.
We will send you the QC report within 24 hours of the audit taking place. This will show you whether the production has passed or failed and give you the visibility you need to be able to make a decision to ship the goods.
Our Quality Team are also able to provide additional quality services around ethical audits, regulatory product compliance, certification validation and other advice. For all your Quality needs, we are here to help!
ET2C suite of solutions
Success in manufacturing starts with the supplier selection process. There are a range of factory audits that we can undertake to give our clients the transparency they need to identify the right partners, including manufacturing audits, ethical audits (SMETA, BSCI), technical audits, and also, where appropriate the client’s own audit process can be followed should there be any specific aspects that need to also be addressed.
After any development, our quality team can check your samples against the product specification and compile a technical inspection report for the client. This is particularly useful if the sample is large and reduces the need to ship/courier the sample to the client.
We provide advisory services to our clients on the relevant mandatory and recommended product standards relevant to your market. The importer of record is responsible for all regulatory quality requirements and we can help advise on what tests need to be undertaken in this regard.
Where specific manufacturing risk has been identified, we conduct inspections during the production to isolate any issues earlier on in the manufacturing process so that they can be addressed and resolved. It can also be used to ensure that the production is on time where there is a particularly short lead time. This may be a new product design, a new factory or where there have been production issues previously.
This is the last inspection before the goods are released and is commonly conducted against AQL (Accepted Quality Level) statistical samples in line with the client’s requirements. If any production run should fail the reject pre-determined reject rates, then having briefed our client, we implement an agreed corrective action plan (CAP), which can be a wider statistical sample being checked, products being remade or they are accepted. The key is having the upstream visibility to make decisions prior to the goods being shipped.
Where specific risks have been identified with an inspection due to past productions or there is a clear need to check 100% of the production, then we can implement a piece by piece inspection. Typically, this may include checking the products in-line as well because this may likewise eliminate quality defects during the manufacturing process.
We provide this service to check the quality of the container and to be sure that the goods are correctly loaded in full. In particular, where a container is not full, care needs to be taken to ensure that the cartons are loaded in a manner that reduces the risk of damage during transit. Our report will show records of the container being sealed and the seal number to ensure that there is no tampering of the container until you receive it.
Based on our product expertise, we devise and develop comprehensive product checking lists that are aligned to our client’s quality requirements.
In-House Quality Assurance & Quality Control Services
Where clients are using our sourcing services, our quality team are already involved is part of our solution. Whether we are working with Indian, Vietnamese or Chinese manufacturers, we ensure that we understand the supplier we are partnering with and quality forms an integral part of this.
We work with our clients to set up risk driven quality programs that provide the reassurance and transparency on the supplier and any production. We are focused on continuous improvement and working with our suppliers to implement and enhance their own quality systems helps to reduce problems arising. We have also developed our own Code of Conduct from a corporate social responsibility (‘CSR’) perspective that we are actively engaging with across our supplier base.
Looking For Your Own Quality Control Solutions?
If you’d like to find out how our Quality Control Asurance can help your business, speak to us today to get a free quote.
Case Study: Third Party Quality Control
A European Government Department identified the need for an at the source quality assurance capability to confirm the quality of PPE products being purchased from Chinese Suppliers. There was significant risk around funds paid pre-shipment, local and domestic regulatory environment as well as general product quality. ET2C were very quickly able to provide visibility of product quality pre-shipment making sure that there were no costly mistakes.