A factory audit is a thorough on-site evaluation of a manufacturing facility to assess its capability and conditions before you start or deepen a business relationship. It typically reviews areas like quality management systems, production capacity, equipment, worker skills, workplace safety, and social compliance. You should conduct a factory audit before finalizing a new supplier (to ensure they can meet your requirements) and periodically with existing suppliers (to ensure standards are maintained or to qualify them for new product lines). Audits are also advisable if you’ve experienced quality issues and need to root cause problems at the factory. Audits can be done by your own team, third-party inspectors, or firms like GP Consulting. The goal is to verify that the supplier “walks the talk” – that they have the infrastructure and processes in place to consistently deliver the quality and quantity you need.

AQL (Acceptable Quality Limit) is a statistical measurement of the maximum number of defective units, beyond which a batch is rejected during inspection. In practice, when you inspect a sample of a lot, AQL helps determine the sample size and the threshold for acceptance vs. rejection. For example, an AQL of 1.0% for major defects means that in a sample, if the percentage of units with major defects exceeds 1.0%, the entire lot should be rejected or subjected to 100% inspection. International standards (like ISO 2859) provide AQL tables that indicate how many samples to inspect based on lot size and the AQL level. Companies set different AQLs for critical, major, and minor defects based on customer expectations and product type. In short, AQL is a key part of quality control sampling plans, balancing inspection effort and risk: it provides confidence that a batch meets quality levels without checking every single item.

Ensuring quality with overseas suppliers involves setting clear expectations and verifying compliance at multiple stages:

• Clear Specifications: Provide detailed product specifications, drawings, and quality criteria. Include permissible tolerances, material requirements, and examples of acceptable vs. unacceptable quality. Clarity up front prevents misunderstandings.
• Sample Approval: Use pre-production samples or golden samples that you approve as the benchmark. Production shouldn’t start until you are happy with samples.
• In-line Inspections: If possible, perform inspections during production, especially for long production runs. Early detection of issues (with a pilot run or first article inspection) lets the factory correct course before mass production.
• Pre-shipment Inspections: Hire an inspector (or use your staff/GP Consulting) to do a final random inspection of the goods when production is complete but before they ship. This catches any deviations and can prevent a container of defective goods from leaving the factory.
• Certifications and Lab Tests: For certain products, require the factory to provide certifications (like CE, RoHS for electronics, or material composition tests for textiles) to ensure they meet industry standards.
• Ongoing Monitoring: Treat quality as an ongoing effort. Monitor defect rates by lot, give feedback to the supplier, and if issues persist, consider on-site quality assistance or switching suppliers. Building a relationship where the supplier understands that quality is non-negotiable is key – sometimes incentive schemes (like more orders for good quality, or quality-linked bonuses) can motivate sustained performance.

Quality Assurance and Quality Control are related but distinct concepts in ensuring product quality:

• Quality Assurance is proactive and process-oriented. It’s about setting up the right processes and systems to “assure” quality from the start. QA includes things like developing standard operating procedures (SOPs), training staff, choosing proper manufacturing methods, and implementing quality management systems (like ISO 9001). The idea is to prevent defects by making sure the process is robust.
• Quality Control is reactive and product-oriented. It involves inspecting and testing the actual products to find defects. QC might include visual inspections, measurements, or functional testing of samples from the production line or finished batch. It’s about detecting and rejecting defects.
  In short, QA is building quality into the process, QC is checking quality of the output. Both are crucial: QA sets the stage so that fewer defects occur, and QC verifies that the output meets the desired standards. GP Consulting often ensures that suppliers have solid QA (good processes) in place, and we perform QC checks as needed to verify the results.

GP Consulting provides comprehensive quality control support as part of our sourcing and supply chain services. Our approach includes:

• Defining Quality Requirements: We work with you to define clear quality standards for your products (or review existing ones) so that suppliers know exactly what is expected.
• Supplier Audits: Before production, we audit and evaluate the manufacturer’s quality management systems and processes to ensure they can meet your needs.
• On-site Inspections: We have experienced quality inspectors in key manufacturing regions. They can conduct in-process inspections and final random inspections on your behalf, using AQL sampling or even 100% checks for critical items. We provide detailed reports with pictures and findings after each inspection.
• Issue Resolution: If any quality issues are found, we coordinate with the supplier on corrective actions – whether that’s reworking the product, replacing faulty batches, or improving a process to prevent recurrence.
• Continuous Improvement: Over longer engagements, we help suppliers implement better QA practices (for example, training them on root cause analysis for defects, or optimizing their testing procedures). This reduces defects over time, benefiting all parties.
  In essence, GP Consulting acts as your eyes, ears, and quality expert on the factory floor, giving you confidence that overseas production meets the standards as if you were there overseeing it yourself.