How To Choose Which Factory Audit You Need?

A common piece of advice we give to customers is to undertake a factory audit when vetting new suppliers. There are a number of different types of factory audits that you may consider, though, so which is right for you?

Some clients have asked us, ‘how to confirm that a factory has the capacity needed to make our orders, without us being able to fly to their factory?’ The inability to go and meet suppliers on site has been a … Continue reading →

We’ve been speaking quite a lot about factory audits recently in our podcast mini-series about vetting Chinese suppliers. In particular, let’s compare quality audits vs process audits. Many buyers will send in a quality auditor. There are advantages to this … Continue reading →

Importers are being severely hit by the Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia epidemic in China: Many factory workers (operators, inspectors, engineers…) are locked down in Hubei province Perhaps a higher number of factory workers are remaining in their home towns, hesitant to … Continue reading →

At Sofeast, we have been going to Chinese factories on behalf of our clients since 2006. We have never had to face a situation of rapidly spreading disease, entire cities locked down, and all factories adopting stringent security measures. We … Continue reading →

In this article, I want to contrast conventional quality system audits based on ISO 9001, and what I call process-specific audits. Why are each beneficial to importers, and what are the drawbacks you might find with them?

I had a good discussion with Bergson Wang, who has worked in the CSR (corporate social responsibility) departments of Adidas and Puma. There is one thing both of us believe: Using social compliance audits does not work if the goal is to … Continue reading →

I see some well-meaning importers who pay to audit factories based on a checklist inspired by the ISO9001 standard. However, I am really questioning the value of a factory audit on a small factory (below 400-600 workers). Here’s why…