Product inspections are one of our most popular solutions and we perform throughout China, Vietnam, India, and SE Asia.

Explore them all on this page, or hit the individual inspections below to go to their page and get a quotation:

• Production Monitoring Reporting (PMR)
• Inspection During Production (DPI)
• Final Random Inspection (FRI)
• Full Production Check (FPC)
• Container Packing & Loading Supervision (PLS)
• Off-Site Product Inspection (OSI)
• 100% Inspection, Packing, & Shipping

We can inspect the quality of most product types, in particular:

• Non-food consumer goods (from textiles to electronics)
• Mechanical products (for industrial or automotive use)

Click here to explore our product inspection solutions.

If you are a new client, contact us and give us the product details & photos, as well as the order quantity breakdown. We will suggest an inspection plan and, once we know what city the factory is located in, we will confirm a quotation.

If you are a new client, simply log in www.sofeast-booking.com and schedule the inspection. We will get back to you shortly.

If you need guidance on how to use the system to set up your inspection, please read this page.

Most inspections are done within 1 day (sometimes with several QC technicians working alongside each other). Sometimes it takes longer, depending on the number of products and the complexity of the work.

Follow this link to explore the product inspections that we offer, and learn more about what they include, their cost, and how long they take.

This video also introduces Sofeast’s product inspection solutions further, too.

Here’s a list:

• Production Monitoring Reporting (PMR)
• Inspection During Production (DPI)
• Final Random Inspection (FRI)
• Full Production Check (FPC)
• Container Packing & Loading Supervision (PLS)
• Off-Site Product Inspection (OSI)

We also produced this interesting infographic explaining more about Final Random Inspections, and also an infographic providing examples of common inspection findings, too.

Once you have selected the product inspection that you require, you will need to use our simple booking system to organize your inspection.

You first need to create your company’s private account.
Then, you need to log in at https://sofeast-booking.com, select the right service, and fill out the form.

It is all explained in How To Use Sofeast’s Booking System For Product Inspections.

After we conduct product inspections for you your inspector will provide you with a detailed inspection report which outlines the results.

Take a look at some real sample reports here:

Sample Inspection Reports

The reports include:

• Inspection checkpoints
• Results
• Images (of defects etc)

Product quality inspections can’t guarantee 100% perfect quality, because a product’s quality comes from its initial design, the inputs used, and the production processes, as well as other factors, too. Rather, inspections will help you reduce risks and find quality issues early enough to make a difference (such as before a production run is completed).

We see ‘quality’ as a continually improving concept (a robust Quality Assurance Plan can help this happen) and inspections are a part of that.

But to truly guarantee better quality, work needs to be done at an earlier stage with product design (DFQ), reliability testing, and controlling risks in your supply chain. We can help with reliability testing and lab testing, so contact us to discuss these.

In general, we use random sampling inspections where the inspector will use AQL tables to produce the correct sample number. This allows us to randomly select a sample of products from a given batch which will be representative of the overall quality of the batch.

Not all inspections benefit from this method, though, and so other inspections, such as 100% inspections (where every piece is checked), are also provided.

If you’re interested in defining your own sample sizes, try our free AQL calculator tool. to work out your own.

Unfortunately, some product inspections fail for whatever reason/s, as the products don’t reach your quality standard. A positive of this is that you found out before products were shipped to you all the way from China!

We will help you take the next steps to solve the issues. Here’s how…

1. You may choose to accept all of the products anyway after receiving the inspection report. Perhaps it’s possible to negotiate a rebate or discount with the supplier?
2. You may follow up the inspection with a 100% inspection to filter out the ‘good’ products which can then be shipped to you, while the ‘bad’ products are returned to your supplier for repair, rework, or scrap while you get a rebate.
3. The supplier can send staff to our facility in Dongguan to do rework or repair. Alternatively, we can do the repair/rework for you with our own team, too.

As we’re a 2nd party firm, you can expect us to provide some guidance on why the quality issues are occurring and how to fix them in the future. Our supplier performance management solutions can be very helpful if you need help in pushing suppliers to reach your standards.

Yes. The rate we’ll charge for clients who consistently use us for product inspections is negotiable starting at 5 regular man-days per month.

If you are a current client and have any questions about this, contact us or speak with your project manager who will be happy to come to an arrangement with you.

Let’s take a quick example question.

If Sofeast conducts a product inspection on a batch of our goods in China, passes them as reaching acceptable quality, and then upon arrival to us in the USA it’s found that there are unacceptable defects; does Sofeast bear liability for these defects and have insurance?

 

As a quality inspection agency, we have a cap on our liability in case there are clear signs of negligence in doing our work. Basically, that cap is not high, so it never makes sense to sue us. It’s the same for everybody in the industry.

The only circumstance in which this will change is if you book many thousands of inspections a year through a company like ours.  If so, you can probably negotiate for a high liability and force the inspection agency to contract liability insurance. Below that level, no inspection agency will accept to be associated with “insurance”. In this business, we are paid to do a job, not to be responsible for some risks.

For very high-risk products where defects can put lives at risk, we suggest contracting insurance for your company or working with a manufacturer that has a liability insurance policy. Inspection companies can provide some extra assurance here, but not in the form of insurance.

Fundamentally, this is why it is so important to work with good manufacturers and to ensure they have solid systems & processes in order to reduce the risks of ever needing to litigate due to product defects causing dangers when in the field.

Here’s how we can help you reduce risks…

As you know, we conduct product inspections, but in order to reduce supply chain and product quality risks some key parts of our business are:

• Working with clients to put proven quality and process systems in place, either at your factory or your supplier’s.
• Supporting you through product development in order that the product design itself avoids deficiencies that might lead to quality or safety issues.

Yes, we work with you to create your checklist as per your requirements so suppliers are very clear on what’s expected. Explore this affordable solution here.

When we build out your QC checklist we use our in-house IT system to create it.

The QC technician carrying out your inspection then uses the system to input results against your standards, results are fed back to you in a PDF report, and they’re also saved for traceability.

Learn more about how we use our IT system to create your QC checklist.

We always look at product safety during inspections. For example, we know the difference between Class I vs. Class II for the hi-pot test and their parameters, conduct incline tests for furniture regularly, and know that drawstrings on children garments are dangerous. We perform these kinds of tests every day in our organization.

And of course, we do look at certificates. In particular, for electrical products, sometimes the client sends us a certificate or requests that we check the certificate provided by the factory, and we use it. For example, we look at the CDF (Constructional Data Form) and we compare it with what we see on the critical components (same appearance, same marking, etc.), and that’s quite typical.

However, our inspectors are not compliance consultants. They won’t call the issuer of a certificate or report in order to confirm authenticity or ask for missing results on key standards. That has to be documented in advance by the compliance/quality manager of the importing company. The compliance/quality manager has to know what is required and has to archive all that information in a technical file for years to come.

Importers need to know what the safety requirements of their products are. We do not pretend we can replace your compliance manager.

Medical face masks have become an increasingly popular product type for importers due to the coronavirus pandemic.

As such, we have been inspecting them regularly, have plenty of experience with medical devices in general, and can help you. We are ISO 9001 certified for product inspections, and one of the process steps in that activity is random sampling.

We put our generic checklist for surgical masks online, so this will give you some idea of how we approach these inspections.

The price for 1 inspector to go to a warehouse in most major manufacturing areas in China and perform a final random inspection on the completed masks is 299 USD all included (we also provide inspections during production if you prefer).

In terms of timelines, we need about 2 days’ notice after we’ve received all of the necessary project information from you.

You may find these resources useful:

• Exporting Face Masks from China: Know the Basics about Regulations & Standards
• Importing Face Masks into the EU: Know the Basics about Regulations & Standards
• Importing Face Masks from China to the USA: Know the Basics about Regulations & Standards
• The different names & classifications for face masks and respirators

When sourcing a product quality inspection provider you have these 2 options:

1. Work with a company that identifies itself as part of the “testing, inspection, certification” (TIC) industry
2. Work with a company that can help you manage quality in addition to detecting issues

Sofeast is the latter, and you can read more about why this is beneficial in comparison to regular quality inspection companies here.

Product inspections are one of our most popular solutions and we perform throughout China, Vietnam, India, and SE Asia.

Explore them all on this page, or hit the individual inspections below to go to their page and get a quotation:

• Production Monitoring Reporting (PMR)
• Inspection During Production (DPI)
• Final Random Inspection (FRI)
• Full Production Check (FPC)
• Container Packing & Loading Supervision (PLS)
• Off-Site Product Inspection (OSI)
• 100% Inspection, Packing, & Shipping

We can inspect the quality of most product types, in particular:

• Non-food consumer goods (from textiles to electronics)
• Mechanical products (for industrial or automotive use)

Click here to explore our product inspection solutions.

If you are a new client, contact us and give us the product details & photos, as well as the order quantity breakdown. We will suggest an inspection plan and, once we know what city the factory is located in, we will confirm a quotation.

If you are a new client, simply log in www.sofeast-booking.com and schedule the inspection. We will get back to you shortly.

If you need guidance on how to use the system to set up your inspection, please read this page.

Most inspections are done within 1 day (sometimes with several QC technicians working alongside each other). Sometimes it takes longer, depending on the number of products and the complexity of the work.

Follow this link to explore the product inspections that we offer, and learn more about what they include, their cost, and how long they take.

This video also introduces Sofeast’s product inspection solutions further, too.

Here’s a list:

• Production Monitoring Reporting (PMR)
• Inspection During Production (DPI)
• Final Random Inspection (FRI)
• Full Production Check (FPC)
• Container Packing & Loading Supervision (PLS)
• Off-Site Product Inspection (OSI)

We also produced this interesting infographic explaining more about Final Random Inspections, and also an infographic providing examples of common inspection findings, too.

Once you have selected the product inspection that you require, you will need to use our simple booking system to organize your inspection.

You first need to create your company’s private account.
Then, you need to log in at https://sofeast-booking.com, select the right service, and fill out the form.

It is all explained in How To Use Sofeast’s Booking System For Product Inspections.

After we conduct product inspections for you your inspector will provide you with a detailed inspection report which outlines the results.

Take a look at some real sample reports here:

Sample Inspection Reports

The reports include:

• Inspection checkpoints
• Results
• Images (of defects etc)

Product quality inspections can’t guarantee 100% perfect quality, because a product’s quality comes from its initial design, the inputs used, and the production processes, as well as other factors, too. Rather, inspections will help you reduce risks and find quality issues early enough to make a difference (such as before a production run is completed).

We see ‘quality’ as a continually improving concept (a robust Quality Assurance Plan can help this happen) and inspections are a part of that.

But to truly guarantee better quality, work needs to be done at an earlier stage with product design (DFQ), reliability testing, and controlling risks in your supply chain. We can help with reliability testing and lab testing, so contact us to discuss these.

In general, we use random sampling inspections where the inspector will use AQL tables to produce the correct sample number. This allows us to randomly select a sample of products from a given batch which will be representative of the overall quality of the batch.

Not all inspections benefit from this method, though, and so other inspections, such as 100% inspections (where every piece is checked), are also provided.

If you’re interested in defining your own sample sizes, try our free AQL calculator tool. to work out your own.

Unfortunately, some product inspections fail for whatever reason/s, as the products don’t reach your quality standard. A positive of this is that you found out before products were shipped to you all the way from China!

We will help you take the next steps to solve the issues. Here’s how…

1. You may choose to accept all of the products anyway after receiving the inspection report. Perhaps it’s possible to negotiate a rebate or discount with the supplier?
2. You may follow up the inspection with a 100% inspection to filter out the ‘good’ products which can then be shipped to you, while the ‘bad’ products are returned to your supplier for repair, rework, or scrap while you get a rebate.
3. The supplier can send staff to our facility in Dongguan to do rework or repair. Alternatively, we can do the repair/rework for you with our own team, too.

As we’re a 2nd party firm, you can expect us to provide some guidance on why the quality issues are occurring and how to fix them in the future. Our supplier performance management solutions can be very helpful if you need help in pushing suppliers to reach your standards.

Yes. The rate we’ll charge for clients who consistently use us for product inspections is negotiable starting at 5 regular man-days per month.

If you are a current client and have any questions about this, contact us or speak with your project manager who will be happy to come to an arrangement with you.

Let’s take a quick example question.

If Sofeast conducts a product inspection on a batch of our goods in China, passes them as reaching acceptable quality, and then upon arrival to us in the USA it’s found that there are unacceptable defects; does Sofeast bear liability for these defects and have insurance?

 

As a quality inspection agency, we have a cap on our liability in case there are clear signs of negligence in doing our work. Basically, that cap is not high, so it never makes sense to sue us. It’s the same for everybody in the industry.

The only circumstance in which this will change is if you book many thousands of inspections a year through a company like ours.  If so, you can probably negotiate for a high liability and force the inspection agency to contract liability insurance. Below that level, no inspection agency will accept to be associated with “insurance”. In this business, we are paid to do a job, not to be responsible for some risks.

For very high-risk products where defects can put lives at risk, we suggest contracting insurance for your company or working with a manufacturer that has a liability insurance policy. Inspection companies can provide some extra assurance here, but not in the form of insurance.

Fundamentally, this is why it is so important to work with good manufacturers and to ensure they have solid systems & processes in order to reduce the risks of ever needing to litigate due to product defects causing dangers when in the field.

Here’s how we can help you reduce risks…

As you know, we conduct product inspections, but in order to reduce supply chain and product quality risks some key parts of our business are:

• Working with clients to put proven quality and process systems in place, either at your factory or your supplier’s.
• Supporting you through product development in order that the product design itself avoids deficiencies that might lead to quality or safety issues.

Yes, we work with you to create your checklist as per your requirements so suppliers are very clear on what’s expected. Explore this affordable solution here.

When we build out your QC checklist we use our in-house IT system to create it.

The QC technician carrying out your inspection then uses the system to input results against your standards, results are fed back to you in a PDF report, and they’re also saved for traceability.

Learn more about how we use our IT system to create your QC checklist.

We always look at product safety during inspections. For example, we know the difference between Class I vs. Class II for the hi-pot test and their parameters, conduct incline tests for furniture regularly, and know that drawstrings on children garments are dangerous. We perform these kinds of tests every day in our organization.

And of course, we do look at certificates. In particular, for electrical products, sometimes the client sends us a certificate or requests that we check the certificate provided by the factory, and we use it. For example, we look at the CDF (Constructional Data Form) and we compare it with what we see on the critical components (same appearance, same marking, etc.), and that’s quite typical.

However, our inspectors are not compliance consultants. They won’t call the issuer of a certificate or report in order to confirm authenticity or ask for missing results on key standards. That has to be documented in advance by the compliance/quality manager of the importing company. The compliance/quality manager has to know what is required and has to archive all that information in a technical file for years to come.

Importers need to know what the safety requirements of their products are. We do not pretend we can replace your compliance manager.

Medical face masks have become an increasingly popular product type for importers due to the coronavirus pandemic.

As such, we have been inspecting them regularly, have plenty of experience with medical devices in general, and can help you. We are ISO 9001 certified for product inspections, and one of the process steps in that activity is random sampling.

We put our generic checklist for surgical masks online, so this will give you some idea of how we approach these inspections.

The price for 1 inspector to go to a warehouse in most major manufacturing areas in China and perform a final random inspection on the completed masks is 299 USD all included (we also provide inspections during production if you prefer).

In terms of timelines, we need about 2 days’ notice after we’ve received all of the necessary project information from you.

You may find these resources useful:

• Exporting Face Masks from China: Know the Basics about Regulations & Standards
• Importing Face Masks into the EU: Know the Basics about Regulations & Standards
• Importing Face Masks from China to the USA: Know the Basics about Regulations & Standards
• The different names & classifications for face masks and respirators

When sourcing a product quality inspection provider you have these 2 options:

1. Work with a company that identifies itself as part of the “testing, inspection, certification” (TIC) industry
2. Work with a company that can help you manage quality in addition to detecting issues

Sofeast is the latter, and you can read more about why this is beneficial in comparison to regular quality inspection companies here.

Product inspections are one of our most popular solutions and we perform throughout China, Vietnam, India, and SE Asia.

Explore them all on this page, or hit the individual inspections below to go to their page and get a quotation:

• Production Monitoring Reporting (PMR)
• Inspection During Production (DPI)
• Final Random Inspection (FRI)
• Full Production Check (FPC)
• Container Packing & Loading Supervision (PLS)
• Off-Site Product Inspection (OSI)
• 100% Inspection, Packing, & Shipping

We can inspect the quality of most product types, in particular:

• Non-food consumer goods (from textiles to electronics)
• Mechanical products (for industrial or automotive use)

Click here to explore our product inspection solutions.

If you are a new client, contact us and give us the product details & photos, as well as the order quantity breakdown. We will suggest an inspection plan and, once we know what city the factory is located in, we will confirm a quotation.

If you are a new client, simply log in www.sofeast-booking.com and schedule the inspection. We will get back to you shortly.

If you need guidance on how to use the system to set up your inspection, please read this page.

Most inspections are done within 1 day (sometimes with several QC technicians working alongside each other). Sometimes it takes longer, depending on the number of products and the complexity of the work.

Follow this link to explore the product inspections that we offer, and learn more about what they include, their cost, and how long they take.

This video also introduces Sofeast’s product inspection solutions further, too.

Here’s a list:

• Production Monitoring Reporting (PMR)
• Inspection During Production (DPI)
• Final Random Inspection (FRI)
• Full Production Check (FPC)
• Container Packing & Loading Supervision (PLS)
• Off-Site Product Inspection (OSI)

We also produced this interesting infographic explaining more about Final Random Inspections, and also an infographic providing examples of common inspection findings, too.

Once you have selected the product inspection that you require, you will need to use our simple booking system to organize your inspection.

You first need to create your company’s private account.
Then, you need to log in at https://sofeast-booking.com, select the right service, and fill out the form.

It is all explained in How To Use Sofeast’s Booking System For Product Inspections.

After we conduct product inspections for you your inspector will provide you with a detailed inspection report which outlines the results.

Take a look at some real sample reports here:

Sample Inspection Reports

The reports include:

• Inspection checkpoints
• Results
• Images (of defects etc)

Product quality inspections can’t guarantee 100% perfect quality, because a product’s quality comes from its initial design, the inputs used, and the production processes, as well as other factors, too. Rather, inspections will help you reduce risks and find quality issues early enough to make a difference (such as before a production run is completed).

We see ‘quality’ as a continually improving concept (a robust Quality Assurance Plan can help this happen) and inspections are a part of that.

But to truly guarantee better quality, work needs to be done at an earlier stage with product design (DFQ), reliability testing, and controlling risks in your supply chain. We can help with reliability testing and lab testing, so contact us to discuss these.

In general, we use random sampling inspections where the inspector will use AQL tables to produce the correct sample number. This allows us to randomly select a sample of products from a given batch which will be representative of the overall quality of the batch.

Not all inspections benefit from this method, though, and so other inspections, such as 100% inspections (where every piece is checked), are also provided.

If you’re interested in defining your own sample sizes, try our free AQL calculator tool. to work out your own.

Unfortunately, some product inspections fail for whatever reason/s, as the products don’t reach your quality standard. A positive of this is that you found out before products were shipped to you all the way from China!

We will help you take the next steps to solve the issues. Here’s how…

1. You may choose to accept all of the products anyway after receiving the inspection report. Perhaps it’s possible to negotiate a rebate or discount with the supplier?
2. You may follow up the inspection with a 100% inspection to filter out the ‘good’ products which can then be shipped to you, while the ‘bad’ products are returned to your supplier for repair, rework, or scrap while you get a rebate.
3. The supplier can send staff to our facility in Dongguan to do rework or repair. Alternatively, we can do the repair/rework for you with our own team, too.

As we’re a 2nd party firm, you can expect us to provide some guidance on why the quality issues are occurring and how to fix them in the future. Our supplier performance management solutions can be very helpful if you need help in pushing suppliers to reach your standards.

Yes. The rate we’ll charge for clients who consistently use us for product inspections is negotiable starting at 5 regular man-days per month.

If you are a current client and have any questions about this, contact us or speak with your project manager who will be happy to come to an arrangement with you.

Let’s take a quick example question.

If Sofeast conducts a product inspection on a batch of our goods in China, passes them as reaching acceptable quality, and then upon arrival to us in the USA it’s found that there are unacceptable defects; does Sofeast bear liability for these defects and have insurance?

 

As a quality inspection agency, we have a cap on our liability in case there are clear signs of negligence in doing our work. Basically, that cap is not high, so it never makes sense to sue us. It’s the same for everybody in the industry.

The only circumstance in which this will change is if you book many thousands of inspections a year through a company like ours.  If so, you can probably negotiate for a high liability and force the inspection agency to contract liability insurance. Below that level, no inspection agency will accept to be associated with “insurance”. In this business, we are paid to do a job, not to be responsible for some risks.

For very high-risk products where defects can put lives at risk, we suggest contracting insurance for your company or working with a manufacturer that has a liability insurance policy. Inspection companies can provide some extra assurance here, but not in the form of insurance.

Fundamentally, this is why it is so important to work with good manufacturers and to ensure they have solid systems & processes in order to reduce the risks of ever needing to litigate due to product defects causing dangers when in the field.

Here’s how we can help you reduce risks…

As you know, we conduct product inspections, but in order to reduce supply chain and product quality risks some key parts of our business are:

• Working with clients to put proven quality and process systems in place, either at your factory or your supplier’s.
• Supporting you through product development in order that the product design itself avoids deficiencies that might lead to quality or safety issues.

Yes, we work with you to create your checklist as per your requirements so suppliers are very clear on what’s expected. Explore this affordable solution here.

When we build out your QC checklist we use our in-house IT system to create it.

The QC technician carrying out your inspection then uses the system to input results against your standards, results are fed back to you in a PDF report, and they’re also saved for traceability.

Learn more about how we use our IT system to create your QC checklist.

We always look at product safety during inspections. For example, we know the difference between Class I vs. Class II for the hi-pot test and their parameters, conduct incline tests for furniture regularly, and know that drawstrings on children garments are dangerous. We perform these kinds of tests every day in our organization.

And of course, we do look at certificates. In particular, for electrical products, sometimes the client sends us a certificate or requests that we check the certificate provided by the factory, and we use it. For example, we look at the CDF (Constructional Data Form) and we compare it with what we see on the critical components (same appearance, same marking, etc.), and that’s quite typical.

However, our inspectors are not compliance consultants. They won’t call the issuer of a certificate or report in order to confirm authenticity or ask for missing results on key standards. That has to be documented in advance by the compliance/quality manager of the importing company. The compliance/quality manager has to know what is required and has to archive all that information in a technical file for years to come.

Importers need to know what the safety requirements of their products are. We do not pretend we can replace your compliance manager.

Medical face masks have become an increasingly popular product type for importers due to the coronavirus pandemic.

As such, we have been inspecting them regularly, have plenty of experience with medical devices in general, and can help you. We are ISO 9001 certified for product inspections, and one of the process steps in that activity is random sampling.

We put our generic checklist for surgical masks online, so this will give you some idea of how we approach these inspections.

The price for 1 inspector to go to a warehouse in most major manufacturing areas in China and perform a final random inspection on the completed masks is 299 USD all included (we also provide inspections during production if you prefer).

In terms of timelines, we need about 2 days’ notice after we’ve received all of the necessary project information from you.

You may find these resources useful:

• Exporting Face Masks from China: Know the Basics about Regulations & Standards
• Importing Face Masks into the EU: Know the Basics about Regulations & Standards
• Importing Face Masks from China to the USA: Know the Basics about Regulations & Standards
• The different names & classifications for face masks and respirators

When sourcing a product quality inspection provider you have these 2 options:

1. Work with a company that identifies itself as part of the “testing, inspection, certification” (TIC) industry
2. Work with a company that can help you manage quality in addition to detecting issues

Sofeast is the latter, and you can read more about why this is beneficial in comparison to regular quality inspection companies here.

Product inspections are one of our most popular solutions and we perform throughout China, Vietnam, India, and SE Asia.

Explore them all on this page, or hit the individual inspections below to go to their page and get a quotation:

• Production Monitoring Reporting (PMR)
• Inspection During Production (DPI)
• Final Random Inspection (FRI)
• Full Production Check (FPC)
• Container Packing & Loading Supervision (PLS)
• Off-Site Product Inspection (OSI)
• 100% Inspection, Packing, & Shipping

We can inspect the quality of most product types, in particular:

• Non-food consumer goods (from textiles to electronics)
• Mechanical products (for industrial or automotive use)

Click here to explore our product inspection solutions.

If you are a new client, contact us and give us the product details & photos, as well as the order quantity breakdown. We will suggest an inspection plan and, once we know what city the factory is located in, we will confirm a quotation.

If you are a new client, simply log in www.sofeast-booking.com and schedule the inspection. We will get back to you shortly.

If you need guidance on how to use the system to set up your inspection, please read this page.

Most inspections are done within 1 day (sometimes with several QC technicians working alongside each other). Sometimes it takes longer, depending on the number of products and the complexity of the work.

Follow this link to explore the product inspections that we offer, and learn more about what they include, their cost, and how long they take.

This video also introduces Sofeast’s product inspection solutions further, too.

Here’s a list:

• Production Monitoring Reporting (PMR)
• Inspection During Production (DPI)
• Final Random Inspection (FRI)
• Full Production Check (FPC)
• Container Packing & Loading Supervision (PLS)
• Off-Site Product Inspection (OSI)

We also produced this interesting infographic explaining more about Final Random Inspections, and also an infographic providing examples of common inspection findings, too.

Once you have selected the product inspection that you require, you will need to use our simple booking system to organize your inspection.

You first need to create your company’s private account.
Then, you need to log in at https://sofeast-booking.com, select the right service, and fill out the form.

It is all explained in How To Use Sofeast’s Booking System For Product Inspections.

After we conduct product inspections for you your inspector will provide you with a detailed inspection report which outlines the results.

Take a look at some real sample reports here:

Sample Inspection Reports

The reports include:

• Inspection checkpoints
• Results
• Images (of defects etc)

Product quality inspections can’t guarantee 100% perfect quality, because a product’s quality comes from its initial design, the inputs used, and the production processes, as well as other factors, too. Rather, inspections will help you reduce risks and find quality issues early enough to make a difference (such as before a production run is completed).

We see ‘quality’ as a continually improving concept (a robust Quality Assurance Plan can help this happen) and inspections are a part of that.

But to truly guarantee better quality, work needs to be done at an earlier stage with product design (DFQ), reliability testing, and controlling risks in your supply chain. We can help with reliability testing and lab testing, so contact us to discuss these.

In general, we use random sampling inspections where the inspector will use AQL tables to produce the correct sample number. This allows us to randomly select a sample of products from a given batch which will be representative of the overall quality of the batch.

Not all inspections benefit from this method, though, and so other inspections, such as 100% inspections (where every piece is checked), are also provided.

If you’re interested in defining your own sample sizes, try our free AQL calculator tool. to work out your own.

Unfortunately, some product inspections fail for whatever reason/s, as the products don’t reach your quality standard. A positive of this is that you found out before products were shipped to you all the way from China!

We will help you take the next steps to solve the issues. Here’s how…

1. You may choose to accept all of the products anyway after receiving the inspection report. Perhaps it’s possible to negotiate a rebate or discount with the supplier?
2. You may follow up the inspection with a 100% inspection to filter out the ‘good’ products which can then be shipped to you, while the ‘bad’ products are returned to your supplier for repair, rework, or scrap while you get a rebate.
3. The supplier can send staff to our facility in Dongguan to do rework or repair. Alternatively, we can do the repair/rework for you with our own team, too.

As we’re a 2nd party firm, you can expect us to provide some guidance on why the quality issues are occurring and how to fix them in the future. Our supplier performance management solutions can be very helpful if you need help in pushing suppliers to reach your standards.

Yes. The rate we’ll charge for clients who consistently use us for product inspections is negotiable starting at 5 regular man-days per month.

If you are a current client and have any questions about this, contact us or speak with your project manager who will be happy to come to an arrangement with you.

Let’s take a quick example question.

If Sofeast conducts a product inspection on a batch of our goods in China, passes them as reaching acceptable quality, and then upon arrival to us in the USA it’s found that there are unacceptable defects; does Sofeast bear liability for these defects and have insurance?

 

As a quality inspection agency, we have a cap on our liability in case there are clear signs of negligence in doing our work. Basically, that cap is not high, so it never makes sense to sue us. It’s the same for everybody in the industry.

The only circumstance in which this will change is if you book many thousands of inspections a year through a company like ours.  If so, you can probably negotiate for a high liability and force the inspection agency to contract liability insurance. Below that level, no inspection agency will accept to be associated with “insurance”. In this business, we are paid to do a job, not to be responsible for some risks.

For very high-risk products where defects can put lives at risk, we suggest contracting insurance for your company or working with a manufacturer that has a liability insurance policy. Inspection companies can provide some extra assurance here, but not in the form of insurance.

Fundamentally, this is why it is so important to work with good manufacturers and to ensure they have solid systems & processes in order to reduce the risks of ever needing to litigate due to product defects causing dangers when in the field.

Here’s how we can help you reduce risks…

As you know, we conduct product inspections, but in order to reduce supply chain and product quality risks some key parts of our business are:

• Working with clients to put proven quality and process systems in place, either at your factory or your supplier’s.
• Supporting you through product development in order that the product design itself avoids deficiencies that might lead to quality or safety issues.

Yes, we work with you to create your checklist as per your requirements so suppliers are very clear on what’s expected. Explore this affordable solution here.

When we build out your QC checklist we use our in-house IT system to create it.

The QC technician carrying out your inspection then uses the system to input results against your standards, results are fed back to you in a PDF report, and they’re also saved for traceability.

Learn more about how we use our IT system to create your QC checklist.

We always look at product safety during inspections. For example, we know the difference between Class I vs. Class II for the hi-pot test and their parameters, conduct incline tests for furniture regularly, and know that drawstrings on children garments are dangerous. We perform these kinds of tests every day in our organization.

And of course, we do look at certificates. In particular, for electrical products, sometimes the client sends us a certificate or requests that we check the certificate provided by the factory, and we use it. For example, we look at the CDF (Constructional Data Form) and we compare it with what we see on the critical components (same appearance, same marking, etc.), and that’s quite typical.

However, our inspectors are not compliance consultants. They won’t call the issuer of a certificate or report in order to confirm authenticity or ask for missing results on key standards. That has to be documented in advance by the compliance/quality manager of the importing company. The compliance/quality manager has to know what is required and has to archive all that information in a technical file for years to come.

Importers need to know what the safety requirements of their products are. We do not pretend we can replace your compliance manager.

Medical face masks have become an increasingly popular product type for importers due to the coronavirus pandemic.

As such, we have been inspecting them regularly, have plenty of experience with medical devices in general, and can help you. We are ISO 9001 certified for product inspections, and one of the process steps in that activity is random sampling.

We put our generic checklist for surgical masks online, so this will give you some idea of how we approach these inspections.

The price for 1 inspector to go to a warehouse in most major manufacturing areas in China and perform a final random inspection on the completed masks is 299 USD all included (we also provide inspections during production if you prefer).

In terms of timelines, we need about 2 days’ notice after we’ve received all of the necessary project information from you.

You may find these resources useful:

• Exporting Face Masks from China: Know the Basics about Regulations & Standards
• Importing Face Masks into the EU: Know the Basics about Regulations & Standards
• Importing Face Masks from China to the USA: Know the Basics about Regulations & Standards
• The different names & classifications for face masks and respirators

When sourcing a product quality inspection provider you have these 2 options:

1. Work with a company that identifies itself as part of the “testing, inspection, certification” (TIC) industry
2. Work with a company that can help you manage quality in addition to detecting issues

Sofeast is the latter, and you can read more about why this is beneficial in comparison to regular quality inspection companies here.

Product inspections are one of our most popular solutions and we perform throughout China, Vietnam, India, and SE Asia.

Explore them all on this page, or hit the individual inspections below to go to their page and get a quotation:

• Production Monitoring Reporting (PMR)
• Inspection During Production (DPI)
• Final Random Inspection (FRI)
• Full Production Check (FPC)
• Container Packing & Loading Supervision (PLS)
• Off-Site Product Inspection (OSI)
• 100% Inspection, Packing, & Shipping

We can inspect the quality of most product types, in particular:

• Non-food consumer goods (from textiles to electronics)
• Mechanical products (for industrial or automotive use)

Click here to explore our product inspection solutions.

If you are a new client, contact us and give us the product details & photos, as well as the order quantity breakdown. We will suggest an inspection plan and, once we know what city the factory is located in, we will confirm a quotation.

If you are a new client, simply log in www.sofeast-booking.com and schedule the inspection. We will get back to you shortly.

If you need guidance on how to use the system to set up your inspection, please read this page.

Most inspections are done within 1 day (sometimes with several QC technicians working alongside each other). Sometimes it takes longer, depending on the number of products and the complexity of the work.

Follow this link to explore the product inspections that we offer, and learn more about what they include, their cost, and how long they take.

This video also introduces Sofeast’s product inspection solutions further, too.

Here’s a list:

• Production Monitoring Reporting (PMR)
• Inspection During Production (DPI)
• Final Random Inspection (FRI)
• Full Production Check (FPC)
• Container Packing & Loading Supervision (PLS)
• Off-Site Product Inspection (OSI)

We also produced this interesting infographic explaining more about Final Random Inspections, and also an infographic providing examples of common inspection findings, too.

Once you have selected the product inspection that you require, you will need to use our simple booking system to organize your inspection.

You first need to create your company’s private account.
Then, you need to log in at https://sofeast-booking.com, select the right service, and fill out the form.

It is all explained in How To Use Sofeast’s Booking System For Product Inspections.

After we conduct product inspections for you your inspector will provide you with a detailed inspection report which outlines the results.

Take a look at some real sample reports here:

Sample Inspection Reports

The reports include:

• Inspection checkpoints
• Results
• Images (of defects etc)

Product quality inspections can’t guarantee 100% perfect quality, because a product’s quality comes from its initial design, the inputs used, and the production processes, as well as other factors, too. Rather, inspections will help you reduce risks and find quality issues early enough to make a difference (such as before a production run is completed).

We see ‘quality’ as a continually improving concept (a robust Quality Assurance Plan can help this happen) and inspections are a part of that.

But to truly guarantee better quality, work needs to be done at an earlier stage with product design (DFQ), reliability testing, and controlling risks in your supply chain. We can help with reliability testing and lab testing, so contact us to discuss these.

In general, we use random sampling inspections where the inspector will use AQL tables to produce the correct sample number. This allows us to randomly select a sample of products from a given batch which will be representative of the overall quality of the batch.

Not all inspections benefit from this method, though, and so other inspections, such as 100% inspections (where every piece is checked), are also provided.

If you’re interested in defining your own sample sizes, try our free AQL calculator tool. to work out your own.

Unfortunately, some product inspections fail for whatever reason/s, as the products don’t reach your quality standard. A positive of this is that you found out before products were shipped to you all the way from China!

We will help you take the next steps to solve the issues. Here’s how…

1. You may choose to accept all of the products anyway after receiving the inspection report. Perhaps it’s possible to negotiate a rebate or discount with the supplier?
2. You may follow up the inspection with a 100% inspection to filter out the ‘good’ products which can then be shipped to you, while the ‘bad’ products are returned to your supplier for repair, rework, or scrap while you get a rebate.
3. The supplier can send staff to our facility in Dongguan to do rework or repair. Alternatively, we can do the repair/rework for you with our own team, too.

As we’re a 2nd party firm, you can expect us to provide some guidance on why the quality issues are occurring and how to fix them in the future. Our supplier performance management solutions can be very helpful if you need help in pushing suppliers to reach your standards.

Yes. The rate we’ll charge for clients who consistently use us for product inspections is negotiable starting at 5 regular man-days per month.

If you are a current client and have any questions about this, contact us or speak with your project manager who will be happy to come to an arrangement with you.

Let’s take a quick example question.

If Sofeast conducts a product inspection on a batch of our goods in China, passes them as reaching acceptable quality, and then upon arrival to us in the USA it’s found that there are unacceptable defects; does Sofeast bear liability for these defects and have insurance?

 

As a quality inspection agency, we have a cap on our liability in case there are clear signs of negligence in doing our work. Basically, that cap is not high, so it never makes sense to sue us. It’s the same for everybody in the industry.

The only circumstance in which this will change is if you book many thousands of inspections a year through a company like ours.  If so, you can probably negotiate for a high liability and force the inspection agency to contract liability insurance. Below that level, no inspection agency will accept to be associated with “insurance”. In this business, we are paid to do a job, not to be responsible for some risks.

For very high-risk products where defects can put lives at risk, we suggest contracting insurance for your company or working with a manufacturer that has a liability insurance policy. Inspection companies can provide some extra assurance here, but not in the form of insurance.

Fundamentally, this is why it is so important to work with good manufacturers and to ensure they have solid systems & processes in order to reduce the risks of ever needing to litigate due to product defects causing dangers when in the field.

Here’s how we can help you reduce risks…

As you know, we conduct product inspections, but in order to reduce supply chain and product quality risks some key parts of our business are:

• Working with clients to put proven quality and process systems in place, either at your factory or your supplier’s.
• Supporting you through product development in order that the product design itself avoids deficiencies that might lead to quality or safety issues.

Yes, we work with you to create your checklist as per your requirements so suppliers are very clear on what’s expected. Explore this affordable solution here.

When we build out your QC checklist we use our in-house IT system to create it.

The QC technician carrying out your inspection then uses the system to input results against your standards, results are fed back to you in a PDF report, and they’re also saved for traceability.

Learn more about how we use our IT system to create your QC checklist.

We always look at product safety during inspections. For example, we know the difference between Class I vs. Class II for the hi-pot test and their parameters, conduct incline tests for furniture regularly, and know that drawstrings on children garments are dangerous. We perform these kinds of tests every day in our organization.

And of course, we do look at certificates. In particular, for electrical products, sometimes the client sends us a certificate or requests that we check the certificate provided by the factory, and we use it. For example, we look at the CDF (Constructional Data Form) and we compare it with what we see on the critical components (same appearance, same marking, etc.), and that’s quite typical.

However, our inspectors are not compliance consultants. They won’t call the issuer of a certificate or report in order to confirm authenticity or ask for missing results on key standards. That has to be documented in advance by the compliance/quality manager of the importing company. The compliance/quality manager has to know what is required and has to archive all that information in a technical file for years to come.

Importers need to know what the safety requirements of their products are. We do not pretend we can replace your compliance manager.

Medical face masks have become an increasingly popular product type for importers due to the coronavirus pandemic.

As such, we have been inspecting them regularly, have plenty of experience with medical devices in general, and can help you. We are ISO 9001 certified for product inspections, and one of the process steps in that activity is random sampling.

We put our generic checklist for surgical masks online, so this will give you some idea of how we approach these inspections.

The price for 1 inspector to go to a warehouse in most major manufacturing areas in China and perform a final random inspection on the completed masks is 299 USD all included (we also provide inspections during production if you prefer).

In terms of timelines, we need about 2 days’ notice after we’ve received all of the necessary project information from you.

You may find these resources useful:

• Exporting Face Masks from China: Know the Basics about Regulations & Standards
• Importing Face Masks into the EU: Know the Basics about Regulations & Standards
• Importing Face Masks from China to the USA: Know the Basics about Regulations & Standards
• The different names & classifications for face masks and respirators

When sourcing a product quality inspection provider you have these 2 options:

1. Work with a company that identifies itself as part of the “testing, inspection, certification” (TIC) industry
2. Work with a company that can help you manage quality in addition to detecting issues

Sofeast is the latter, and you can read more about why this is beneficial in comparison to regular quality inspection companies here.

Product inspections are one of our most popular solutions and we perform throughout China, Vietnam, India, and SE Asia.

Explore them all on this page, or hit the individual inspections below to go to their page and get a quotation:

• Production Monitoring Reporting (PMR)
• Inspection During Production (DPI)
• Final Random Inspection (FRI)
• Full Production Check (FPC)
• Container Packing & Loading Supervision (PLS)
• Off-Site Product Inspection (OSI)
• 100% Inspection, Packing, & Shipping

We can inspect the quality of most product types, in particular:

• Non-food consumer goods (from textiles to electronics)
• Mechanical products (for industrial or automotive use)

Click here to explore our product inspection solutions.

If you are a new client, contact us and give us the product details & photos, as well as the order quantity breakdown. We will suggest an inspection plan and, once we know what city the factory is located in, we will confirm a quotation.

If you are a new client, simply log in www.sofeast-booking.com and schedule the inspection. We will get back to you shortly.

If you need guidance on how to use the system to set up your inspection, please read this page.

Most inspections are done within 1 day (sometimes with several QC technicians working alongside each other). Sometimes it takes longer, depending on the number of products and the complexity of the work.

Follow this link to explore the product inspections that we offer, and learn more about what they include, their cost, and how long they take.

This video also introduces Sofeast’s product inspection solutions further, too.

Here’s a list:

• Production Monitoring Reporting (PMR)
• Inspection During Production (DPI)
• Final Random Inspection (FRI)
• Full Production Check (FPC)
• Container Packing & Loading Supervision (PLS)
• Off-Site Product Inspection (OSI)

We also produced this interesting infographic explaining more about Final Random Inspections, and also an infographic providing examples of common inspection findings, too.

Once you have selected the product inspection that you require, you will need to use our simple booking system to organize your inspection.

You first need to create your company’s private account.
Then, you need to log in at https://sofeast-booking.com, select the right service, and fill out the form.

It is all explained in How To Use Sofeast’s Booking System For Product Inspections.

After we conduct product inspections for you your inspector will provide you with a detailed inspection report which outlines the results.

Take a look at some real sample reports here:

Sample Inspection Reports

The reports include:

• Inspection checkpoints
• Results
• Images (of defects etc)

Product quality inspections can’t guarantee 100% perfect quality, because a product’s quality comes from its initial design, the inputs used, and the production processes, as well as other factors, too. Rather, inspections will help you reduce risks and find quality issues early enough to make a difference (such as before a production run is completed).

We see ‘quality’ as a continually improving concept (a robust Quality Assurance Plan can help this happen) and inspections are a part of that.

But to truly guarantee better quality, work needs to be done at an earlier stage with product design (DFQ), reliability testing, and controlling risks in your supply chain. We can help with reliability testing and lab testing, so contact us to discuss these.

In general, we use random sampling inspections where the inspector will use AQL tables to produce the correct sample number. This allows us to randomly select a sample of products from a given batch which will be representative of the overall quality of the batch.

Not all inspections benefit from this method, though, and so other inspections, such as 100% inspections (where every piece is checked), are also provided.

If you’re interested in defining your own sample sizes, try our free AQL calculator tool. to work out your own.

Unfortunately, some product inspections fail for whatever reason/s, as the products don’t reach your quality standard. A positive of this is that you found out before products were shipped to you all the way from China!

We will help you take the next steps to solve the issues. Here’s how…

1. You may choose to accept all of the products anyway after receiving the inspection report. Perhaps it’s possible to negotiate a rebate or discount with the supplier?
2. You may follow up the inspection with a 100% inspection to filter out the ‘good’ products which can then be shipped to you, while the ‘bad’ products are returned to your supplier for repair, rework, or scrap while you get a rebate.
3. The supplier can send staff to our facility in Dongguan to do rework or repair. Alternatively, we can do the repair/rework for you with our own team, too.

As we’re a 2nd party firm, you can expect us to provide some guidance on why the quality issues are occurring and how to fix them in the future. Our supplier performance management solutions can be very helpful if you need help in pushing suppliers to reach your standards.

Yes. The rate we’ll charge for clients who consistently use us for product inspections is negotiable starting at 5 regular man-days per month.

If you are a current client and have any questions about this, contact us or speak with your project manager who will be happy to come to an arrangement with you.

Let’s take a quick example question.

If Sofeast conducts a product inspection on a batch of our goods in China, passes them as reaching acceptable quality, and then upon arrival to us in the USA it’s found that there are unacceptable defects; does Sofeast bear liability for these defects and have insurance?

 

As a quality inspection agency, we have a cap on our liability in case there are clear signs of negligence in doing our work. Basically, that cap is not high, so it never makes sense to sue us. It’s the same for everybody in the industry.

The only circumstance in which this will change is if you book many thousands of inspections a year through a company like ours.  If so, you can probably negotiate for a high liability and force the inspection agency to contract liability insurance. Below that level, no inspection agency will accept to be associated with “insurance”. In this business, we are paid to do a job, not to be responsible for some risks.

For very high-risk products where defects can put lives at risk, we suggest contracting insurance for your company or working with a manufacturer that has a liability insurance policy. Inspection companies can provide some extra assurance here, but not in the form of insurance.

Fundamentally, this is why it is so important to work with good manufacturers and to ensure they have solid systems & processes in order to reduce the risks of ever needing to litigate due to product defects causing dangers when in the field.

Here’s how we can help you reduce risks…

As you know, we conduct product inspections, but in order to reduce supply chain and product quality risks some key parts of our business are:

• Working with clients to put proven quality and process systems in place, either at your factory or your supplier’s.
• Supporting you through product development in order that the product design itself avoids deficiencies that might lead to quality or safety issues.

Yes, we work with you to create your checklist as per your requirements so suppliers are very clear on what’s expected. Explore this affordable solution here.

When we build out your QC checklist we use our in-house IT system to create it.

The QC technician carrying out your inspection then uses the system to input results against your standards, results are fed back to you in a PDF report, and they’re also saved for traceability.

Learn more about how we use our IT system to create your QC checklist.

We always look at product safety during inspections. For example, we know the difference between Class I vs. Class II for the hi-pot test and their parameters, conduct incline tests for furniture regularly, and know that drawstrings on children garments are dangerous. We perform these kinds of tests every day in our organization.

And of course, we do look at certificates. In particular, for electrical products, sometimes the client sends us a certificate or requests that we check the certificate provided by the factory, and we use it. For example, we look at the CDF (Constructional Data Form) and we compare it with what we see on the critical components (same appearance, same marking, etc.), and that’s quite typical.

However, our inspectors are not compliance consultants. They won’t call the issuer of a certificate or report in order to confirm authenticity or ask for missing results on key standards. That has to be documented in advance by the compliance/quality manager of the importing company. The compliance/quality manager has to know what is required and has to archive all that information in a technical file for years to come.

Importers need to know what the safety requirements of their products are. We do not pretend we can replace your compliance manager.

Medical face masks have become an increasingly popular product type for importers due to the coronavirus pandemic.

As such, we have been inspecting them regularly, have plenty of experience with medical devices in general, and can help you. We are ISO 9001 certified for product inspections, and one of the process steps in that activity is random sampling.

We put our generic checklist for surgical masks online, so this will give you some idea of how we approach these inspections.

The price for 1 inspector to go to a warehouse in most major manufacturing areas in China and perform a final random inspection on the completed masks is 299 USD all included (we also provide inspections during production if you prefer).

In terms of timelines, we need about 2 days’ notice after we’ve received all of the necessary project information from you.

You may find these resources useful:

• Exporting Face Masks from China: Know the Basics about Regulations & Standards
• Importing Face Masks into the EU: Know the Basics about Regulations & Standards
• Importing Face Masks from China to the USA: Know the Basics about Regulations & Standards
• The different names & classifications for face masks and respirators

When sourcing a product quality inspection provider you have these 2 options:

1. Work with a company that identifies itself as part of the “testing, inspection, certification” (TIC) industry
2. Work with a company that can help you manage quality in addition to detecting issues

Sofeast is the latter, and you can read more about why this is beneficial in comparison to regular quality inspection companies here.

Product inspections are one of our most popular solutions and we perform throughout China, Vietnam, India, and SE Asia.

Explore them all on this page, or hit the individual inspections below to go to their page and get a quotation:

• Production Monitoring Reporting (PMR)
• Inspection During Production (DPI)
• Final Random Inspection (FRI)
• Full Production Check (FPC)
• Container Packing & Loading Supervision (PLS)
• Off-Site Product Inspection (OSI)
• 100% Inspection, Packing, & Shipping

We can inspect the quality of most product types, in particular:

• Non-food consumer goods (from textiles to electronics)
• Mechanical products (for industrial or automotive use)

Click here to explore our product inspection solutions.

If you are a new client, contact us and give us the product details & photos, as well as the order quantity breakdown. We will suggest an inspection plan and, once we know what city the factory is located in, we will confirm a quotation.

If you are a new client, simply log in www.sofeast-booking.com and schedule the inspection. We will get back to you shortly.

If you need guidance on how to use the system to set up your inspection, please read this page.

Most inspections are done within 1 day (sometimes with several QC technicians working alongside each other). Sometimes it takes longer, depending on the number of products and the complexity of the work.

Follow this link to explore the product inspections that we offer, and learn more about what they include, their cost, and how long they take.

This video also introduces Sofeast’s product inspection solutions further, too.

Here’s a list:

• Production Monitoring Reporting (PMR)
• Inspection During Production (DPI)
• Final Random Inspection (FRI)
• Full Production Check (FPC)
• Container Packing & Loading Supervision (PLS)
• Off-Site Product Inspection (OSI)

We also produced this interesting infographic explaining more about Final Random Inspections, and also an infographic providing examples of common inspection findings, too.

Once you have selected the product inspection that you require, you will need to use our simple booking system to organize your inspection.

You first need to create your company’s private account.
Then, you need to log in at https://sofeast-booking.com, select the right service, and fill out the form.

It is all explained in How To Use Sofeast’s Booking System For Product Inspections.

After we conduct product inspections for you your inspector will provide you with a detailed inspection report which outlines the results.

Take a look at some real sample reports here:

Sample Inspection Reports

The reports include:

• Inspection checkpoints
• Results
• Images (of defects etc)

Product quality inspections can’t guarantee 100% perfect quality, because a product’s quality comes from its initial design, the inputs used, and the production processes, as well as other factors, too. Rather, inspections will help you reduce risks and find quality issues early enough to make a difference (such as before a production run is completed).

We see ‘quality’ as a continually improving concept (a robust Quality Assurance Plan can help this happen) and inspections are a part of that.

But to truly guarantee better quality, work needs to be done at an earlier stage with product design (DFQ), reliability testing, and controlling risks in your supply chain. We can help with reliability testing and lab testing, so contact us to discuss these.

In general, we use random sampling inspections where the inspector will use AQL tables to produce the correct sample number. This allows us to randomly select a sample of products from a given batch which will be representative of the overall quality of the batch.

Not all inspections benefit from this method, though, and so other inspections, such as 100% inspections (where every piece is checked), are also provided.

If you’re interested in defining your own sample sizes, try our free AQL calculator tool. to work out your own.

Unfortunately, some product inspections fail for whatever reason/s, as the products don’t reach your quality standard. A positive of this is that you found out before products were shipped to you all the way from China!

We will help you take the next steps to solve the issues. Here’s how…

1. You may choose to accept all of the products anyway after receiving the inspection report. Perhaps it’s possible to negotiate a rebate or discount with the supplier?
2. You may follow up the inspection with a 100% inspection to filter out the ‘good’ products which can then be shipped to you, while the ‘bad’ products are returned to your supplier for repair, rework, or scrap while you get a rebate.
3. The supplier can send staff to our facility in Dongguan to do rework or repair. Alternatively, we can do the repair/rework for you with our own team, too.

As we’re a 2nd party firm, you can expect us to provide some guidance on why the quality issues are occurring and how to fix them in the future. Our supplier performance management solutions can be very helpful if you need help in pushing suppliers to reach your standards.

Yes. The rate we’ll charge for clients who consistently use us for product inspections is negotiable starting at 5 regular man-days per month.

If you are a current client and have any questions about this, contact us or speak with your project manager who will be happy to come to an arrangement with you.

Let’s take a quick example question.

If Sofeast conducts a product inspection on a batch of our goods in China, passes them as reaching acceptable quality, and then upon arrival to us in the USA it’s found that there are unacceptable defects; does Sofeast bear liability for these defects and have insurance?

 

As a quality inspection agency, we have a cap on our liability in case there are clear signs of negligence in doing our work. Basically, that cap is not high, so it never makes sense to sue us. It’s the same for everybody in the industry.

The only circumstance in which this will change is if you book many thousands of inspections a year through a company like ours.  If so, you can probably negotiate for a high liability and force the inspection agency to contract liability insurance. Below that level, no inspection agency will accept to be associated with “insurance”. In this business, we are paid to do a job, not to be responsible for some risks.

For very high-risk products where defects can put lives at risk, we suggest contracting insurance for your company or working with a manufacturer that has a liability insurance policy. Inspection companies can provide some extra assurance here, but not in the form of insurance.

Fundamentally, this is why it is so important to work with good manufacturers and to ensure they have solid systems & processes in order to reduce the risks of ever needing to litigate due to product defects causing dangers when in the field.

Here’s how we can help you reduce risks…

As you know, we conduct product inspections, but in order to reduce supply chain and product quality risks some key parts of our business are:

• Working with clients to put proven quality and process systems in place, either at your factory or your supplier’s.
• Supporting you through product development in order that the product design itself avoids deficiencies that might lead to quality or safety issues.

Yes, we work with you to create your checklist as per your requirements so suppliers are very clear on what’s expected. Explore this affordable solution here.

When we build out your QC checklist we use our in-house IT system to create it.

The QC technician carrying out your inspection then uses the system to input results against your standards, results are fed back to you in a PDF report, and they’re also saved for traceability.

Learn more about how we use our IT system to create your QC checklist.

We always look at product safety during inspections. For example, we know the difference between Class I vs. Class II for the hi-pot test and their parameters, conduct incline tests for furniture regularly, and know that drawstrings on children garments are dangerous. We perform these kinds of tests every day in our organization.

And of course, we do look at certificates. In particular, for electrical products, sometimes the client sends us a certificate or requests that we check the certificate provided by the factory, and we use it. For example, we look at the CDF (Constructional Data Form) and we compare it with what we see on the critical components (same appearance, same marking, etc.), and that’s quite typical.

However, our inspectors are not compliance consultants. They won’t call the issuer of a certificate or report in order to confirm authenticity or ask for missing results on key standards. That has to be documented in advance by the compliance/quality manager of the importing company. The compliance/quality manager has to know what is required and has to archive all that information in a technical file for years to come.

Importers need to know what the safety requirements of their products are. We do not pretend we can replace your compliance manager.

Medical face masks have become an increasingly popular product type for importers due to the coronavirus pandemic.

As such, we have been inspecting them regularly, have plenty of experience with medical devices in general, and can help you. We are ISO 9001 certified for product inspections, and one of the process steps in that activity is random sampling.

We put our generic checklist for surgical masks online, so this will give you some idea of how we approach these inspections.

The price for 1 inspector to go to a warehouse in most major manufacturing areas in China and perform a final random inspection on the completed masks is 299 USD all included (we also provide inspections during production if you prefer).

In terms of timelines, we need about 2 days’ notice after we’ve received all of the necessary project information from you.

You may find these resources useful:

• Exporting Face Masks from China: Know the Basics about Regulations & Standards
• Importing Face Masks into the EU: Know the Basics about Regulations & Standards
• Importing Face Masks from China to the USA: Know the Basics about Regulations & Standards
• The different names & classifications for face masks and respirators

When sourcing a product quality inspection provider you have these 2 options:

1. Work with a company that identifies itself as part of the “testing, inspection, certification” (TIC) industry
2. Work with a company that can help you manage quality in addition to detecting issues

Sofeast is the latter, and you can read more about why this is beneficial in comparison to regular quality inspection companies here.

Product inspections are one of our most popular solutions and we perform throughout China, Vietnam, India, and SE Asia.

Explore them all on this page, or hit the individual inspections below to go to their page and get a quotation:

• Production Monitoring Reporting (PMR)
• Inspection During Production (DPI)
• Final Random Inspection (FRI)
• Full Production Check (FPC)
• Container Packing & Loading Supervision (PLS)
• Off-Site Product Inspection (OSI)
• 100% Inspection, Packing, & Shipping

We can inspect the quality of most product types, in particular:

• Non-food consumer goods (from textiles to electronics)
• Mechanical products (for industrial or automotive use)

Click here to explore our product inspection solutions.

If you are a new client, contact us and give us the product details & photos, as well as the order quantity breakdown. We will suggest an inspection plan and, once we know what city the factory is located in, we will confirm a quotation.

If you are a new client, simply log in www.sofeast-booking.com and schedule the inspection. We will get back to you shortly.

If you need guidance on how to use the system to set up your inspection, please read this page.

Most inspections are done within 1 day (sometimes with several QC technicians working alongside each other). Sometimes it takes longer, depending on the number of products and the complexity of the work.

Follow this link to explore the product inspections that we offer, and learn more about what they include, their cost, and how long they take.

This video also introduces Sofeast’s product inspection solutions further, too.

Here’s a list:

• Production Monitoring Reporting (PMR)
• Inspection During Production (DPI)
• Final Random Inspection (FRI)
• Full Production Check (FPC)
• Container Packing & Loading Supervision (PLS)
• Off-Site Product Inspection (OSI)

We also produced this interesting infographic explaining more about Final Random Inspections, and also an infographic providing examples of common inspection findings, too.

Once you have selected the product inspection that you require, you will need to use our simple booking system to organize your inspection.

You first need to create your company’s private account.
Then, you need to log in at https://sofeast-booking.com, select the right service, and fill out the form.

It is all explained in How To Use Sofeast’s Booking System For Product Inspections.

After we conduct product inspections for you your inspector will provide you with a detailed inspection report which outlines the results.

Take a look at some real sample reports here:

Sample Inspection Reports

The reports include:

• Inspection checkpoints
• Results
• Images (of defects etc)

Product quality inspections can’t guarantee 100% perfect quality, because a product’s quality comes from its initial design, the inputs used, and the production processes, as well as other factors, too. Rather, inspections will help you reduce risks and find quality issues early enough to make a difference (such as before a production run is completed).

We see ‘quality’ as a continually improving concept (a robust Quality Assurance Plan can help this happen) and inspections are a part of that.

But to truly guarantee better quality, work needs to be done at an earlier stage with product design (DFQ), reliability testing, and controlling risks in your supply chain. We can help with reliability testing and lab testing, so contact us to discuss these.

In general, we use random sampling inspections where the inspector will use AQL tables to produce the correct sample number. This allows us to randomly select a sample of products from a given batch which will be representative of the overall quality of the batch.

Not all inspections benefit from this method, though, and so other inspections, such as 100% inspections (where every piece is checked), are also provided.

If you’re interested in defining your own sample sizes, try our free AQL calculator tool. to work out your own.

Unfortunately, some product inspections fail for whatever reason/s, as the products don’t reach your quality standard. A positive of this is that you found out before products were shipped to you all the way from China!

We will help you take the next steps to solve the issues. Here’s how…

1. You may choose to accept all of the products anyway after receiving the inspection report. Perhaps it’s possible to negotiate a rebate or discount with the supplier?
2. You may follow up the inspection with a 100% inspection to filter out the ‘good’ products which can then be shipped to you, while the ‘bad’ products are returned to your supplier for repair, rework, or scrap while you get a rebate.
3. The supplier can send staff to our facility in Dongguan to do rework or repair. Alternatively, we can do the repair/rework for you with our own team, too.

As we’re a 2nd party firm, you can expect us to provide some guidance on why the quality issues are occurring and how to fix them in the future. Our supplier performance management solutions can be very helpful if you need help in pushing suppliers to reach your standards.

Yes. The rate we’ll charge for clients who consistently use us for product inspections is negotiable starting at 5 regular man-days per month.

If you are a current client and have any questions about this, contact us or speak with your project manager who will be happy to come to an arrangement with you.

Let’s take a quick example question.

If Sofeast conducts a product inspection on a batch of our goods in China, passes them as reaching acceptable quality, and then upon arrival to us in the USA it’s found that there are unacceptable defects; does Sofeast bear liability for these defects and have insurance?

 

As a quality inspection agency, we have a cap on our liability in case there are clear signs of negligence in doing our work. Basically, that cap is not high, so it never makes sense to sue us. It’s the same for everybody in the industry.

The only circumstance in which this will change is if you book many thousands of inspections a year through a company like ours.  If so, you can probably negotiate for a high liability and force the inspection agency to contract liability insurance. Below that level, no inspection agency will accept to be associated with “insurance”. In this business, we are paid to do a job, not to be responsible for some risks.

For very high-risk products where defects can put lives at risk, we suggest contracting insurance for your company or working with a manufacturer that has a liability insurance policy. Inspection companies can provide some extra assurance here, but not in the form of insurance.

Fundamentally, this is why it is so important to work with good manufacturers and to ensure they have solid systems & processes in order to reduce the risks of ever needing to litigate due to product defects causing dangers when in the field.

Here’s how we can help you reduce risks…

As you know, we conduct product inspections, but in order to reduce supply chain and product quality risks some key parts of our business are:

• Working with clients to put proven quality and process systems in place, either at your factory or your supplier’s.
• Supporting you through product development in order that the product design itself avoids deficiencies that might lead to quality or safety issues.

Yes, we work with you to create your checklist as per your requirements so suppliers are very clear on what’s expected. Explore this affordable solution here.

When we build out your QC checklist we use our in-house IT system to create it.

The QC technician carrying out your inspection then uses the system to input results against your standards, results are fed back to you in a PDF report, and they’re also saved for traceability.

Learn more about how we use our IT system to create your QC checklist.

We always look at product safety during inspections. For example, we know the difference between Class I vs. Class II for the hi-pot test and their parameters, conduct incline tests for furniture regularly, and know that drawstrings on children garments are dangerous. We perform these kinds of tests every day in our organization.

And of course, we do look at certificates. In particular, for electrical products, sometimes the client sends us a certificate or requests that we check the certificate provided by the factory, and we use it. For example, we look at the CDF (Constructional Data Form) and we compare it with what we see on the critical components (same appearance, same marking, etc.), and that’s quite typical.

However, our inspectors are not compliance consultants. They won’t call the issuer of a certificate or report in order to confirm authenticity or ask for missing results on key standards. That has to be documented in advance by the compliance/quality manager of the importing company. The compliance/quality manager has to know what is required and has to archive all that information in a technical file for years to come.

Importers need to know what the safety requirements of their products are. We do not pretend we can replace your compliance manager.

Medical face masks have become an increasingly popular product type for importers due to the coronavirus pandemic.

As such, we have been inspecting them regularly, have plenty of experience with medical devices in general, and can help you. We are ISO 9001 certified for product inspections, and one of the process steps in that activity is random sampling.

We put our generic checklist for surgical masks online, so this will give you some idea of how we approach these inspections.

The price for 1 inspector to go to a warehouse in most major manufacturing areas in China and perform a final random inspection on the completed masks is 299 USD all included (we also provide inspections during production if you prefer).

In terms of timelines, we need about 2 days’ notice after we’ve received all of the necessary project information from you.

You may find these resources useful:

• Exporting Face Masks from China: Know the Basics about Regulations & Standards
• Importing Face Masks into the EU: Know the Basics about Regulations & Standards
• Importing Face Masks from China to the USA: Know the Basics about Regulations & Standards
• The different names & classifications for face masks and respirators

When sourcing a product quality inspection provider you have these 2 options:

1. Work with a company that identifies itself as part of the “testing, inspection, certification” (TIC) industry
2. Work with a company that can help you manage quality in addition to detecting issues

Sofeast is the latter, and you can read more about why this is beneficial in comparison to regular quality inspection companies here.

Product inspections are one of our most popular solutions and we perform throughout China, Vietnam, India, and SE Asia.

Explore them all on this page, or hit the individual inspections below to go to their page and get a quotation:

• Production Monitoring Reporting (PMR)
• Inspection During Production (DPI)
• Final Random Inspection (FRI)
• Full Production Check (FPC)
• Container Packing & Loading Supervision (PLS)
• Off-Site Product Inspection (OSI)
• 100% Inspection, Packing, & Shipping

We can inspect the quality of most product types, in particular:

• Non-food consumer goods (from textiles to electronics)
• Mechanical products (for industrial or automotive use)

Click here to explore our product inspection solutions.

If you are a new client, contact us and give us the product details & photos, as well as the order quantity breakdown. We will suggest an inspection plan and, once we know what city the factory is located in, we will confirm a quotation.

If you are a new client, simply log in www.sofeast-booking.com and schedule the inspection. We will get back to you shortly.

If you need guidance on how to use the system to set up your inspection, please read this page.

Most inspections are done within 1 day (sometimes with several QC technicians working alongside each other). Sometimes it takes longer, depending on the number of products and the complexity of the work.

Follow this link to explore the product inspections that we offer, and learn more about what they include, their cost, and how long they take.

This video also introduces Sofeast’s product inspection solutions further, too.

Here’s a list:

• Production Monitoring Reporting (PMR)
• Inspection During Production (DPI)
• Final Random Inspection (FRI)
• Full Production Check (FPC)
• Container Packing & Loading Supervision (PLS)
• Off-Site Product Inspection (OSI)

We also produced this interesting infographic explaining more about Final Random Inspections, and also an infographic providing examples of common inspection findings, too.

Once you have selected the product inspection that you require, you will need to use our simple booking system to organize your inspection.

You first need to create your company’s private account.
Then, you need to log in at https://sofeast-booking.com, select the right service, and fill out the form.

It is all explained in How To Use Sofeast’s Booking System For Product Inspections.

After we conduct product inspections for you your inspector will provide you with a detailed inspection report which outlines the results.

Take a look at some real sample reports here:

Sample Inspection Reports

The reports include:

• Inspection checkpoints
• Results
• Images (of defects etc)

Product quality inspections can’t guarantee 100% perfect quality, because a product’s quality comes from its initial design, the inputs used, and the production processes, as well as other factors, too. Rather, inspections will help you reduce risks and find quality issues early enough to make a difference (such as before a production run is completed).

We see ‘quality’ as a continually improving concept (a robust Quality Assurance Plan can help this happen) and inspections are a part of that.

But to truly guarantee better quality, work needs to be done at an earlier stage with product design (DFQ), reliability testing, and controlling risks in your supply chain. We can help with reliability testing and lab testing, so contact us to discuss these.

In general, we use random sampling inspections where the inspector will use AQL tables to produce the correct sample number. This allows us to randomly select a sample of products from a given batch which will be representative of the overall quality of the batch.

Not all inspections benefit from this method, though, and so other inspections, such as 100% inspections (where every piece is checked), are also provided.

If you’re interested in defining your own sample sizes, try our free AQL calculator tool. to work out your own.

Unfortunately, some product inspections fail for whatever reason/s, as the products don’t reach your quality standard. A positive of this is that you found out before products were shipped to you all the way from China!

We will help you take the next steps to solve the issues. Here’s how…

1. You may choose to accept all of the products anyway after receiving the inspection report. Perhaps it’s possible to negotiate a rebate or discount with the supplier?
2. You may follow up the inspection with a 100% inspection to filter out the ‘good’ products which can then be shipped to you, while the ‘bad’ products are returned to your supplier for repair, rework, or scrap while you get a rebate.
3. The supplier can send staff to our facility in Dongguan to do rework or repair. Alternatively, we can do the repair/rework for you with our own team, too.

As we’re a 2nd party firm, you can expect us to provide some guidance on why the quality issues are occurring and how to fix them in the future. Our supplier performance management solutions can be very helpful if you need help in pushing suppliers to reach your standards.

Yes. The rate we’ll charge for clients who consistently use us for product inspections is negotiable starting at 5 regular man-days per month.

If you are a current client and have any questions about this, contact us or speak with your project manager who will be happy to come to an arrangement with you.

Let’s take a quick example question.

If Sofeast conducts a product inspection on a batch of our goods in China, passes them as reaching acceptable quality, and then upon arrival to us in the USA it’s found that there are unacceptable defects; does Sofeast bear liability for these defects and have insurance?

 

As a quality inspection agency, we have a cap on our liability in case there are clear signs of negligence in doing our work. Basically, that cap is not high, so it never makes sense to sue us. It’s the same for everybody in the industry.

The only circumstance in which this will change is if you book many thousands of inspections a year through a company like ours.  If so, you can probably negotiate for a high liability and force the inspection agency to contract liability insurance. Below that level, no inspection agency will accept to be associated with “insurance”. In this business, we are paid to do a job, not to be responsible for some risks.

For very high-risk products where defects can put lives at risk, we suggest contracting insurance for your company or working with a manufacturer that has a liability insurance policy. Inspection companies can provide some extra assurance here, but not in the form of insurance.

Fundamentally, this is why it is so important to work with good manufacturers and to ensure they have solid systems & processes in order to reduce the risks of ever needing to litigate due to product defects causing dangers when in the field.

Here’s how we can help you reduce risks…

As you know, we conduct product inspections, but in order to reduce supply chain and product quality risks some key parts of our business are:

• Working with clients to put proven quality and process systems in place, either at your factory or your supplier’s.
• Supporting you through product development in order that the product design itself avoids deficiencies that might lead to quality or safety issues.

Yes, we work with you to create your checklist as per your requirements so suppliers are very clear on what’s expected. Explore this affordable solution here.

When we build out your QC checklist we use our in-house IT system to create it.

The QC technician carrying out your inspection then uses the system to input results against your standards, results are fed back to you in a PDF report, and they’re also saved for traceability.

Learn more about how we use our IT system to create your QC checklist.

We always look at product safety during inspections. For example, we know the difference between Class I vs. Class II for the hi-pot test and their parameters, conduct incline tests for furniture regularly, and know that drawstrings on children garments are dangerous. We perform these kinds of tests every day in our organization.

And of course, we do look at certificates. In particular, for electrical products, sometimes the client sends us a certificate or requests that we check the certificate provided by the factory, and we use it. For example, we look at the CDF (Constructional Data Form) and we compare it with what we see on the critical components (same appearance, same marking, etc.), and that’s quite typical.

However, our inspectors are not compliance consultants. They won’t call the issuer of a certificate or report in order to confirm authenticity or ask for missing results on key standards. That has to be documented in advance by the compliance/quality manager of the importing company. The compliance/quality manager has to know what is required and has to archive all that information in a technical file for years to come.

Importers need to know what the safety requirements of their products are. We do not pretend we can replace your compliance manager.

Medical face masks have become an increasingly popular product type for importers due to the coronavirus pandemic.

As such, we have been inspecting them regularly, have plenty of experience with medical devices in general, and can help you. We are ISO 9001 certified for product inspections, and one of the process steps in that activity is random sampling.

We put our generic checklist for surgical masks online, so this will give you some idea of how we approach these inspections.

The price for 1 inspector to go to a warehouse in most major manufacturing areas in China and perform a final random inspection on the completed masks is 299 USD all included (we also provide inspections during production if you prefer).

In terms of timelines, we need about 2 days’ notice after we’ve received all of the necessary project information from you.

You may find these resources useful:

• Exporting Face Masks from China: Know the Basics about Regulations & Standards
• Importing Face Masks into the EU: Know the Basics about Regulations & Standards
• Importing Face Masks from China to the USA: Know the Basics about Regulations & Standards
• The different names & classifications for face masks and respirators

When sourcing a product quality inspection provider you have these 2 options:

1. Work with a company that identifies itself as part of the “testing, inspection, certification” (TIC) industry
2. Work with a company that can help you manage quality in addition to detecting issues

Sofeast is the latter, and you can read more about why this is beneficial in comparison to regular quality inspection companies here.

Product inspections are one of our most popular solutions and we perform throughout China, Vietnam, India, and SE Asia.

Explore them all on this page, or hit the individual inspections below to go to their page and get a quotation:

• Production Monitoring Reporting (PMR)
• Inspection During Production (DPI)
• Final Random Inspection (FRI)
• Full Production Check (FPC)
• Container Packing & Loading Supervision (PLS)
• Off-Site Product Inspection (OSI)
• 100% Inspection, Packing, & Shipping

We can inspect the quality of most product types, in particular:

• Non-food consumer goods (from textiles to electronics)
• Mechanical products (for industrial or automotive use)

Click here to explore our product inspection solutions.

If you are a new client, contact us and give us the product details & photos, as well as the order quantity breakdown. We will suggest an inspection plan and, once we know what city the factory is located in, we will confirm a quotation.

If you are a new client, simply log in www.sofeast-booking.com and schedule the inspection. We will get back to you shortly.

If you need guidance on how to use the system to set up your inspection, please read this page.

Most inspections are done within 1 day (sometimes with several QC technicians working alongside each other). Sometimes it takes longer, depending on the number of products and the complexity of the work.

Follow this link to explore the product inspections that we offer, and learn more about what they include, their cost, and how long they take.

This video also introduces Sofeast’s product inspection solutions further, too.

Here’s a list:

• Production Monitoring Reporting (PMR)
• Inspection During Production (DPI)
• Final Random Inspection (FRI)
• Full Production Check (FPC)
• Container Packing & Loading Supervision (PLS)
• Off-Site Product Inspection (OSI)

We also produced this interesting infographic explaining more about Final Random Inspections, and also an infographic providing examples of common inspection findings, too.

Once you have selected the product inspection that you require, you will need to use our simple booking system to organize your inspection.

You first need to create your company’s private account.
Then, you need to log in at https://sofeast-booking.com, select the right service, and fill out the form.

It is all explained in How To Use Sofeast’s Booking System For Product Inspections.

After we conduct product inspections for you your inspector will provide you with a detailed inspection report which outlines the results.

Take a look at some real sample reports here:

Sample Inspection Reports

The reports include:

• Inspection checkpoints
• Results
• Images (of defects etc)

Product quality inspections can’t guarantee 100% perfect quality, because a product’s quality comes from its initial design, the inputs used, and the production processes, as well as other factors, too. Rather, inspections will help you reduce risks and find quality issues early enough to make a difference (such as before a production run is completed).

We see ‘quality’ as a continually improving concept (a robust Quality Assurance Plan can help this happen) and inspections are a part of that.

But to truly guarantee better quality, work needs to be done at an earlier stage with product design (DFQ), reliability testing, and controlling risks in your supply chain. We can help with reliability testing and lab testing, so contact us to discuss these.

In general, we use random sampling inspections where the inspector will use AQL tables to produce the correct sample number. This allows us to randomly select a sample of products from a given batch which will be representative of the overall quality of the batch.

Not all inspections benefit from this method, though, and so other inspections, such as 100% inspections (where every piece is checked), are also provided.

If you’re interested in defining your own sample sizes, try our free AQL calculator tool. to work out your own.

Unfortunately, some product inspections fail for whatever reason/s, as the products don’t reach your quality standard. A positive of this is that you found out before products were shipped to you all the way from China!

We will help you take the next steps to solve the issues. Here’s how…

1. You may choose to accept all of the products anyway after receiving the inspection report. Perhaps it’s possible to negotiate a rebate or discount with the supplier?
2. You may follow up the inspection with a 100% inspection to filter out the ‘good’ products which can then be shipped to you, while the ‘bad’ products are returned to your supplier for repair, rework, or scrap while you get a rebate.
3. The supplier can send staff to our facility in Dongguan to do rework or repair. Alternatively, we can do the repair/rework for you with our own team, too.

As we’re a 2nd party firm, you can expect us to provide some guidance on why the quality issues are occurring and how to fix them in the future. Our supplier performance management solutions can be very helpful if you need help in pushing suppliers to reach your standards.

Yes. The rate we’ll charge for clients who consistently use us for product inspections is negotiable starting at 5 regular man-days per month.

If you are a current client and have any questions about this, contact us or speak with your project manager who will be happy to come to an arrangement with you.

Let’s take a quick example question.

If Sofeast conducts a product inspection on a batch of our goods in China, passes them as reaching acceptable quality, and then upon arrival to us in the USA it’s found that there are unacceptable defects; does Sofeast bear liability for these defects and have insurance?

 

As a quality inspection agency, we have a cap on our liability in case there are clear signs of negligence in doing our work. Basically, that cap is not high, so it never makes sense to sue us. It’s the same for everybody in the industry.

The only circumstance in which this will change is if you book many thousands of inspections a year through a company like ours.  If so, you can probably negotiate for a high liability and force the inspection agency to contract liability insurance. Below that level, no inspection agency will accept to be associated with “insurance”. In this business, we are paid to do a job, not to be responsible for some risks.

For very high-risk products where defects can put lives at risk, we suggest contracting insurance for your company or working with a manufacturer that has a liability insurance policy. Inspection companies can provide some extra assurance here, but not in the form of insurance.

Fundamentally, this is why it is so important to work with good manufacturers and to ensure they have solid systems & processes in order to reduce the risks of ever needing to litigate due to product defects causing dangers when in the field.

Here’s how we can help you reduce risks…

As you know, we conduct product inspections, but in order to reduce supply chain and product quality risks some key parts of our business are:

• Working with clients to put proven quality and process systems in place, either at your factory or your supplier’s.
• Supporting you through product development in order that the product design itself avoids deficiencies that might lead to quality or safety issues.

Yes, we work with you to create your checklist as per your requirements so suppliers are very clear on what’s expected. Explore this affordable solution here.

When we build out your QC checklist we use our in-house IT system to create it.

The QC technician carrying out your inspection then uses the system to input results against your standards, results are fed back to you in a PDF report, and they’re also saved for traceability.

Learn more about how we use our IT system to create your QC checklist.

We always look at product safety during inspections. For example, we know the difference between Class I vs. Class II for the hi-pot test and their parameters, conduct incline tests for furniture regularly, and know that drawstrings on children garments are dangerous. We perform these kinds of tests every day in our organization.

And of course, we do look at certificates. In particular, for electrical products, sometimes the client sends us a certificate or requests that we check the certificate provided by the factory, and we use it. For example, we look at the CDF (Constructional Data Form) and we compare it with what we see on the critical components (same appearance, same marking, etc.), and that’s quite typical.

However, our inspectors are not compliance consultants. They won’t call the issuer of a certificate or report in order to confirm authenticity or ask for missing results on key standards. That has to be documented in advance by the compliance/quality manager of the importing company. The compliance/quality manager has to know what is required and has to archive all that information in a technical file for years to come.

Importers need to know what the safety requirements of their products are. We do not pretend we can replace your compliance manager.

Medical face masks have become an increasingly popular product type for importers due to the coronavirus pandemic.

As such, we have been inspecting them regularly, have plenty of experience with medical devices in general, and can help you. We are ISO 9001 certified for product inspections, and one of the process steps in that activity is random sampling.

We put our generic checklist for surgical masks online, so this will give you some idea of how we approach these inspections.

The price for 1 inspector to go to a warehouse in most major manufacturing areas in China and perform a final random inspection on the completed masks is 299 USD all included (we also provide inspections during production if you prefer).

In terms of timelines, we need about 2 days’ notice after we’ve received all of the necessary project information from you.

You may find these resources useful:

• Exporting Face Masks from China: Know the Basics about Regulations & Standards
• Importing Face Masks into the EU: Know the Basics about Regulations & Standards
• Importing Face Masks from China to the USA: Know the Basics about Regulations & Standards
• The different names & classifications for face masks and respirators

When sourcing a product quality inspection provider you have these 2 options:

1. Work with a company that identifies itself as part of the “testing, inspection, certification” (TIC) industry
2. Work with a company that can help you manage quality in addition to detecting issues

Sofeast is the latter, and you can read more about why this is beneficial in comparison to regular quality inspection companies here.

Product inspections are one of our most popular solutions and we perform throughout China, Vietnam, India, and SE Asia.

Explore them all on this page, or hit the individual inspections below to go to their page and get a quotation:

• Production Monitoring Reporting (PMR)
• Inspection During Production (DPI)
• Final Random Inspection (FRI)
• Full Production Check (FPC)
• Container Packing & Loading Supervision (PLS)
• Off-Site Product Inspection (OSI)
• 100% Inspection, Packing, & Shipping

We can inspect the quality of most product types, in particular:

• Non-food consumer goods (from textiles to electronics)
• Mechanical products (for industrial or automotive use)

Click here to explore our product inspection solutions.

If you are a new client, contact us and give us the product details & photos, as well as the order quantity breakdown. We will suggest an inspection plan and, once we know what city the factory is located in, we will confirm a quotation.

If you are a new client, simply log in www.sofeast-booking.com and schedule the inspection. We will get back to you shortly.

If you need guidance on how to use the system to set up your inspection, please read this page.

Most inspections are done within 1 day (sometimes with several QC technicians working alongside each other). Sometimes it takes longer, depending on the number of products and the complexity of the work.

Follow this link to explore the product inspections that we offer, and learn more about what they include, their cost, and how long they take.

This video also introduces Sofeast’s product inspection solutions further, too.

Here’s a list:

• Production Monitoring Reporting (PMR)
• Inspection During Production (DPI)
• Final Random Inspection (FRI)
• Full Production Check (FPC)
• Container Packing & Loading Supervision (PLS)
• Off-Site Product Inspection (OSI)

We also produced this interesting infographic explaining more about Final Random Inspections, and also an infographic providing examples of common inspection findings, too.

Once you have selected the product inspection that you require, you will need to use our simple booking system to organize your inspection.

You first need to create your company’s private account.
Then, you need to log in at https://sofeast-booking.com, select the right service, and fill out the form.

It is all explained in How To Use Sofeast’s Booking System For Product Inspections.

After we conduct product inspections for you your inspector will provide you with a detailed inspection report which outlines the results.

Take a look at some real sample reports here:

Sample Inspection Reports

The reports include:

• Inspection checkpoints
• Results
• Images (of defects etc)

Product quality inspections can’t guarantee 100% perfect quality, because a product’s quality comes from its initial design, the inputs used, and the production processes, as well as other factors, too. Rather, inspections will help you reduce risks and find quality issues early enough to make a difference (such as before a production run is completed).

We see ‘quality’ as a continually improving concept (a robust Quality Assurance Plan can help this happen) and inspections are a part of that.

But to truly guarantee better quality, work needs to be done at an earlier stage with product design (DFQ), reliability testing, and controlling risks in your supply chain. We can help with reliability testing and lab testing, so contact us to discuss these.

In general, we use random sampling inspections where the inspector will use AQL tables to produce the correct sample number. This allows us to randomly select a sample of products from a given batch which will be representative of the overall quality of the batch.

Not all inspections benefit from this method, though, and so other inspections, such as 100% inspections (where every piece is checked), are also provided.

If you’re interested in defining your own sample sizes, try our free AQL calculator tool. to work out your own.

Unfortunately, some product inspections fail for whatever reason/s, as the products don’t reach your quality standard. A positive of this is that you found out before products were shipped to you all the way from China!

We will help you take the next steps to solve the issues. Here’s how…

1. You may choose to accept all of the products anyway after receiving the inspection report. Perhaps it’s possible to negotiate a rebate or discount with the supplier?
2. You may follow up the inspection with a 100% inspection to filter out the ‘good’ products which can then be shipped to you, while the ‘bad’ products are returned to your supplier for repair, rework, or scrap while you get a rebate.
3. The supplier can send staff to our facility in Dongguan to do rework or repair. Alternatively, we can do the repair/rework for you with our own team, too.

As we’re a 2nd party firm, you can expect us to provide some guidance on why the quality issues are occurring and how to fix them in the future. Our supplier performance management solutions can be very helpful if you need help in pushing suppliers to reach your standards.

Yes. The rate we’ll charge for clients who consistently use us for product inspections is negotiable starting at 5 regular man-days per month.

If you are a current client and have any questions about this, contact us or speak with your project manager who will be happy to come to an arrangement with you.

Let’s take a quick example question.

If Sofeast conducts a product inspection on a batch of our goods in China, passes them as reaching acceptable quality, and then upon arrival to us in the USA it’s found that there are unacceptable defects; does Sofeast bear liability for these defects and have insurance?

 

As a quality inspection agency, we have a cap on our liability in case there are clear signs of negligence in doing our work. Basically, that cap is not high, so it never makes sense to sue us. It’s the same for everybody in the industry.

The only circumstance in which this will change is if you book many thousands of inspections a year through a company like ours.  If so, you can probably negotiate for a high liability and force the inspection agency to contract liability insurance. Below that level, no inspection agency will accept to be associated with “insurance”. In this business, we are paid to do a job, not to be responsible for some risks.

For very high-risk products where defects can put lives at risk, we suggest contracting insurance for your company or working with a manufacturer that has a liability insurance policy. Inspection companies can provide some extra assurance here, but not in the form of insurance.

Fundamentally, this is why it is so important to work with good manufacturers and to ensure they have solid systems & processes in order to reduce the risks of ever needing to litigate due to product defects causing dangers when in the field.

Here’s how we can help you reduce risks…

As you know, we conduct product inspections, but in order to reduce supply chain and product quality risks some key parts of our business are:

• Working with clients to put proven quality and process systems in place, either at your factory or your supplier’s.
• Supporting you through product development in order that the product design itself avoids deficiencies that might lead to quality or safety issues.

Yes, we work with you to create your checklist as per your requirements so suppliers are very clear on what’s expected. Explore this affordable solution here.

When we build out your QC checklist we use our in-house IT system to create it.

The QC technician carrying out your inspection then uses the system to input results against your standards, results are fed back to you in a PDF report, and they’re also saved for traceability.

Learn more about how we use our IT system to create your QC checklist.

We always look at product safety during inspections. For example, we know the difference between Class I vs. Class II for the hi-pot test and their parameters, conduct incline tests for furniture regularly, and know that drawstrings on children garments are dangerous. We perform these kinds of tests every day in our organization.

And of course, we do look at certificates. In particular, for electrical products, sometimes the client sends us a certificate or requests that we check the certificate provided by the factory, and we use it. For example, we look at the CDF (Constructional Data Form) and we compare it with what we see on the critical components (same appearance, same marking, etc.), and that’s quite typical.

However, our inspectors are not compliance consultants. They won’t call the issuer of a certificate or report in order to confirm authenticity or ask for missing results on key standards. That has to be documented in advance by the compliance/quality manager of the importing company. The compliance/quality manager has to know what is required and has to archive all that information in a technical file for years to come.

Importers need to know what the safety requirements of their products are. We do not pretend we can replace your compliance manager.

Medical face masks have become an increasingly popular product type for importers due to the coronavirus pandemic.

As such, we have been inspecting them regularly, have plenty of experience with medical devices in general, and can help you. We are ISO 9001 certified for product inspections, and one of the process steps in that activity is random sampling.

We put our generic checklist for surgical masks online, so this will give you some idea of how we approach these inspections.

The price for 1 inspector to go to a warehouse in most major manufacturing areas in China and perform a final random inspection on the completed masks is 299 USD all included (we also provide inspections during production if you prefer).

In terms of timelines, we need about 2 days’ notice after we’ve received all of the necessary project information from you.

You may find these resources useful:

• Exporting Face Masks from China: Know the Basics about Regulations & Standards
• Importing Face Masks into the EU: Know the Basics about Regulations & Standards
• Importing Face Masks from China to the USA: Know the Basics about Regulations & Standards
• The different names & classifications for face masks and respirators