Starting your business or collaborating with a new supplier for your products is an important decision. The new partnership seems fresh and exciting, but it also comes with a lot of challenges. Every importer requires and expects the best from its suppliers. They hope to receive par quality products that meet all the set standards and guidelines. Anything less can tremendously bring down the growth of a business.

Even when working with long-term suppliers, mistakes can be made. Even if you have been working with a manufacturer for a good number of years, you should keep receiving good products per your specifications and the quality should remain consistent throughout. But what is seen in many cases is that long-term relationships with suppliers are not always long-lasting. Suppliers tend to lose the quality grip of their products leading to inefficient and ineffective supply chains and poor-quality products.

When these situations arise, a factory audit from VERGER Group is the answer to the problems. Companies are looking into diversifying their supply chains, and sourcing from plants and factories that are not yours can be risky. Factory Audit helps in mitigating any probable risk to the products and the overall supply chain.

Connect with us today to know all about our factory audit services and how we can help in effective factory audits.

A Factory Audit aims at assessing the effectiveness of supply chains, the environment in which the manufacturing is done, and the overall capacity and capabilities of the factory following the standards and guidelines set by the importer/buyer.

Factory Audit is based on Production Control. Every stage of manufacturing, right from the intake of raw materials to the final production, and everything in between is inspected. A factory audit tends to reduce the risks of defective products and raise alerts on working with unreliable suppliers. Minimizing defects and errors in the supply chain is of utmost importance, and Factory Audit helps in bringing important focus points to the table. It ensures that the vendor or supplier understands the requirements and standards and can fulfil the order. It also ensures that the manufacturer delivers quality products.

Let us look at the types of Factory audits VERGER Group can help you with depending on the requirements.

• Capability Audit

If you plan to work with a new supplier, increase production volumes, or enhance supply chains/product lines, a capability audit becomes a necessity. One should know if their supplier has the right equipment and resources to manage the requirements asked for. Sometimes, vendors take more orders than they can deliver, leading to pushed timelines and heavy losses.

• Quality Audit

Products imported need to comply with the standards and technical regulations set by the importer/buyer. Quality factory audit is performed to ensure products are manufactured keeping the technical regulations under consideration. Regulated products failing to comply with the standards set cannot acquire the mandatory certificates needed for import. Therefore, a quality factory audit is key to smooth facilitation of trade between parties.

• Social Compliance Audit

Factory Audits focus on examining the environment and working conditions of the factory/plant. A proper inspection is done on how well the resources are trained and equipped for the job. Any signs of unethical practices against workers, human rights violations, or events of child labour are reported. Factory Audit ensures the manufacturing unit follows the labour laws and works on moral and ethical grounds.

• Environment Compliance Audit

Environment and its protection are an obligation all companies/ factories/ plants need to abide by. VERGER Group ensures correct measures are taken to control environmental issues during manufacturing. The environmental management system should be in place and the use of hazardous chemicals and emissions should be restricted. A factory audit keeps track of the manufacturing process so that all the environment-related standards are met.

After you have decided on your supplier and before the vendor starts production, you must ensure you have a team of auditors ready for an on-site inspection. Let us look at some checkpoints in the factory audit process that VERGER goes through-

• Basic Profile Assessment-

This is the first step before any audit begins. General information about the factory is accumulated. Information like – the address of the factory, size of the factory, owner’s name, name of the manager in charge, number of employees, etc. is gathered and noted.

• Product Design Plan-

It is verified if a product design team is in place in the factory. All the design-related requirements are validated and pointers like- do the designs refer to critical characteristics, are the dimensions right, etc. are reported.

• Resource Management-

Several factors are considered and reported in the process. The factory must follow an organizational structure and all the quality standards and regulations set by the importer should be properly defined within the production system. It is inspected if the resources working in the factory are well-equipped and trained for the jobs. All the machinery and equipment lists are checked and verified. The factory is audited for preventive maintenance.

• Product Test Plan-

A factory should have a product-testing/ control plan available and scheduled. It is a must for the factory to monitor and record the control points.

• Incoming Material Quality Check-

All records of inspection are checked. It is reported if and how the factory identifies and segregates all the non-conforming products. The records for the unused/non-conforming products are examined. There must be a clear record of what happens to the unused products.

• Product Assurance

The requirements for this process are as follows-

1. Are records for all the in-process production inspection checks documented and maintained
2. Is there a well-implemented rework procedure
3. Are the product safety test standards incorporated into the manufacturing process
4. Is there a product safety risk assessment conducted to prevent any mishaps

• Final Inspection-

The final factory audit process verifies the following –

1. Is there a qualified person to conduct a final inspection
2. Is there a standard set for the final inspection before the shipment
3. If all the inspection checks documented
4. Is the test report for the items available?