For over 20 years, Shentou has been helping international OE and aftermarket clients in the automotive industry to develop, manage and optimize their China supply chain, especially with supplier quality management, i.e. QA & QC.

Factory inspection is one of Shentou’s most popular services for international buyers, particularly during the COVID-19. Factory inspection is different from a standard factory audit which is a comprehensive assessment of the factory’s overall quality management system based on the full terms of the ISO9001 or IATF16949 standards.

Factory inspection provides international buyers with an efficient and cost-effective tool to assess the factory’s basic capability in supplying quality goods so that the buyers can make reasonable purchasing decisions.

Inspection Scope:

Factory inspection examines the factory’s basic information and the main process/content of the production implementation, including:
◆ Factory’s basic information
○ General condition, number of staff, production capacity, system/product certifications, revenues, market coverage, etc.
◆ Management of the main raw material suppliers
○ Supplier evaluation, incoming quality control, supplier quality performance, raw material warehouse, etc.
◆ Development and design of products and processes
○ New product development procedure, new product validation & confirmation, lab capability, etc.
◆ Production process management
○ Staff, equipment/tooling, quality control, defective parts processing, material control, 5S management, etc.
◆ Product management
○ Packaging management, finished parts performance testing, finished parts warehouse management, shipping management, customer complain processing, etc.

Service Scope:

◆ Inspections of the factory as described above
◆ Compilation of the inspection report which includes assessment of the inspection items.

Basic input from customer:

◆ Notice of inspection by the customer and acceptance by the factory
◆ The factory’s full contact information
◆ The products that the customer is buying or interested in buying
◆ Preferred inspection date
◆ Special inspection focus if any.

Inspection duration:

◆ A standard factory inspection usually takes 1 day (8 hours) with 1 inspector on-site at the factory.

Inspection report:

◆ Inspection Report, in both Chinese & English, to be submitted within 3 working days after the inspection.

Inspection fees:

◆ Quotations of Shentou’s service fees for factory inspection is available upon request.
◆ Annual factory inspection package could also be custom-designed.