Quality Assuarance in China

In the wake of tainted pet food and lead in toys scandals, how does a company assure quality from Chinese suppliers? With the cost of freight, and most payment terms with Chinese factories requiring significant payment before shipments are received by customers in the US, you sure can't count on opening the container and auditing product quality then.

At OPS America we take the following approach:
1. Make sure we have the customer's specifications and any additional quality testing requirements correct and complete.
2. Audit the factory's ability to meet specification requirements and perform quality testing.
3. Perform our own quality testing. The majority of our employess in China are quality inspectors.
4. Follow-up on shipments with customers to determine if any changes are needed for the next production run.
5. Most importantly - be present in the factories and build relationships with multiple personnel so we can find out when things aren't right.

Point #5 is probably where some of the large toy companies failed in working with their Chinese suppliers. These suppliers had purchased low quality paint that contained lead. Being in the factories often and building relaitonships with multiple personnel is the best way catch things like this and to really know what's going on.