A Transformation in China Quality Control (Products)

A Changed Perspective

In China, the consumers have suffered for long the unfair practice of the suppliers to supply local goods of questionable quality with a sop of a bargain as an added motivation. But with increasing income they are no longer at their mercy. In fact, their changing tastes and dwindling patience are the most powerful reasons for the manufacturers to make effort to improve quality. It is generally felt that in 10 or 20 years in China quality control (products) would be the principal concern of the manufacturers as the consumers would definitely prefer not to buy inferior quality goods in spite of their being cheap also.   

A Significant Step

Nowadays, product inspection during production has become a necessary factor in China to ensure superior quality of the goods and also confirm that all the requirements and criteria provided by the buyer have been adhered to strictly.

In China quality control (products) is done according to international standards of quality control. These could be ANSI/ASQC Z1.4-2003 or ISO 2859-1. Other than these, with buyer’s instructions in mind, quality inspection is done using long standing expertise and skill.  

Four Ways

There are four ways of checking the quality of products before shipping.

  • Inspection by external inspectors is the most common method used, whereby a third-party agency checks some random samples in the factory after the production is finished.
  • Inspection on platform is done either on samples or complete batch. A platform or warehouse is rented where the goods are displayed for inspection.
  • Piece-by-piece inspection is done on complete production in the factory by independent inspectors. 
  • Training an internal inspector works perfectly when the buyer has been working with the manufacturer for a long time. An inspector in the payroll of the factory reports on the production to the buyer.

Concepts of Quality

In China quality control (products) requires every buyer to know three fundamental concepts regarding quality inspection:

  1. Inspection levels consist of three standard levels. Level I consists of few random samples for checking. Level II requires more than that and is used in more than 90% of inspections. Level III opts for more samples for checking.
  2. The Acceptance Quality Limit (AQL) is necessary as we know there is nothing like zero defect. There are three types of defects called critical defects, major defects and minor defects.
  3. When to inspect is the major concern of the buyers. An excellent strategy is to check products early and fix them to get rid of troubles like delay in shipment or accepting inferior quality products.

Inspection

Inspection is an important step in China quality control (products) and can be classified into four types:

  • Pre-production inspection
  • Inspection during production done after 10 – 30% of production is complete
  • Final inspection is performed just before shipment
  • Loading supervision ensures that right products in correct quantity are loaded