Furniture factory audit china
A practical guide to furniture factory audit china: what to check on site, what a photograph cannot establish, and what to write in your purchase specification.
The commercial structure of inspection services creates a question buyers rarely ask: who is paying the inspector?
How fees are normally paid
By the buyer, to the inspection company, separately from the supplier. This matters because it determines what the report is incentivised to say.
An inspector who is paid by the factory has a structural reason to pass the batch. You do not need to assume dishonesty — the incentive does the work.
What to check
- The inspection fee is invoiced to you, not to the factory
- The fee has no relationship to the supplier, and you can ask what happens if the factory offers to pay
- Findings go to you first, and what is communicated to the factory is your decision
- The same inspector is not financially dependent on that one factory's future orders
Why named inspectors matter
Large providers rotate inspectors between clients and factories, and explain it as an integrity control — reasonable. It also means product knowledge is rebuilt from scratch on every visit, and buyers cannot request continuity.
Smaller providers can do the opposite: name the inspector in the report, and let the buyer request the same person. how our verification works describes how our verification is run on that basis.
The commercial consequence
An inspector who fails a lot the factory wanted to ship will keep getting invited back only if the buyer keeps booking. That is the real test of independence: is the same inspector still working for the buyer six orders later?
Common questions
Can I verify goods without sending anyone to the factory?
Partially. A remote photo review can identify gross problems but cannot establish count, dimensions, materials or physical performance. Those require someone on site.
Do laboratory reports replace on-site inspection?
No. They answer different questions. A laboratory report tells you whether a product meets a standard. An inspection tells you whether these goods match what you ordered.
What should my purchase specification contain?
Model and quantity, dimensions with tolerance, materials named rather than described generically, colour standard with a grey scale value, and any standard the goods must meet.
Verifying a furniture order?
We check your goods at the factory against your PI, your agreed specification and your approved sample. Three levels, published prices, report within 24 hours.