How Product Inspectors Use Quality Control Checklists

A quality control checklist is the most important document QC staff rely on to guide them through inspecting a particular product. And with sections for product requirements, packaging, on-site testing, defect classification and more, it’s easy to see why checklists are so vital. When an importer omits a key detail from their checklist, that importer often receives an incomplete or inaccurate inspection report as a result.

If you read our earlier eBook, 4 Ways Importers Conduct Product Inspection, you know you have a few options for checking up on the status and condition of your products, including:

• Hiring a full-time inspector to visit the factory
• Hiring a professional third-party QC company
• Relying on factory staff to inspect, or
• Personally visiting your supplier’s factory to inspect

And having an effective checklist for your product is helpful, regardless of which inspection method you choose (related: Why Importers Need a Quality Control Checklist). Providing the QC staff with the checklist ahead of inspection helps them prepare and gives them the chance to ask you to clarify any unclear points. A checklist takes the guesswork out of the inspection process.

5 inspection procedures where quality control checklists are vital

Before giving a QC checklist to inspection staff, it’s helpful to understand how it will be used in the field. By putting yourself in the shoes of a product inspector, you can guarantee that all the important points you want addressed are given due consideration. Let’s look at how inspectors use quality control checklists and how problems with a checklist can impact their ability to report on your product.

1. Pulling random samples for inspection

Most importers are aware of the importance of pulling random samples during QC inspection. Without pulling samples randomly, you risk getting a report that doesn’t fairly represent the condition of the whole shipment. In fact, your supplier could potentially be directing inspectors to check units in a specific area of the warehouse where they’ve sorted goods that will pass inspection.

But many importers don’t know that their QC team will probably reference their checklist to confirm how large of a random sample they need to pull. Any effective checklist must include a point about what sample size to inspect, often based on the industry AQL standard.

Without knowing what sample to check a couple of problems can occur:

• Inspectors may check too many units, which will lengthen the time needed to inspect and may raise your costs if your inspector is billing you based on time, or
• Inspectors may check too few units, which limits transparency and raises the likelihood that defects and other product issues will go unnoticed

Let’s say you’re manufacturing 1,200 wooden cabinets in Foshan, China. You’ve contracted a product inspector to check a “GII” sample size, or 80 units. Your inspector will most likely refer to your quality control checklist to learn the sample size required. If the sample isn’t stated, they might mistakenly pull a “GI” or “GIII” sample instead, or 32 and 125 units respectively.

2. Checking the product against specifications

Importers will often provide their QC team with CAD drawings, an approved sample and other reference materials to clarify how the product should be manufactured. But generally, your QC checklist should not only direct your inspector’s attention to these, but also list any other specifications you have that should be checked during inspection. A checklist typically covers points such as:

• Product weight & dimensions
• Material & construction
• Item color
• Item marking & labeling, and
• General appearance

Professional inspectors look to the quality control checklist to find a list of all important product specifications they must check and report on. If you omit information related to how the hangtag should appear on your product, for example, chances are your inspector won’t verify it. This can pose a serious problem, especially when you’re compelled to meet legal requirements related to labeling your product (related: How to Comply with Legal Requirements for Clothing Labeling).

3. Verifying packaging requirements

Obvious problems with packaging are normally easy to spot. But some of the more specific details are easy to miss during inspection and reporting if you don’t include them in your quality control checklist. Your inspector will typically be looking at your checklist for the exact type of packaging, markings or labeling, artwork and other requirements they must verify at the factory.What can go wrong when packaging isn’t reported correctly? A nonconformity like transparent tape, rather than opaque tape, on a shipping carton may not be an issue for you. But maybe your inspector doesn’t report that the same carton is single ply when it actually needs to be double ply to carry the weight of the product. The finished goods you receive could be damaged to the point of being unsellable as a result. Include any and all packaging requirements in your QC checklist so that your inspector knows to verify them.

4. Classifying and reporting quality defects

Most products are prone to a set of quality defects unique to their product type. For example, warping is a defect known to affect wooden products. And flash is a defect known to affect injection-molded products. But without clarification in your QC checklist, your inspector is likely to misreport—or omit from their report entirely—any product defects found.

QC professionals typically classify defects as “critical”, “major” or “minor” in order of severity. And QC checklists often have a section for defects and how to classify them, which the inspector uses to determine the severity of a defect. For example, when considering how to classify garment defects, blood or a needle found in a shirt is almost always considered a critical defect, which will result in failing inspection.

But for less serious defects, like untrimmed threads, you often need to state a clear tolerance to determine what quantity of affected units is acceptable. Misreporting or underreporting defects can have serious consequences. And the best way to ensure your inspector is reporting defects appropriately is to state as many known defects as possible and to classify each.

5. Conducting on-site testing

On-site product testing is an essential part of QC inspection for a wide variety of products. Inspectors conduct product tests to identify any quality flaws or functional issues that might affect the safety or usability of your products. They rely on QC checklists to provide test criteria and procedures, the product sample size for testing and more. Inspectors might carry out testing incorrectly or misreport the result if they’re following an incomplete checklist.

Let’s say your product is an electric blender. The lid must fit correctly on the container, the container on the blade assembly and blade assembly on the base unit. A fitting test and function testing are generally needed here to verify that all moving parts work correctly together. The inspector will be looking at the checklist for this test and its procedure. And they likely won’t perform any tests which are left out of the checklist.

Knowing who will provide the testing equipment

An important part of on-site testing importers are likely to forget is addressing the testing equipment needed. Some importers will assume that as long as they clarify what product tests are needed, their supplier and QC team will work out the testing equipment. In fact, this often results in not having the necessary equipment available for testing.

Outside inspectors often bring a few essential tools to product inspections to the factory, like calipers, a tape measure and a barcode scanner, among others. These tools are portable and applicable to most products. But it’s not typically reasonable for an inspector to supply a metal detector or lightbox for on-site testing at the factory. The cost of purchasing and the burden of transporting such equipment make it impractical for inspectors to provide them.

An effective QC checklist will specify not only what’s needed for tests, but also who should provide it. The checklist helps inspectors adequately prepare for what they need to bring to a factory. And because everything that’s necessary for testing is laid out on the checklist, any outside inspector can call ahead to the factory to confirm the equipment is available.

Conclusion                            

If you were at your factory personally inspecting your order, you would want to check certain aspects of your product. And while you might not be available to inspect every order, you can still advise others on how to do so that they review your product based on your same standard.

By remaining mindful of how product inspectors use QC checklists, you can help inspectors help you. They’re more likely to be fully aware of your quality requirements and will work better with the aid of the checklist. When QC staff have a detailed checklist on hand you can sleep more soundly knowing that you’ve provided all the information necessary to conduct a thorough inspection.

How has having a clear checklist for your product improved your QC experience? Let us know in the comments below!