I assume that you and/or your staff did a very good job by giving the full information regarding the sample preparation to you factory and that the factory also closely followed your requirements. Therefore, it is the right time to provide at least one sample together with all your specifications and requirements to the inspection company of your choice.

Since the inspection company will act on your behalf as your savior in case of a non-compliant production, it is very obvious that you must feed them all the information you have to let them do the job. This is even more important when your product is more complex like home appliances and consumer electronic products.

Please consider that they can only follow the general inspection procedures and your specific requirements. If you do not inform the inspection agent about certain details, they will not take the necessary action and can't be blamed.

Beginning the Inspection Process

What happens after they receive your sample(s) and your clear detailed instructions?

The inspection company prepares a checklist which you have to verify and at this stage you can still make corrections.

The inspection company will also take your sample(s) as reference sample(s) for their inspector and you will again realize how important it was to give clear instructions to the factory for their sample preparation process.

If you insist the inspection be conducted without a sample, do not be surprised later on, if the inspector's finding do not match your expectations. The factory will always try to confuse the inspector because they have only one thing in mind, which is "ship out and receive your money as soon as possible".

I would like to point out the extent importers have changed the inspection requirements in the last few years.

Home appliances make a good example. Some years ago, toasters were operated without bread during the inspection. Nobody cared to test whether bread was toasted consistently from top to bottom and side to side. That has completely changed because end consumers have also become more demanding and don't accept slices of toast bread where the top completely burned and the bottom is still white.

Some years ago coffee makers were operated without ground coffee and it was sufficient when the boiled water dripped into the glass jar proving the coffee maker was functioning properly. Today inspections are conducted with ground coffee along with paper or permanent filters in order to simulate a normal operation. Only then, can the inspector discover whether the coffee will run fast enough through the filter and coffee without overflowing.

You should get the point about how much effort is necessary to inspect products to make sure that they meet the consumer's expectations for day-to-day use. Therefore, you will understand that only an experienced inspection company can cope with ever-changing requirements and directives. It makes no sense to employ someone without this experience but who may charge less.

After you have selected your inspection company and they have received your sample(s) you must provide them with a copy of your P/O (Purchase Order). It is advisable to blank out the Fob prices because inspectors could be tempted to pass such information to competitors.

In general, you should know there are not many secrets in China. Inspectors frequently run into counterparts from other companies when performing their job at several different factories. It may well be that they have lunch together (usually provided by the factory) and talk shop. And talk they will. Important information spreads faster then you can imagine.

Fob prices are not necessarily something you want discussed among inspectors. Don't give them a chance by showing it on your P/O copies.

More About the Inspection Process

The inspection company will include vital information from your P/O in the checklist along with other specifications received from you. Usually the checklist includes various digital photos of specific details the inspector needs to be familiar with. In general, the more detailed information you provide to the inspection company, including digital photos, the better the inspector can perform his duties.

After everything is clear, you will book your inspection(s) with your inspection company. This is usually done by filling out an online application form.

Booking the inspection must be arranged at least 5-7 working days prior to the estimated date of production completion or at least the date when 80% of your products will have been completed. It is very important to know, that the inspector will refuse to perform an inspection if the total completed production quantity is less than 80% and if the products have not been packed in their sales packaging and export cartons. The factory will be charged for the inspector's expense for the failed inspection.

After having received your inspection booking, the inspection company contacts the factory and verifies the inspection date because they have to coordinate the manpower and will try to allocate their inspectors to several factory locations in the same area.