Household goods manufacturing and supply chain operations are often vulnerable to compliance and regulation violations.
With the pace at which the many complex parts of a supply chain can move, it’s no wonder that retailers who trust too willingly in their suppliers can land up in hot water when things don’t go according to plan.
The only way to address these challenges head on is by conducting a quality audit.
Discover our factory quality audit checklist that touches on quality management, social and environmental compliance here.
An audit of your supplier’s factory is conducted to ensure that your supplier and their factory’s operations are able to produce your product to your expected levels of quality, as well as ensure compliance in your product’s destination market.
This is not the only reason though…
Carrying out audits also help to assess the risks that may be present with a particular supplier and provide direction on how you can go about managing that risk.
Ultimately, the decision to work with a particularly supplier will be up to you, but your decision will at least be based on a trusted risk assessment with a presented improvement strategy.
Our checklist takes you through a what a brief assessment of your supplier’s quality systems would/should look like.
We will cover 3 main sections in this checklist:
WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR:
- Quality Assurance & Technical Questions
- Social / Health & Safety Questions
- Environmental Audit Questions
How Does A Quality Audit Grading System work?
For each checkpoint, the following guideline should be used; N/A – Checkpoint not available or not evaluated. 0 – Major non-conformity – absence of procedure or proof of big discrepancies in implementation – a corrective action will be designed for this checkpoint. 1 – Minor non-conformity – incomplete procedure or proof of discrepancies in implementation – a corrective action will be designed for this checkpoint. 2 – Acceptable – procedures are available and implementation is acceptable, however opportunities for improvement exist – an opportunity for improvement can be designed for this checkpoint. 3 – Good – procedure and implementation acceptable, no opportunity for improvement identified. 4 – Best Practice – factory has designed and implemented best practice of industry.Quality Assurance & Technical Questions
WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR:
- Quality manual and all procedures show revision control (sign-offs & dates), history of changes
- Product quality yield data, problems and corresponding improvement actions, status of preventive/ corrective/audit results
- Strategic and tactical objectives, goals, action plans, etc.
- Analysis of field failures, inspection yields, resource needs, internal audit results, corrective action status, etc.
- Management review meetings, goal setting, performance measurement, internal audits, action plans, customer surveys
- Employee involvement/recognition program, Lean, Six Sigma, kaizen, SPC, 5-S, cost reduction programme
- Corrective actions, trend charts, meeting minutes, non-conformance frequency & cost analysis
- Management review meetings and corrective actions
- Look for use of training aids and work instructions at work stations
- Qualification records, certification history
- Records of testing, production quality records, audit records, interview workers to validate training records
- Job descriptions, job skills assessment, training records, training manuals
What if my quality assurance score is below standard?
API is able to customize its QA solutions based on your specific needs and requirements. API will provide the supplier information on how they can go about improving various things within a factory. This information will be relayed back you, the retailer, where you will gain insight into your potential supplier and their factory operations to ensure compliance across the board.SOCIAL / HEALTH & SAFETY QUESTIONS
What to look out for:
- Procedure for training and communication and participation
- Emergency preparedness and response plan, monitoring and performance measurements
- Policies and procedures, health and safety trend charts, accident rate improvement history
- Safety committee or group meeting minutes, accident investigation reports, safety audit reports
Environmental Audit Questions
What to look out for:
- Environmental policy statement document
- Records of agency/government inspection, procedures for measuring and monitoring environmentally sensitive activities
- Record of purchases, waste stream and consumption; inventory control procedures
- Records/use of; non-hazardous (RoHS/WEEE compliant) materials in production, biodegradable materials, returnable containers or packaging, recycling program, packaging materials made of recycled materials
Wichtigste Erkenntnisse
A factory quality audit checklist allows you insight into your suppliers quality control processes and manufacturing capabilities, their strengths and weaknesses. This empowers you to strengthen those weaker processes where needed. A quality audit checklist will help ensure:- your factory’s quality systems are up to date, organized and well recorded.
- confidence in the selection of your supplier based on checklist insights.
- confidence in the quality of the product that is manufactured.
- confidence that compliance standards are actively being met by your supplier.
Gemäß den Richtlinien der ISO 9001:2015 sind sie grob in acht Abschnitte unterteilt, von denen fünf für das QMS Ihres Unternehmens verpflichtend sind;
Das 
Eine Situation wie die oben beschriebene wirft kritische Fragen auf: Erstens hätten die verwendeten Chemikalien vermutlich nicht den internationalen Vorschriften entsprochen. Zweitens fördert das Verschweigen von Verstößen gegenüber Prüfern illegale Produktionsprozesse. Drittens stellt sich die Frage: Wie wirken sich diese Stoffe auf die Arbeiter aus und wie werden sie gelagert oder entsorgt?
Viele Fabriken haben mit Ressourcenengpässen und finanziellen Herausforderungen zu kämpfen. Das führt oft dazu, dass verfügbare Mittel vorrangig in die Beschaffung von Rohstoffen für die nächste Produktion fließen, anstatt in die notwendige Wartung und Instandhaltung ihrer Maschinen und Anlagen investiert zu werden. Dies hat zur Folge, dass Maschinen bei einer Inspektion durch einen Auditor oft nicht korrekt kalibriert oder beispielsweise mit zu viel Öl geschmiert sind. Letzteres kann zu Produktkontaminationen führen und Ihre Marke in eine riskante Lage bringen. Alles andere als ideal.
Falls dies während Ihres Audit-Prozesses entdeckt wird, wird empfohlen, sich stattdessen einen anderen Lieferanten zu suchen. Es gibt keinerlei Grundlage, auf der dies akzeptabel wäre.
Gefährliche Arbeitsbedingungen – Gefährliche und unsichere Arbeitsbedingungen sind in vielen Fabriken in Drittweltländern weltweit keine Seltenheit und führen oft zum Scheitern technischer Fabrikaudits. Dinge wie fehlerhafte persönliche Schutzausrüstung (PSA), abgelaufene Feuerlöscher, fehlende deutlich gekennzeichnete Notausgangsschilder, nicht funktionstüchtige Ausgänge, kalibrierungsbedürftige Maschinen oder fehlende Sicherheitsvorrichtungen an schweren Maschinen können zum Scheitern des Audits führen. Diese Sicherheitsverstöße sind für Ihren Lieferanten leicht zu beheben und zu lösen. Bitte bedenken Sie dies beim Erhalt der Auditergebnisse, da Sie oft Zeit für Korrekturmaßnahmen seitens Ihres Lieferanten einplanen müssen.
