27 Questions To Ask During A China Factory Visit

An in-person factory visit to your Chinese supplier's facility is an invaluable chance to gain a comprehensive understanding of their operations and capabilities. This visit should be viewed as an investigative mission rather than merely an opportunity to jot down observations.

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Now, let's delve into some critical questions you should pose during your factory visit.

Observing and Listening in the Factory

Before you embark on a visit to a supplier's factory, you should have already carried out due diligence to confirm their legitimacy. Your preliminary research should provide useful insights to ascertain that they’re a qualified supplier (and a genuine manufacturer). So, how does an in-person visit enhance this understanding?

A factory visit allows you to validate all the information you’ve gathered, gaining further insights through keen observation and active listening.

In our podcast episode, we highlight three significant areas of subjective evaluation that one should visually assess when touring a supplier's factory, including:

• The compatibility of their operations with your business needs
• The competency and preparedness of their management team
• The overall work environment and configuration of the factory

Besides the visual evaluations discussed in the podcast, you should also consider asking these pertinent questions to deepen your understanding of the operation.

27 Essential Questions for Your Visit to a Chinese Supplier

While delving into private or sensitive topics may come across as impolite in China, it is often noted that if a supplier takes offense easily, they likely lack familiarity with the expectations of export customers—a significant red flag for potential future dealings.

Questions Regarding Management and Their Goals

• When was the factory established? What background does the owner have?
• Is the factory financially successful? What were their sales figures for the past year and three years ago?
• What was the most recent major investment in the factory, and what was its cost?
• What plans do they have for future investments?

Questions Focused on Middle Management

• Who is likely to oversee your order besides the salesperson? What is their tenure with the factory?
• How many additional orders will they handle concurrently?
• Are the line leaders and quality control staff promoted from within or recruited externally?

Questions Concerned with the Workforce

• What percentage of workers returned after the last Chinese New Year?
• What is the monthly employee turnover rate (excluding the new year period)?
• What actions are taken when an operator makes an error? Are there penalties?
• Are workers compensated by piece rate or hourly wages?
• Is part of their pay dependent on the performance of the entire team, or is it purely on individual results?

Questions Addressing Capacity

• Observe a line producing an item similar to what you intend to purchase. Inquire about the daily output of this line, then assess the likelihood of those figures based on what you observe.
• What was the factory's expected theoretical capacity at the outset?
• What is the turnaround time from receipt of all materials to complete packing?
• What materials do they procure? Do they solely perform final assembly and packing, or do they also produce certain components?

Questions Related to Quality Management

(For further checkpoints, refer to a previous article that discusses ISO factory audits.)

• What measures are in place for incoming component quality? Can you witness this process?
• How is in-process quality control conducted? Can you see this in action?
• How is final quality control managed? Is this process observable?
• Do they send samples for third-party testing? Can you view the test results for a particular production batch you inquire about?

Questions on Certifications and Client References

• Who are their clients? Can they provide references that you can contact? Do they work directly with these clients or through representatives?
• Can they present the latest two purchase orders from a significant client they mentioned with pride?
• Can you examine their business and export documentation? Are you allowed to photograph these for your investors?
• When was the last incident involving a substantial quality error that came to light only after shipment, and what compensation did they offer?

Payment-Related Questions

• What bank do they typically request payments to be made into?
• Do they have an account in Hong Kong?
• What are their standard payment terms?

By obtaining answers to these inquiries, you stand a better chance of determining whether this supplier is the right partner for your product manufacturing needs.

Moving Forward: A Factory Audit

Your supplier factory visit is a great way to validate information and gather more insights, but there are two challenges to consider:

1. You might be unable to visit the supplier’s factory due to scheduling constraints, or because of travel restrictions, such as those resulting from the pandemic.
2. You may lack the necessary expertise to properly evaluate the supplier's capabilities.

This is where an expert-led factory audit becomes invaluable. The auditor will assess various aspects of the supplier's manufacturing capacity, potential risks, and management structures, offering a detailed report to support your decision-making.

Even if personal visits aren’t feasible, the auditor acts as your representative, with the opportunity for specific requests such as additional photographs of particular areas or inquiries regarding certain aspects.

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Have I overlooked any other significant questions? What inquiries have you found helpful when visiting a factory in China?

Editor’s Note: This article is derived from an earlier piece on QualityInspection.org, customized for the readers of Sofeast.

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