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Tear off the Label Made in China of "Good Quality and Low Price", Don't Spoil the International Market

From the perspective of international trade markets, China has become the largest country in world trade. However, consumers around the world are buying Chinese manufacturing, while they are constantly deprecating Chinese manufacturing. This is an abnormal market phenomenon. Foreign companies that buy products in China often tremble and they always panic to buy inferior goods.

An entrepreneur once said to the CLI that they always use the most stringent quality technical standards for export products, while strictly controlling the supply chain management, and is also popular in the international market. However, he said that he did not understand: Why is China’s high-quality and inexpensive goods exported to the international market, but it has been described as low-quality and cheap goods by European and American media?

This is a crib export enterprise from Qingdao. Its products are exported to Europe, North America and many other countries. It is generally welcomed.It has never been any quality problems and related incidents involving infants and children, and the company attaches great importance to supply chain management. In addition,the  product design and material selection are strictly in accordance with international first-class standards, which make products more popular than that of similar products in Germany, France, Italy and other countries.

It is such a supplier of quality products made in China that will not be exchanged for the praise of the international market.Where is the problem? In order to clarify the phenomenon that Chinese manufacturing in the international market has “market and no word of mouth”, the CLI inspection investigated several export-oriented manufacturing enterprises and found that the problem is not so serious, but it does exist.

To sum up, the reasons are as follows:

Ⅰ.The best quality products are exported to the international market, and they are not concerned about the domestic market.

Almost all export-oriented manufacturing companies have strict requirements on the quality of their exported products.On the contrary, the quality of domestically-sold goods is relatively relaxed. Even so, sometimes the price of exports is much lower than the domestic factory price.Because for export products,they do not have to consider the issue of marketing,only manufacturing.In the domestic market, companies must have the corresponding marketing capabilities.Therefore,many companies give up the domestic market, only export-oriented enterprises.They do not need good supply chain management and no own brands.What brands are required to be labeled, what brand they will put on, and finally just print “Made in China”. As a result, Chinese-made goods enter the international market and all the benefits are attributed to the brand. Once the products are not good, it will blame on Chinese manufacturing.This is the sorrow that only manufacturing but no brand.

Ⅱ.The traditional impression of Europe and the United States naturally divides Chinese manufacturing into low-end products.

In many product fields,it is not because Europe and the United States can not produce, but their production and manufacturing costs are too high,resulting in high market prices,consumers are not willing to pay for high prices.Therefore,these brands have to build their complete high- and low-end product systems through China manufacturing to perfect the supply chain management and sold them to the market. As a result, they naturally classify their products as high-end,classify Chinese-made products as low-end. For a long time, although consumers can feel “good quality and low price”, they can’t have a sense of brand value, and naturally they will not feel any special quality reputation for Chinese manufacturing.

Ⅲ.Chinese manufacturing export enterprises have price wars with each other, making the export price more and more low.

I heard a story 10 years ago, a clothing price of 500 yuan, no one cared about it, then the store owner added a 0 after the 500 to 5000 yuan, and soon sold.When consumers cannot judge the value of the product from the product itself, they will judge by price.Switch to the importer, if the price given by the supplier is too low, the importer also does not believe in the quality, only when the Pre-shipment inspection is  arranged to check on site, then they will trust.

Therefore, if a market is always stimulated by low prices, the market will reflect a “low quality”, and the supply chain management will become more and more lax. After a long time, a general consensus will be formed.

Ⅳ.The quality of the late-developing economy is not self-confident.

The development of the economy is always less friendly to the latecomers, because later generations often steal the food of the pioneers.Of course, pioneers may be protected by technological patents, brand recognition, and intellectual property rights, which are obstacles for latecomers to enter the manufacturing market.In this way, it will create a feeling of unconfident quality for the latecomers.If the relevant media of the late-developing economy and pioneers jointly speculate on their quality problems, they will help the late-developing economies to establish poor quality and confidence. There is no confidence in doing the supply chain management at same time.As a result, even if the quality of the manufacturing enterprise has reached the international standard, it will not be able to get rid of the bad reputation of poor quality from outside world.

Ⅴ.Lack of support for independent brand operations in the international market.

In addition to technical quality, what is most important for Chinese manufacturing? Of course it is brand marketing. If we can reduce the export of products, increase the export of branded goods, open the international market with our own brands, and increase the supply chain management system, then China’s manufacturing will naturally rise to a higher level.We have seen that brands such as Huawei, Lenovo, Gree, Haier, and Geely have taken the independent international market brand operations as the core elements of the company’s entry into the international market. These companies have the right to speak in the international market and will of course be subject to the pursuit of the international market.

On the contrary, Chinese manufacturing companies that only output products without exporting brands will not enjoy the same treatment as these brands, thus lowering the quality of Chinese manufacturing. Of course, not all importers have the strength to buy products from branded companies. At this time, it is necessary to strictly select quality-manufactured China-made products.The enterprises with perfect supply chain management will not play tricks because they also want to expand abroad market. Importers can use the CLI factory audit to judge the strength of the factory.

In many cases, the impression that Chinese manufacturing is “low quality and low price”, which does not mean that Chinese manufacturing has reached the international advanced manufacturing standard in terms of technical quality in the international market,and a large part of it is due to the lack of our own brand. Only make products but no brands, with the “good quality and low price” to spoil the brand operators in the international market, and also spoil the consumers who enjoy “good quality and low price”. In the event of rising raw materials and manufacturing costs, Chinese manufacturing will be plagued by the quality of international brand operators and public opinion, making Chinese manufacturers have to digest the bitter consequences of rising costs.

In order to get a better price, importers need to constantly develop new plants, but they also face the quality risks of the new plants. Therefore, how to continuously develop factory resources and raise the level of supply chain management in China with the lowest risk is the core issue that all importers need to seriously deal with.Importers who lack the level of supply chain management will eventually be at a disadvantage in the market competition.

This article is an original article for CLI Inspection, who is committed to providing high-quality product inspection technology and know-how sharing for global importers and retailers to make imports safer. All rights reserved. The contents of this website provided by CLI Inspection may not be reproduced or used without express permission. For reprint, please contact with CLI Inspection, thank you.

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Can Keep Doing Quality Inspection Really Improve the Quality of Products?

The topic of “quality is caused by producing or inspection” has always been the focus of debate in the business community: producers say that quality is by inspection, whether it is in-process quality inspection or finished product inspection, as long as there are inferior products entering the market, it means that the inspectors fail to handle it properly; Inspectors say quality is produced. If producers do not produce substandard products, there will be no inferior products on the market. Today, many companies, once they have quality problems, push the responsibility to the quality department, believing that this is the responsibility of the quality department, because many companies have the following wrong ideas:

1. Allowing a few bad and unexpected flaws is inevitable; 2. Quality is the responsibility of the quality control department; 3. Pay attention to the inspection of products only, and inspectors need to be responsible for solving defective products; 4. There was a problem, and it was agreed that it was a matter for the quality department.

I think many colleagues who do quality work in the factory have more or less experienced this feeling: often when they write reports, the quality department does it by itself, while other departments basically don’t care. The boss thinks quality is not very important, research and development is very important, and making money is more important. Therefore, the quality department does not have any position in the company, and often speaks a few words of truth, then it is time to be dismissed.

So, does quality cause by producing or inspection? This is a common concern of international importers and manufacturers.

First of all, we should analyze the relationship between first and second, initiative and passivity. As we all know, even if in-process quality inspection is carried out on the production line,  the production is before the inspection. In other words, only if you produce the product can you inspect it. If you don’t have the product, you can’t inspect it. How can you get a good or bad result?

Obviously, production is initiative and inspection is passive. Early quality management was limited to quality inspection, and only the quality of products was checked afterwards, not in-process quality inspection. However, experience has proved that the quality of products can be guaranteed only if every link in the production process is carried out in strict accordance with the requirements of the production process and operation instructions. If in-process quality inspection is ignored and only finished products are inspected, more waste products may be produced due to defects in intermediate links, after all, quality inspection can only eliminate defective products and waste products. Not only increases costs, but also affects cooperation between factories and importers That is to say, the quality control should not only be controlled after the event, but also focus on the manufacturing stage, that is, in-process quality inspection.

To give a few examples: 1. The engineering masterbatch produced by Company A is not strictly controlled in color, resulting in color difference of the plastic parts produced by the user B Company, which results in customers no longer using the plastic products produced by Company A.

2.Due to the lack of strict control of plastic moisture, various bubbles appeared in plastic products, resulting in a large number of substandard products. All the last dozens of tons of plastic were returned and compensation was made for the losses already caused.For plastic products that have quality problems due to not attaching importance to in-process quality inspection, only in Pre Shipment Inspection has found frequent cases of quality problems.Such a situation will undoubtedly bring great trouble to importers and manufacturers.

However, does the importer think the final inspection is completely unnecessary? Of course not! CLI believes that every link in the quality management system requires quality control, rather than giving preference to one another.

First of all, establish the quality of prevention awareness:

” The quality of the product is produced and designed, not only by inspection, and things will be done right in the first place.” This is not a slogan, it well reflects the preventive nature of product quality.It will be difficult to control product quality without in-process quality inspection if enterprise quality control does not start from the source. Even if a large amount of inspection manpower is put into production to check, including inspection by a third party inspection agency hired by the importer, a large number of defective products or even waste products may be produced and the cost of the products will be greatly increased. Besides, some product quality problems cannot be found and remedied in the following process, which requires us to do things well in the first place to prevent quality problems.

Secondly, set up the procedural consciousness of quality:

The quality management is the whole process and the whole company, and the work between each process and all departments of the company must be orderly and effective, requiring all quality management personnel and operators to strictly follow the procedures. If they do not follow the procedures, the chances of making mistakes will increase and the quality of the products will not be guaranteed.

Finally, make good use of the role of inspection:

Quality improvement is a continuous and perfect process. Through in-process quality inspection and finished product inspection, unqualified products are found, lessons are learned, and process technology is improved and strengthened to produce better quality products. Therefore, it is better to add an inspection procedure than to send unqualified products directly to consumers without inspection. Return and Complaints.

This article is an original article for CLI Inspection, who is committed to providing high-quality product inspection technology and know-how sharing for global importers and retailers to make imports safer. All rights reserved. The contents of this website provided by CLI Inspection may not be reproduced or used without express permission. For reprint, please contact with CLI Inspection, thank you.

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The Leapfrogging Development of Quanzhou's Foreign Trade

In Quanzhou of Fujian Province, a city with a developed private economy, is the largest and most concentrated foreign trade supply base for shoes and clothing in China.Its products are exported to more than 160 Countries and regions Its pr oducts are exported to more than 160 countries and regions. Quanzhou third party inspection company also accepts inspection orders from six continents. Facing the complicated international trade environment, Quanzhou still handed over a excellent foreign trade report card. Resisting pressure and steadily increasing headwinds is a true portrayal of Quanzhou's great-leap-forward foreign trade development.       

Before 1979, Quanzhou had only a few county-level foreign trade companies, which were responsible for purchasing goods and providing them to provincial and Xiamen import and export companies for export, not to mention foreign trade, and the Quanzhou third party inspection company had not yet taken shape. After the reform and opening up, Quanzhou, which is located in the front line of coastal defense, overcame the unfavorable factors of development, fully grasped the special policies granted by the state to Guangdong and Fujian provinces, brought into play the advantages of overseas Chinese hometown, and walked out of an export-oriented economic development road with Quanzhou characteristics. The leapfrog development of foreign trade is not only reflected in scale, but also has obvious industrial advantages. Among the commodities exported by Quanzhou, seven categories of traditional products account for 70%, of which shoes and clothing account for 56%. Among the county-level cities under Quanzhou City, Shishi's main export product is textile, clothing, footwear and leather products, which are also the daily inspection objects of Quanzhou inspection company. Many internationally renowned clothing brands purchase raw materials and produce orders in Shishi. Shishi has become an important part of the global clothing processing trade industry chain.

Jinjiang is called the capital of China's footwear brands because it has the largest footwear market in the country and is also the production base of tourist sports shoes. From family workshops to the emergence of sporadic small enterprises, to today's multi-billion brand industrial clusters, Jinjiang's footwear industry has undergone tremendous transformation. Following its footsteps, Quanzhou inspection company gradually developed from scratch to have some professional footwear inspectors, which is an indispensable role in the shoes quality control. In 2019, Quanzhou's import and export trade shows three major characteristics: continuous transformation and upgrading of "Made in Quanzhou", "Belt and Road " accounting for half of the country's total, and the vitality of private economy is generating. Among them, the trade between Quanzhou and the countries along the "Belt and Road " is accelerating and has become a new driving force for the steady growth of Quanzhou's foreign trade. Due to the superiority of their geographical location, Quanzhou and Xiamen are only over 80 kilometers apart, and Xiamen has many trading companies. Quanzhou and Xiamen's foreign trade are complementing each other. Of course, there is also help from Xiamen inspection company, which is also help to control the quality ? In 2020, although the import and export of trade declined since late January due to the impact of the epidemic, the export to ASEAN countries grew against the trend, and the Shishi market procurement trade pilot project performed well. At present, Quanzhou's foreign trade is recovering rapidly and orderly. At the same time, the inspectors of Quanzhou third party inspection company have all returned to their posts and are ready to accept inspection tasks at any time. The inspection services provided by Quanzhou third party inspection company are as follows: 1. Pre shipment inspection 2. Initial Production Inspection 3. During Production Inspection 4. Container Loading 5. Random Sample Picking 6. Factory Audit 7. Quick Factory Audit 8. Social Audit 9. Lab Testing The types of inspection products provided by Quanzhou third party inspection company are as follows:

Consumer products category

1. Grocery: household products, furniture, toys, handicrafts, outdoor products, sporting products, promotional decoration, kitchen products, cosmetics, building materials, hand tools and others. 2. Textiles: apparel, home textiles, fashion accessories, bags, shoes and socks, leather, fabrics, yarns, etc. 3. Electrical appliances: household appliances, lamps, audio-visual appliances, communication equipment, electric tools, etc. Industrial products

1. Industrial standard parts 2. Non-standard customized parts 3. Transportation tools and fittings 4. Production equipment and instruments

This article is an original article for CLI Inspection, who is committed to providing high-quality product inspection technology and know-how sharing for global importers and retailers to make imports safer. All rights reserved. The contents of this website provided by CLI Inspection may not be reproduced or used without express permission. For reprint, please contact with CLI Inspection, thank you.

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The High Quality Development of Xiamen’s Foreign Trade

After the founding of new China, Xiamen has experienced 70 years of rapid development, and the city’s economic level has steadily improved. As a special economic zone and an important port city, it plays an important role in foreign trade. According to the 2018 “China’s Top 100 Foreign Trade Cities” published by China Customs magazine, Xiamen ranked sixth in the country and first in the whole province with a comprehensive score of 77.8. In this city with many foreign trade companies, the CLI company, which belongs to the Xiamen third party inspection company, is extremely busy. It is not only limited to the inspection of all kinds of products, but also the inspection of docks and warehouses is a common sight.

Xiamen has obvious advantages in characteristic industries. In the first half of 2019, 869,000 tons of granite stones and products and 310 million LED lamps were exported, ranking first in the country. Xiamen imported 55.35 million litres of beer, ranking second in the country. Among them, the characteristic of Xiamen LED industry is known as “Xiamen model” and is one of the development samples of the national semiconductor lighting industrialization base. This shows that stone and energy-saving lamps are the main products exported from Xiamen. In fact, it also includes fitness equipment, handicrafts, clothing and shoes. These kinds of products enrich the inspection catalogue of Xiamen third party inspection company, and at the same time help improve the quality of products, helps more oversea importers to under the quality of Xiamen products.

In 2019, the growth situation of some foreign trade enterprises will be grim due to the unfavorable factors such as continuous Sino-US trade friction, exchange rate fluctuation, intensified export competition, and the company’s operating cost factors. At the same time, in the development of Xiamen inspection company, there are also problems of reducing product models, and quantity of inspection orders.

To this end, Xiamen government has issued a series of policies, including, focusing on supporting the development of growing enterprises; Encourage suppliers to participate in overseas exhibitions and use e-commerce platforms to expand overseas markets; Subsidies to open up international markets, etc. These measures are aimed at improving the city’s foreign trade environment,enhancing the core competitiveness of enterprises and promoting the high-quality development of Xiamen’s foreign trade. Due to the limitation of urban areas, many foreign trade companies will set up factories in neighboring cities, such as Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, etc. Quanzhou inspection company and Zhangzhou inspection company will be busier for this.

The government’s policy encourages Xiamen’s foreign trade to develop more and more rapidly with the full cooperation of Xiamen third party inspection company.The category and quantity of export products are increasing day by day, making a leap towards the first place in “China’s Top 100 Foreign Trade Cities”.

The inspection services provided by Xiamen third party inspection company are as follows:

Pre shipment inspection

Initial Production Inspection

During Production Inspection

Container Loading

Random Sample Picking

Factory Audit

Quick Factory Audit

Social Audit

Lab Testing

The types of inspection products provided by Xiamen third party inspection company are as follows:

Consumer products category

Grocery: household products, furniture, toys, handicrafts, outdoor products, sporting products, promotional decoration, kitchen products, cosmetics, building materials, hand tools and others.

Textiles: apparel, home textiles, fashion accessories, bags, shoes and socks, leather, fabrics, yarns, etc.

Electrical appliances: household appliances, lamps, audio-visual appliances, communication equipment, electric tools, etc.

Industrial products

Industrial standard parts

Non-standard customized parts

Transportation tools and fittings

Production equipment and instruments

This article is an original article for CLI Inspection, who is committed to providing high-quality product inspection technology and know-how sharing for global importers and retailers to make imports safer.

All rights reserved. The contents of this website provided by CLI Inspection may not be reproduced or used without express permission.

For reprint, please contact with CLI Inspection, thank you.

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The Rise of Ningbo's Manufacturing Industry

In the 1950s, Ningbo established its first national machinery factory, mainly engaged in textile machinery and ship maintenance, which started Ningbo's industrial development after the founding of New China. By the 1980s and 1990s, Ningbo's manufacturing industry had risen in the opening up and trained a large number of entrepreneurs with an international perspective, from "foreign trade for thousands of households" to "going out with thousands of troops" to "promoting transformation by all means" in response to the financial crisis. Ningbo third party inspection company came into being when the manufacturing industry went global. These entrepreneurs initially sold their products to all parts of the world, then set up production bases overseas, gradually expanding their business scope, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, attracting domestic and foreign talents, and more and more abundant international cooperation. With the expansion of the market, the demand for inspection services is also increasing.In the process of manufacturing industry development, Ningbo third party inspection company has continuously learned experience and improved inspection process to adapt to the speed of manufacturing industry and provide satisfactory inspection services for enterprises in various countries.                       Today, Ningbo's total industrial output value has exceeded 2 trillion yuan and its industrial added value is nearly 500 billion yuan. There are mainly eight 100 billion industrial clusters such as green petrochemicals, automobiles, high-end, key basic components, new materials, electronic information, textile and clothing, household appliances, etc. It has the titles of China's stationery capital, China's mold capital, China's injection molding machine capital, etc. and nine unique industrial bases in the country. In Zhejiang, Wenzhou's industrial chain is no less than Ningbo's. Wenzhou garment inspection also plays an indispensable role. Similarly, chemical industry is the main industry in Ningbo, mainly producing rubber, plastics, dyes, chemical raw materials and petrochemical industry. The routine inspection of Ningbo inspection company mainly focuses on textile and clothing, household electrical appliances and chemical products, making inspection rules for each category to ensure that each inspector can stick to the professionalism of the inspection industry and treat each order seriously and responsibly. These are all derived from the industry tenet of Ningbo inspection company.                  According to statistics, in 2019, under the grim situation of internal transformation and external trade frictions, Ningbo's foreign trade still achieved an adverse growth of 6.9%, with import and export exceeding 900 billion yuan for the first time, reaching a record high. Specifically: 1.Look at the structure. Commodity structure was optimized and upgraded, and high-tech products performed well. Clothing, textiles, plastic products, furniture, toys, footwear, luggage and other seven categories of labor-intensive products were exported 155.82 billion yuan, up 6.6%, accounting for 26.1% of the city's total exports. 2.Look at the market. Trade diversification has achieved remarkable results, and trade growth with countries along the "the belt and road initiative" has accelerated. 3.Look at the way. The city's general trade continued to play a pulling role in the overall foreign trade, and the proportion of foreign trade further increased. Ningbo's manufacturing industry has a long history and keeps pace with the times. With the growth of Ningbo third party inspection company, it has accelerated its progress towards the middle and high end of the global value chain and the goal of high-quality manufacturing development. The inspection services provided by Ningbo third party inspection company are as follows: 1. Pre shipment inspection 2. Initial Production Inspection 3. During Production Inspection 4. Container Loading 5. Random Sample Picking 6. Factory Audit 7. Quick Factory Audit 8. Social Audit 9. Lab Testing The types of inspection products provided by Ningbo third party inspection company are as follows: Consumer products category 1. Grocery: household products, furniture, toys, handicrafts, outdoor products, sporting products, promotional decoration, kitchen products, cosmetics, building materials, hand tools and others. 2. Textiles: apparel, home textiles, fashion accessories, bags, shoes and socks, leather, fabrics, yarns, etc. 3. Electrical appliances: household appliances, lamps, audio-visual appliances, communication equipment, electric tools, etc. Industrial products 1. Industrial standard parts 2. Non-standard customized parts 3. Transportation tools and fittings 4. Production equipment and instruments This article is an original article for CLI Inspection, who is committed to providing high-quality product inspection technology and know-how sharing for global importers and retailers to make imports safer. All rights reserved. The contents of this website provided by CLI Inspection may not be reproduced or used without express permission. For reprint, please contact with CLI Inspection, thank you.

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What is Inspection Certificate?

In international trade, the Inspection certificate is a technical document for multinational importers and exporters to perform procurement business contracts and important commodity quality guarantee clauses. Inspection certificate is one of the important contract basis clauses for importers to ensure that exporters meet the corresponding product standards according to the importer’s commodity procurement technical requirements in order to protect their own commercial interests in the complex transnational procurement process.

With the rapid development of global international trade for several decades, China has become a big manufacturing country, and “MADE IN CHINA”  has been widely welcomed in the world, mainly because it has the characteristics of good quality, low price and strong practicality. China’s industrial manufacturing has the most complete industrial chain in the world. In the field of consumer goods, it almost covers the needs of all importers in the world. Whether it is the high-end market of developed countries with high quality and high price, the market of developing countries pursuing cost performance, or even the market of the least developed countries with low price, “MADE In China” products are popular. It is really amazing that importers from all over the world can find Chinese suppliers suitable for their own markets in China. No other reason, it is mainly because the breadth and depth of China’s industrial chain is difficult to reach for other countries. For the same kind of products, Chinese manufacturers can be divided into high-end, medium-end or low-end products according to the characteristics of regional industrial chain. International importers purchase related products in corresponding places of origin according to their own product quality requirements. In the procurement contract, importers agree with exporters that the quality of purchased products meets the agreed quality standards, and the designated third-party inspection company will conduct product quality inspection. And provide an inspection certificate according to the inspection results, so that buyers can protect their own commercial interests. In short, an inspection certificate provided by a reliable third-party inspection company is very important for importers.

This paper starts to explore from the generalized inspection certificate:

Inspection certificate generally refers to the certificate issued after the commodities, vehicles, ships, etc. have passed the inspection by relevant competent departments. For example, the certificate issued by the State Administration of Commodity Inspection after the export commodities pass the inspection, and the ship inspection certificate issued by the Ship Inspection Bureau are all called “inspection certificates”. The insurer can only consider underwriting the goods, vehicles and ships with inspection certificates.

Type of inspection certificates:

1.Inspection Certificate of Quality, is a valid certificate of export goods delivery settlement and import goods settlement claims; The certificate of legal inspection of commodities is the legal certificate of declaration, export and import of commodities. The release form issued by the commodity inspection authorities and the release stamp stamped on the customs declaration form have the same customs clearance effect as the commodity inspection certificate; The inspection notice issued is of the nature of commodity inspection certificate.

2.Inspection Certificate of Weight is a document that proves the weight of import and export commodities.

3.Inspection Certificate of quantity is a document that proves the quantity of import and export commodities.

4.Veterinary Inspection Certificate is a certificate that proves that the exported animal products or foods have passed the quarantine inspection. Applicable to frozen livestock meat, frozen poultry, canned livestock, frozen rabbits, casings and other export commodities. It is an important document for external delivery, bank settlement and customs clearance in importing countries.

5.Sanitary Inspection Certificate is a certificate that proves that the exported animal products and foods that can be eaten by human beings have passed the sanitary inspection or quarantine. Applicable to casing, canned food, frozen fish, eggs, dairy products, honey, etc. It is a valid certificate for external delivery, bank settlement and customs clearance.

6.Disinfection Inspection Certificate is a certificate that proves that the exported animal products have been disinfected to ensure safety and hygiene. Applicable to bristle, horsetail, feather, human hair and other commodities, it is a valid certificate for external delivery, bank settlement and foreign customs clearance.

7.Fumigation Certificate is a certificate used to prove that exported grains, oilseeds, skins and other commodities, as well as packing wood and plant fillers, have been fumigated and exterminated.

8.Damage Inspection Certificate, is a certificate to prove the damage of imported goods. Applicable to the situation of defective, short and destroyed imported goods; It can be used as a valid certificate for the consignee to claim compensation from the shipper, carrier or insurer, etc.

9.Inspection Certificate of Origin. If the contract stipulates that the certificate of origin shall be issued, the exporter shall issue the certificate of origin and the commodity inspection authorities shall issue the certificate of origin as required by the preference-giving country.

10.Inspection Certificate of Value, a document that proves that the value of the product or the value of the commodity contained in the invoice is correct.

11.Stowage Appraisal Certificate, is to prove that the ship and container loading department correctly stowage goods, as a certificate to prove the performance of the obligations of the contract of carriage. It can be used for handling disputes when goods are handed over or damaged.

12.Inspection Certificate on Damaged Cargo, which proves the condition, degree and cause of damage of goods, and is a document for claim and settlement.

13.Property Value Appraisal Certificate, is an important basis for foreign trade relations and judicial, arbitration, capital verification and other relevant departments claim, compensation, evaluation or judgment.

14.Cabin Inspection Certificate, which proves whether the cleanliness, refrigeration efficiency and other technical conditions of the cabin carrying export commodities meet the requirements of protecting the integrity and safety of the quality and quantity of the goods carried. It can be used as the basis for the carrier to fulfill its obligations under the charter party, and for foreign trade parties to hand over goods and deal with cargo damage accidents.

15.Raw silk grade and quantity inspection certificate is a special certificate for exporting raw silk. Its function is equivalent to quality inspection certificate and weight/quantity inspection certificate.

16.Hatch Inspection Certificate, monitoring loading/unloading certificate, hatch seal identification certificate, oil temperature clearance certificate and container supervision loading/unloading certificate shall be used as certificates to prove the carrier's performance of contractual obligations, clarify the liability limits and facilitate the handling of cargo damage and cargo difference liability accidents.

17.Cargo Measurement Inspection Certificate is a certificate that proves the weight, volume and tonnage of import and export commodities. It can be used as the basis for calculating freight and formulating stowage plan.

18.Delivery Inspection Certificate of container chartering and identification certificate of water/oil weight left over from chartering and delivering ships can be used as certificates for both parties to define the performance responsibility and settle the handling expenses.

Inspection certificate in International Trade

According to different situations, different certificates , appraisal certificates  or other certificates are issued according to different inspection results or appraisal items, which are collectively referred to as certificates of Inspection. Inspection certificate plays a fair role in international trade. It is the main basis for buyers and sellers to hand over goods, settle payment for goods, handle claims and settle claims, and it is also an valid certificate for customs clearance, tax payment and freight settlement.

Inspection certificate is related to the economic responsibilities and rights and interests of all parties concerned, and its functions are as follows:

As the basis for whether the quality, weight, quantity, packaging and sanitary conditions of the goods delivered by the seller conform to the provisions of the contract.

As the proof of the buyer's objection to quality, quantity, weight, packaging, etc., rejection of goods and claim for compensation.

As one of the documents for the seller to negotiate payment with the bank. If the results listed in the inspection certificate are inconsistent with the provisions of the contract or letter of credit, the bank has the right to refuse to negotiate the payment.

As a valid certificate for customs clearance of exporting and importing countries. All commodities within the scope of statutory inspection must provide the customs with the inspection certificate issued by the commodity inspection authorities. Otherwise, the customs will not release it.

As the basis for proving the actual situation of goods during loading, unloading and transportation and clarifying the attribution of responsibilities.

Therefore, in international trade, the quality, specifications, hygiene, safety, quarantine, packaging, quantity, weight, damage, shipment conditions and shipment technology of imported and exported commodities are inspected, appraised and supervised by the inspection institutions set up by the state or the independent appraisal institutions registered by the government. Import and export commodity inspection is an indispensable link in the process of goods handover. After passing the inspection, an inspection certificate will be issued, and the exporter can declare for shipment; If the inspection is unqualified, you can apply for a re-inspection. If the re-inspection is still unqualified, the goods can not be exported.

How to obtain inspection certificates for export commodities?

Regarding the inspection of export commodities, the procedures are as follows:

The inspection company accepts the application of inspection. First of all, the applicant fills in the “Application for Export Inspection” and provides relevant documents and materials, such as foreign trade order contract, packing list and product requirements;

Sampling. The inspection company will arrange inspectors to take samples randomly according to different characteristic of goods. The factory should cooperate with inspectors to perform sampling.

Inspection. Inspectors can use various methods, from sensory to instrumental analysis, or sampling to laboratory for physical and chemical tests, to inspect export commodities.

Issue inspection report or certificate. General export commodity inspection certificates are divided into two categories. The first category is the inspection certificate issued by the State Administration for Commodity Inspection of China; The second category is the inspection certificate issued by the third-party inspection company.

At present, most export commodities can be inspected by a third-party inspection company designated by the importer, except that the commodities specified in the Chinese legal inspection catalogue must be inspected by the China Commodity Inspection Bureau.

Is it  necessary to find a third-party inspection company to issue an inspection certificate?

Often, some Chinese factories think that it is unnecessary to find a third-party inspection company to conduct the inspection, the factory can provide an inspection report or a product quality report to their clients directly. In fact, this idea is very wrong, because the inspection report or inspection certificate issued by the third party  is of great significance. Why?

First of all, the third party inspection means commodity conformity inspection and approval activities carried out by an independent third party(such as a full-time supervision and inspection institution)  outside the interests of buying and selling, as a fair and authoritative non-party according to relevant laws, standards and contracts and other parties recognized by both parties. The reason for choosing the third-party structure is to get a fair and objective inspection report.

Secondly,under the condition of globalization,the Chinese industrial production capacity is globally allocated.Generally speaking, the spare parts come from all over the country or even from all over the world.Which parts is “price-performance ratio”,the factory will purchase it. So the inspection report provided by the factory itself will only have a better understanding of the parts produced by itself, and it is better for the third-party inspection company to inspect the whole product in all aspects.

Finally,it is very important for importers to prove the reputation and product quality of enterprises to consumers.Only through the inspection certificate of a third party, the consumers will have confidence in this good. In this way, on the one hand, it can convince consumers, on the other hand, it can effectively prove the reputation of enterprises.

It is precisely because the inspection certificate issued by these third-party companies are of great help to the development of enterprises, so in this case, we should try our best to find some trustworthy third-party inspection companies. Then how to find a reliable third-party inspection company can read another article on this site: How to find a reliable third-party inspection company?

Since importers are aware of the importance of the third-party inspection certificate, it is very important to have a deep understanding of how inspection companies inspect products before providing inspection certificates to importers.

What are the main contents of the third-party inspection?

1. Product appearance inspection

Product size: whether the product size meets the requirements of the order and the difference is within the tolerance range

Color of the product: whether the color of the product meets the requirements of the order, or is it consistent with the sample

Structure of products: whether the product structure meets the order requirements and meets the basic needs

2. Quantity and weight inspection

Whether the shipped quantity is consistent with the packing list, whether the gross weight of the outer box is not more than 5%-10% different from that on the outer box, and whether the net weight of the product meets the requirements of the order

3. Packaging inspection

Packaging inspection first checks whether the commodity packaging marks (marks, numbers, etc.) on the outer packaging are consistent with the import and export trade contract. For packaging inspection of export commodities, besides the packaging materials and methods must comply with foreign trade contracts and standards, it should also check whether the internal and external packaging of commodities is firm, complete, dry and clean, and whether it is suitable for long-distance transportation and the customary requirements of protecting the quality and quantity of commodities. The commodity inspection authorities generally sample or inspect the packaging of import and export commodities on the spot, or carry out weighing and weighing at the same time.

4. Product identification inspection

Product identification refers to the general name of all kinds of marks used to identify product names and their quality, quantity, characteristics and methods of use; In addition to the product instructions, the product identification should be marked on the product or the sales package of the product, the information of the product identification label should be clear and eye-catching, and the graphic symbols should be intuitive and standardized; Graphical symbols should be intuitive and standardized; The characters should be the standard stipulated by the state; The identification label shall have the product name, and the product name shall indicate the true attributes of the product.

5. Product Function check

According to the product standards and customer order requirements, check the use functions and parameters of the products, and imitate consumers to experience the products. Generally, it includes basic function test and abuse test. So as to judge whether a product or a batch of products is qualified or unqualified. The purpose is that unqualified raw materials are not put into production, unqualified parts are not transferred to the next process, and unqualified products are not delivered.

After the inspection, the third party will first issue an inspection report showing the detailed contents. If the inspection results meet the quality requirements of the order and standard, the third party can issue an inspection certificate, which is as follow. A valid inspection certificate, which must first contain the company information of the buyer and the seller; Then, the order and the serial number with name of the product; Then mention the inspected sample numbers, as well as the contents and results of inspections. The inspection certificate can be stamped after the buyer and the seller confirm that the description of the order and the product meets the requirements. Send document by email according to customers’ requirements, or send the original documents directly to the designated address.

Above are some specific types and functions of commodity inspection certificates. In actual export business, consumer goods, such as soft lines, hard lines, electronic goods, luxury goods, and bulk commodities, such as steel products, machinery and construction materials, all need inspection certificate. For the exporter, it can prove that the quality, weight, quantity and packaging of delivered goods comply with the relevant provisions of the contract. For the importer, inspection certificate can be used as a relevant certificate for raising objections to quality, weight, packaging and other conditions, rejecting goods and resolving disputes. On the other hand, the importer entrusts a reliable third-party inspection company to issue an inspection certificate, which is also of great help to his own development. Besides helping the importer to control the quality of export commodities, it can also attract the trust of consumers because of his good quality control awareness.

CLI Inspection’s Comments And Summary

This article discusses in detail how to protect the commercial interests of international importers in the process of transnational procurement, introduces the types and functions of common Inspection Certificate, which are convenient for importers to understand, and focuses on the process of how third-party inspection companies provide product quality inspection services, how to get an inspection certificate. The contents and elements of the inspection certificate are introduced to guide importers to understand how a professional inspection certificate can protect the commercial interests of importers. In short, Countless importers have made huge profits from “Made In China” and earned a lot of money. For importers of all sizes, inspection certificate is an important technical basis for them to carry out effective transnational supply chain management. In the process of transnational procurement, the third-party inspection company is the executor of product quality inspection and the provider of inspection certificate. For the third-party inspection company, this is a great responsibility. CLI Inspection company feels the same way.

This article is an original article for CLI Inspection, who is committed to providing high-quality product inspection technology and know-how sharing for global importers and retailers to make imports safer.

All rights reserved. The contents of this website provided by CLI Inspection may not be reproduced or used without express permission.

For reprint, please contact with CLI Inspection, thank you.

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The Inspection Report Makes Importers Fall in Love With Its Own Value

In fact,inspection reports exist in every industry.As long as product inspection is involved,inspection agencies should be responsible for the inspection results,thus issuing an inspection report.However,the inspection report changes with inspection objects,inspection agencies, inspection effectiveness and other factors.For example,the inspection report issued by the manufacturer is a comprehensive inspection of various quality indicators of the product to assess whether the product quality meets the standards and meets the quality requirements of all designs.The inspection report issued by the quality supervision and inspection department is a kind of supervision and inspection work to charge for appropriate inspection fees from enterprises.The inspection report issued by the third-party inspection company is entrusted by the client to check whether the appearance and function of the product meet the requirements of the order.The inspector will sort out the problems and pictures into an inspection report.These also represent that the application of third-party inspection reports in different industries are different.

And the third-party inspection report really plays an indispensable role in international trade.As we all know,international trade is composed of manufacturers,traders,third-party inspection companies and importers,who can decide the validity of inspection reports according to their own position.For manufacturers,large manufacturers usually inspect each batch of products and send inspection reports to clients for checking,so that clients can be assured of product quality and achieve the purpose of purchase.However, if it is a small and medium-sized manufacturer,there will be no inspection report of finished products,but only the inspection report of raw materials.And it is also the laboratory test commissioned by the raw material manufacturer.  Therefore,if importers cooperate with small and medium-sized manufacturers,they usually arrange for a reliable third-party inspection company to inspect the goods.They check the third-party inspection report to confirm the average quality of the goods.

In the eyes of traders,the inspection report is also a proof to show clients the quality of products.But the difference is that the inspection process of traders is quite different from that of third-party inspection companies.Because the goods are delivered to their own factories for production,or transport it to the factory they are cooperating,traders know the products best.In this case,they will think that every process of product production has been strictly checked.If the client arranges the inspection,they only need to take a picture and measure the basic parameters,which will be showed in the inspection report.Therefore, CLI also learned from some importers that they did not trust the inspection process of traders.And would ask them to find a third-party inspection to inspect. For the third-party inspection company,the inspection report reflects the average quality level of a certain batch of goods to the client.The client can confirm the production situation of the goods through different parts of the report and decide whether to ship or not.Because the position of the third party inspection is different from that of manufacturers and traders.And the responsibilities are different,the inspection report issued by the third party is professional and effective.Most importers will require factories to improve production technology and product quality according to the third-party inspection report.It can be seen that the inspection report can directly reflect the inspection workload to the client.And the client can also judge the authenticity of the inspection work through the inspection reports issued by different third parties,so as to choose the inspection company with high cost performance.

Third-party inspection reports understood by different business objects

Factory

Generally,the inspection reports that factories can get are divided into two types: inspection reports for raw materials and inspection reports for finished products. The former is the qualification certificate required by the manufacturer when the factory buys raw materials.And the factory will back it up in the database in case the client needs it. Therefore,compared with the inspection report of the finished product,the factory pays more attention to the inspection report of the raw materials. After all,it can prove that the raw materials used in the product meet the requirements.Moreover, the factory will indicate to the client that it has strictly controlled the production of the product.They believe that the inspection of the finished product is unnecessary.The inspection report is even more superfluous.

Trading company

As mentioned above,the inspection process of trading companies is relatively simple,so the inspection report is only a few pages. Because in their view,the inspection report is just a piece of paper and it is a formalism,which has no substantive significance.However,if it is required by clients,they will try their best to satisfy them,even though they look down on the inspection report.

Importer

Since importers choose to import goods in China for a long time,what they worry about most is the quality of the goods.Among them,the most effective solution is a comprehensive third-party inspection report.They usually urge the inspection company to send the inspection report to them before shipment, because they need to judge whether the quality of the goods meets the requirements through the inspection report.It can be seen that the importer’s payment of inspection fees is directly proportional to the return and even more than that.

Ultimate buyer

The ultimate buyer can be understood as the ultimate distributor.For them, before receiving the goods, the goods may go through a lot.And it is impossible to guarantee what the goods will be when finally delivery to buyers.However,buys can compare the goods with the third-party inspection report. They check whether the defects or functional problems mentioned in the inspection report still exist,so as to decide the destination of the goods.In the eyes of the ultimate buyer,the inspection report is a comparison proof.

Third-party Inspection Company

As long as it is an inspection company,it is necessary to issue an inspection report after the inspector completes the inspection order.However,due to the different views on the inspection report,the effect of the inspection report can not meet the importer’s expectations.It depends on the business philosophy of an inspection company.And whether they conducts the inspection fairly.The inspection report of inspection companies that can do this is usually a good proof.

According to the different business objects,the views on the third-party inspection report are also very different.In any case,the inspection report is always used to reflect the quality of goods,but how to reflect it concretely?

What Does a Comprehensive Third-party Inspection report Include?

Quantity Table

Before inspection,we will receive the product list sent by clients or traders,including product quantity,product specifications,carton specifications and text information.Such a product list can help inspectors verify the production situation of products and obtain the completion ratio of goods by counting on site.A clear quantity table can reflect the completion of each product to clients.Once the completion rate of a certain product is very low,the client may ask for re-inspection to ensure that a certain quantity of each product can be sampled.

Important Remarks

Important remarks,which are used for clients to conveniently read and understand the most important contents of this inspection result.In the remarks the inspector will describe the production situation, batch problems,testing situation and potential risks of the products.And attach relevant pictures.Clients can quickly grasp the inspection situation on the front pages of the report.If there are many problems that need to be noted,CLI inspection will highlight important remarks to avoid clients’ omission and cause irreparable consequences.

Product Defect Records and Statistics

At the inspection site,the inspector will classify the defects found.Ensure that when editing the inspection report,the sorted defects can be fully showed in the report.According to international practice,the number of sampling is to comply with the prescribed sampling rules.In this way,we can get an acceptable defect value,once the total number of defects actually found exceeds the acceptable range.It shows that the quality of this goods is fail.

On-site Test Items for Product-related Intrinsic Quality

Each product has a test specified by CLI.And the inspector showed the result of each test in the test table.Clients can not only see the workload of the inspection through the test table, but also the inspection quantity of each test.From the test, the client can witness the actual use function of the product and verify whether each function is consistent with the production order.So as to ensure the production schedule of subsequent orders.

Necessary Videos of Product Test

CLI inspection adds a small video to the test.In order to be able to more intuitively show the test results.Because many tests simply pass the pictures and cannot show the test results well.A 15-25 seconds video allows clients to see the operation of product functions more clearly.At the same time, the video processing is relatively simple and the speed of transmission to the client is faster.For the ultimate buyer,it will be more at ease to see the products they purchased through the video for the first time.

Form for Recording Key Data of Products

The average value calculated from multiple sets of data is used to measure the product specifications,so as to ensure that the product design meets the order requirements.It is worth noting that clients can know whether the factory has cut corners by weight.And only need to compare the actual weight with the confirmed sample weight.

Product Information Picture

A comprehensive record of all aspects of the product,clients can intuitively understand all aspects of the product.This part is mainly composed of photos,from shipping mark,bar code,carton open view, color box appearance to product details.The inspector shall check the actual information and check whether it is consistent with the order data,especially the product design.From the complete photos,the client can see the bulk production of each product and decide whether to arrange the shipment.

The above six parts are the main components of a comprehensive inspection report.They all play different roles but they are indispensable.In particular,CLI inspection adds test video which not only makes photos and texts vivid,but also shows the testing process vividly in front of importers.How can importers refuse to use such a third-party inspection report?

Why Do We Recommend That Client Adopt the Inspection Report Template of CLI?

When importers cooperated with CLI for the first time,importers always told us that they must use their templates for inspection reports.We can understand the reasons for this,because the inspection report is for importers,who are used to the established report format and don’t want to spend time adapting to a new format.But for the habit,shouldn’t importers pay more attention to the quality feedback of their products?

The inspection report of CLI is a comprehensive document that feeds back the actual inspection situation. Usually, the number of pages of a report is about 50 to 100 pages.Through every part of the report,from product quantity to product detail drawing,clients can intuitively understand the production situation of bulk production.That’s why we recommend that clients use the CLI inspection report template instead of a report with ten or twenty pages.Most of the time,the format of the client’s own report is also very simple,because they think that the inspection report is just a form,so there is no need to be so complicated.Obviously,the idea of such clients is completely wrong,unless they buy high-end products and there is no need to worry about the quality.

We hope that clients can understand and experience the value of the third-party inspection report.And then they will understand that we do not give empty talk.In fact, clients can easily compare the difference between valuable inspection reports and worthless inspection reports.Once the goods are defective,they can realize the value of inspection reports more directly.

A Case Clearly Shows and Analyzes the Value of the Inspection Report

Above,we emphasized the value of the third-party inspection report,so what value can the inspection report have in actual inspection? In an inspection of ladies’ sandals,the inspector found that the products not only had serious defects,but also had many batch problems.Because this is a PU leather high-heeled shoe,the leather damage,missing glue on heal and wrapped toe found by the inspector, which are major defects in the product.There is also the batch problem of thread end and color deviation. And this inspection report will fail.

From the communication between the inspector and the factory,we know that this is the first time that the factory has cooperated with clients.And it is the first batch of orders since the establishment of the factory. One of the products is outsourced to another small factory and workers are only responsible for assembly.The factory took the production right of this products through traders,but didn’t take seriously of the product quality.After the client received our inspection report,he verified the records in the report with us.Then he told the factory immediately that all the goods must be reworked and re-inspected.Although the second inspection barely passed,we found that this high-heeled shoe was produced in another factory for the third inspection.Obviously,clients have eliminated the first factory from their supply chain system.And tell the problems found in the first inspection to the new factory,so as to avoid the same situation and reduce losses in advance.

It can be seen that a valuable inspection report can tell the client what scale the factory he cooperates with and what the quality management level the factory has. It helps clients select high-quality factories and prevent the risk of complaints.

Are There Any Differences in the Inspection Reports of Different Inspection Service Items?

Because pre-shipment inspection is the most frequently used inspection service by importers,only its inspection report is the most valuable,which is a wrong view.Although there are some differences in the contents of the inspection reports for each inspection service,their functions are the same,with the aim of reducing the risk of importers importing goods from China.Next,we will specifically look at the differences:

Report of Initial Production Inspection

Since the initial production inspection is carried out under the production requirements with 10%-20% of the goods,the inspection report mainly includes the audit of raw materials,the status of products on the production line and the production of accessories.Once there is a problem in a process,the inspector will show the problem in the remarks for the client to check in time and stop loss as soon as possible.

Report of During Production Inspection

At during production inspection,30%-50% of the products have been produced. Therefore, the inspection report can not only show the quality of finished products,but also show the production of semi-finished products on the production line.By checking the mid-term production progress of products,it is a wise inspection method to avoid batch problems in the remaining unfinished products.And it also lays a foundation for the following pre-shipment inspection.

Report of Pre Shipment Inspection

When the client agrees with the management of factory he cooperates with,he usually arranges pre-shipment inspection. At this time,the goods have completed 100% production.The inspector can feed back the overall average quality level of the goods in the inspection report on the premise of maximizing the sampling range. Clients can check the quality of the whole batch of goods through the inspection report,so as to decide whether to arrange shipment or not.

Report of Container Loading Inspection

In this inspection report,the client can see whether the actual shipment quantity of goods is consistent with the contract and there is no shortage.Through the pictures,the packing method of goods in transit is well showed in the report. After the goods arrive at the destination port, unloading the goods and counting them is a job that needs much energy from warehouse keeper and also requires them to be careful,so the report of container loading inspection can help them count the number of cartons more conveniently.

Report of Factory Audit

The purpose of factory audit is to audit all aspects of the factory before the first cooperation.Such as factory equipment,factory workshop,factory hygiene and related certificates.These conditions will be showed in the report through pictures.And if it is necessary, the inspector will also take videos to show the capacity of the factory.According to this inspection report,the client can judge whether the factory meets the management and production requirements to decide the cooperation of each other.

What is the Draft Report?

Due to the influence of workload,the formal inspection report is usually sent to clients on the second working day after inspection.However,when it is in a hurry to arrange the shipment,clients or traders will ask CLI to send a report on the day of inspection.At this time,the draft report begins to play a role! As we already know,the remarks and defects in the report are the most important parts.Therefore, the draft report is the epitome of the formal report,which informs the client the most important part in advance with pictures and texts.

The draft report solves the urgent need of clients.And they can decide whether to ship or not without waiting for the formal report.Therefore, t is also a report pattern that we highly recommend.For inspectors,the efficiency of editing reports is greatly improved,so that they have more time to inspect product quality.From the client’s point of view,the inspection results can be gotten in time and the technological problems can be known,so that rework can be arranged conveniently without delaying the shipping schedule.Of course,the draft report can’t replace the formal report,because the formal inspection report has more product details,including the testing process and size specifications.The two functions complement each other.

CLI Inspection’s Comments And Summary

The “inspection report” seems to be simple words,but each word takes big responsibility.From different business objects’ understanding of the third-party inspection report to the composition of the inspection report and then to the existence value of the inspection report.Each paragraph fully explains its significance to importers. However,many importers may think it is unfounded,but we can prove it through practical cooperation.After all, practice is the sole criterion for testing truth.

Moreover, we can see that different business objects have different understandings of the inspection report.Once a certain aspect is misunderstood,it may lead to an increase in the risk of product complaints and cause irreparable losses.However,from the composition and value of the inspection report,it is an inevitable result to reduce the risk of complaints,which is also the pursuit of CLI inspection With such obvious selection results,CLI believes that importers will make wise decisions.

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This article is an original article for CLI Inspection, who is committed to providing high-quality product inspection technology and know-how sharing for global importers and retailers to make imports safer.

All rights reserved. The contents of this website provided by CLI Inspection may not be reproduced or used without express permission.

For reprint, please contact with CLI Inspection, thank you.

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Learn More about the Development of Zhangzhou's Foreign Trade

As a city adjacent to Xiamen area of Fujian Free Trade Zone, Zhangzhou has been seizing the opportunity, because Free Trade Zone means that the country will carry out comprehensive reform, expand opening up and deepen economic cooperation, which is a new impetus to promote the growth of foreign trade. The Free Trade Zone has close goods exchanges and mutual penetration of funds and services, which is of great and far-reaching significance to Zhangzhou’s foreign trade and the development of Zhangzhou third party inspection company.

In the past ten years, Zhangzhou’s export trade mainly consisted of general trade and processing trade, and was dominated by general trade. Now the processing trade is becoming more and more mature. The commodity structure includes food, mechanical and electrical products, furniture, high-tech products and other products. The main commodities that Zhangzhou third party inspection company’s CLI Inspection company contacts are furniture and clocks. Most of Zhangzhou’s furniture is detachable furniture, which has formed a complete supply chain. In a furniture industrial park, all parts and components are available, and inspection can be completed in one step.

As a major furniture producing and exporting city in Fujian province, Zhangzhou exports more than 130 furniture companies with an annual export of 350 million us dollars. Of this, US$ 160 million was exported to US furniture, accounting for 45.7% of the total export volume. In the furniture market, children’s furniture is different from ordinary furniture, and its safety is theprimaryconsideration.Therefore, Zhangzhou inspection company usually strictly controls children’s furniture quality control to ensure the safety of consumers.

Clock and watches are main product catalogue for Zhangzhou inspection company in Zhangzhou, which involving more than 10 categories such as timing switches, watches, watch movements, quartz wall clocks, perpetual calendars, timers, etc. Zhangzhou has formed an industrial cluster of quartz watches and clocks, and has more than 10 large-scale production companies. Parts and accessories such as movement, watchband, surface, and watch pin have all been manufactured in Zhangzhou. Watches and clocks account for 5% of the world’s total output. The products are becoming more and more competitive in the international market.

The export development of furniture and clocks has expanded Zhangzhou’s foreign trade space to a certain extent and promoted the diversified development of Zhangzhou’s foreign trade market. With the development of Xiamen’s Free Trade Zone, it has attracted many high-quality foreign companies, shortened the distance of Zhangzhou’s foreign trade companies from entering the international market, increased the opportunities for contact with foreign companies, and further increased the inspection orders of Zhangzhou third party inspection company.

At the same time, Zhangzhou’s foreign trade should combine its own characteristics with the strength of the Free Trade Zone to form a more perfect industrial chain and gain a firm foothold in the international market.

The inspection services provided by Zhangzhou third party inspection company are as follows:

Pre shipment inspection

Initial Production Inspection

During Production Inspection

Container Loading

Random Sample Picking

Factory Audit

Quick Factory Audit

Social Audit

Lab Testing

The types of inspection products provided by Zhangzhou third party inspection company are as follows:

Consumer products category

Grocery: household products, furniture, toys, handicrafts, outdoor products, sporting products, promotional decoration, kitchen products, cosmetics, building materials, hand tools and others.

Textiles: apparel, home textiles, fashion accessories, bags, shoes and socks, leather, fabrics, yarns, etc.

Electrical appliances: household appliances, lamps, audio-visual appliances, communication equipment, electric tools, etc.

Industrial products

Industrial standard parts

Non-standard customized parts

Transportation tools and fittings

Production equipment and instruments

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If the Factory's Cooperation is Poor, Does the Container Loading Proceed Normally?

Container loading is the last checkpoint before the goods purchased by the importer leave China. At this time, the importer needs to ensure that the goods he purchased can arrive at the destination port on time. Normally, in order to prevent the factory or supplier from short loading or wrong loading, that is, risk of container loading, they will choose a regular third-party inspection company to help them control the loading site, ensure the correctness of the quantity of goods, and reduce the risk of container loading.

However, it is not just ask the third party to do the loading inspection,then  can ensure that the goods will not be short-loaded. Risk of container loading comes from many sources, such as factory operations, warehouse management, and container loading workers. Based on CLI’s personal experience, the factory process is a key figure. In international trade, the sales staff is responsible for developing customers and following up customer orders. He is the person who is most familiar with the products and the most explicit customer requirements. Normally, before loading the container, he needs to provide a packing list to the CLI, but he does not calculate the container volume, and each time can only be based on the actual number of containers on site. The result is obvious, this batch of goods may be left in the factory due to space issues, so that the quantity requested by the customer can not be handed over to the final customer. If the management of the factory warehouse is very chaotic, it will be difficult to ensure that the remaining goods can enter the next batch of goods intact.

In addition to the duties of the factory business, the management of the warehouse cannot be ignored. CLI encountered such a warehouse, a real risk of container loading case. The customer told us in advance that after they received the goods, they found that 20pcs were missing, and we need to help them to confirm in the factory warehouse. In the end, it was really found in the warehouse. The person in charge of the factory responded that they did not know the existence of these 20pcs because they did not have the goods entry and exit management form, and the warehouse had only one staff member for all things. We know that the role of the warehouse is to standardize and place all customers’ goods neatly, and every time the goods  entry and exit, the computer or paper documents are used to accurately record the quantity to ensure the standardized management of the warehouse. But this is only 70% of the factory warehouse can do, and the remaining 30% of the warehouse can only rely on the artificial memory of the warehouse manager. Once the memory is confused, the messy result can be imagined.

Judging from the CLI’s loading supervision experience, the smaller the factory, the more careful it is, because the factory’s cooperation in each link is not satisfactory. For such a factory, pre-shipment inspection is even more necessary. During the container loading supervision, CLI also sorted out corresponding solutions for factories of this service level to solve the risk of container loading for customers. We must understand the status of the factory in advance, including the loading time, the status of the container, and the cooperation of personnel. In particular, the factory must arrange for a person to check the goods together with the inspector, ensure that the quantity of goods entering each pallet of the container is correct, and fill in the form carefully so that subsequent problems can be checked again.

Importers not only need to request the factory to cooperate with third-party inspection in advance, but also choose a suitable third party inspection company, considering the risk of container loading at each level, so as to reduce the probability of short or wrong shipment of goods, so that your loading container can proceed normally.

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Guangzhou leather Shoes Inspection Process

China’s three major leather shoes production bases are Guangzhou, Wenzhou and Chengdu. The leather shoes produced in Guangzhou are of good quality and the price is the middle and high-end route. The leather shoes produced in Wenzhou are mainly the mid-bottom route. Chengdu is mainly engaged in the production of women’s leather shoes. In Guangzhou, companies with small scale and poor profitability in the leather footwear industry will face greater operational risks.Guangzhou leather shoes advantage enterprises have certain barriers in brand image,channel layout and R&D design. With the trend of Guangzhou shoe consumption upgrading,the proportion of high-end shoes in Guangzhou leather shoes manufacturing industry will gradually increase, and the market share will be to further concentration with brand enterprises.

Under this circumstance, Guangzhou inspection company is also “forced” to upgrade its own inspection capabilities. CLI has many experienced inspectors in Guangzhou office.They usually pass professional training tests, and they are also good at the inspection process for leather shoes. Because the CLI has inspectors throughout the country, coverage area is mainly concentrated in coastal cities, and most of the factories are located in coastal cities. There are many chances to for our inspectors,which made them very experienced.

The inspection process of leather shoes is divided into visual inspection and testing. Due to the particularity of the material, natural leather is usually used for the upper; leather, rubber, plastic, PU foam, PVC, etc. for the sole,through sewing, gluing ,injection molding and other processes to process.Therefore,there are many test items, and the Guangzhou inspection company cannot detect it on site,which needs to be sent to the inspection laboratory.

Leather shoes appearance quality inspection project

Color matching code: The weight of the shoe box, color, style is not allowed to be configured incorrectly.

Mark: The trademark, shoe size and model must be clear and the trademark is well sewed.

Upper: It is not allowed to have leather rupture hoarfrost, upperbruising and wrinkle decolorization, upper pattern printing or poor embroidery, uneven folding, and accessories are not strong.

Main and inner toe: Theycannot be too high or too shortand too hard or too soft.

Inner and substrate: The substrate is trimmed neatly, and the inside is flat and free from damage.

Heel: firm, crack-free,centered.

Sole: nails, paint, cracks, hoarfrost, etc. are not allowed.

Combination of the bottom:gluefailureor excessive glue.

Symmetry: The left and right have the same twist, and the size of the heel is the same.

The shoes in the Guangzhou inspection company are divided into health and safety performance and conventional physical properties.

Health and safety performance

The health and safety performance test items are mainly for toxic and hazardous substances, including PH value, Cr content, free formaldehyde content, PCP, Pb/Cd/As content, and metal attachment Ni release.

Conventional physical properties

Including the outer bottom wear resistance, the bottom bonding fastness (peel strength and tensile strength), color fastness (fastness to rubbing and water fastness), cold resistance (test uppers, soles and finished shoes, respectively) ), heel bonding force, heel hardness and corresponding tests for special functional shoes.

Guangzhou inspection company, the CLI inspection, continuously optimizes the inspection process for leather shoes. The purpose is to help the shoe importers find more technical problems at the inspection site to avoid the return of large goods to the market.

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Third-party Inspection Companies Take You Away From the Risk of Complaints

Product inspection checklist is widely used in the field of physical product manufacturing and quality inspection service. In the third-party product quality inspection service industry, due to the particularity of the industry, it needs to face the quality inspection requirements of thousands of different products from different customers. A product inspection checklist database is established for each product, which is convenient for third-party inspectors to go to factories to conduct efficient and professional product quality inspection. It can be said that the product inspection checklist is one of the important technical documents in the third-party inspection industry.

“The Checklist Manifesto” holds that in modern society, people often make mistakes due to negligence in the face of increasingly complex work and a good way to effectively solve such problems is to establish a checklist of work contents. At the same time, getting into the habit of checking the checklist can not only reduce mistakes and negligence, but also help you to have answers and avoid being overwhelmed. The product inspection checklist of the third-party inspection is how the checklist applies in the daily inspection work of the third-party inspection industry.

Third-party inspection service effectively promotes the development of international physical trade. Specifically, third-party inspection agency refers to an object other than two interrelated subjects, which is a commodity inspection activity carried out by a third party (such as a full-time supervision and inspection agency) in an impartial and authoritative non-party status according to relevant laws, standards or contracts. The existence of independent third-party testing enterprises has its own special significance, which is not only an effective supplement to government supervision, but also can help the government get rid of the “trust crisis” and provide support for the industrial transformation and upgrading of factories.With the improvement of people’s living standards and the demand for product quality continues to increase,the demand of multinational importers for third-party testing industry continues to increase as well.

Product Inspection Checklist of the Third-party Inspection Company

For third-party inspection companies,the product inspection checklist summarizes the main work during quality inspection, so as to help you understand the workflow of inspection companies more clearly.In all inspection services provided by CLI, the product inspection checklist will be used as a clear standard for goods inspection.

The Roles of Product Inspection Checklist in Third-party Inspection

For third-party inspection companies,the functions of product inspection checklist mainly include in the following aspects:

Show the professionalism of the third-party inspection company.

Improve the efficiency of inspection by inspectors.

Let the factory know what standards the client's products need to meet.

Help you to understand products from the perspective of quality inspection.

1.Consumer Perspective

The appearance of the product directly affects whether consumers will buy the product or not.

The use function of the product affects the experience of consumers.

2.Factory Production

Workers' operation problems,the operation methods of new and old workers may cause different product quality.

Under the condition of saving costs, factories cut corners in different links.

Third-party inspection companies offer a variety of Inspection service, most importers will give priority to Pre-shipment inspection. According to different product types, before arranging inspection, the account manager of CLI will select the corresponding product inspection checklist and then according to the products that each inspector is good at to arrange an inspector who is familiar with the professional knowledge of the product to go to the factory.The inspector will randomly select the bulk according to the sampling scheme by confirming the quantity of the bulk.Check the appearance and process of products according to the product inspection checklist. Do functional test and abuse test.Issue an inspection report to evaluate the overall quality of goods and reflect the average quality of products. At the same time,inform importers the  existing management problems of the factory.

The Relationship Between Product Inspection Checklist and Inspection Report.

The inspector of the third party inspection company will issue an inspection report after finishing the inspection. On the one hand, the report record the basic packaging,appearance and all relevant tests  of the product to show the quality of the product.On the other hand, it also restricts the inspector to inspect the product according to the product inspection checklist at the inspection site, ensuring that there is no omission.The following picture is the main test items in the product inspection checklist from a USB camera report. With this list, you can know clearly whether the appearance and performance of the product meet the requirements.

Before Product Quality Inspection,How to Make Product Inspection Checklist?

Generally,the product inspection checklist consists of two parts, one is your requirement and the other is the general Chinese standard.Considering the potential risks of your products from many aspects and thinking about what will happen to your products in the production process will help you list the specific potential defects. Each client’s requirements are different.If you has sold the product, you can refer to consumer complaints,past problems and make a list to the third-party inspection company. During the product inspection, the inspector will focus on the inspection to ensure that the factory will not have the previous problems again. If not, you can list your concerns based on your knowledge of the product.

A professional third-party inspection company will have its own database and a product inspection checklist for each type of product.The product inspection checklist is formulated through the following aspects.

Refer to the national standard

Almost every product will have Chinese standards,which are divided into national standards,industry standards,local standards and enterprise standards. According to standardization objects, standards are usually divided into three categories: technical standards, management standards and work standards.

Technical standards： The standards formulated for the responsibilities,rights,scope,quality requirements,procedures,effects, inspection methods and assessment methods.

Management standards： Standards for management matters that need to be coordinated and unified in the field of standardization.

Work standards： The standards formulated for the responsibilities,rights,scope,quality requirements,procedures,effects, inspection methods and assessment methods.

CLI has accumulated decades of experience in the inspection industry,combined with standards,from the perspective of the operability of third-party inspection,summed up a product inspection checklist belonging to CLI for each type of product, ensuring that this product inspection checklist is professional and well-founded.Besides,the standard also includes the Laboratory tests, you can click to view the introduction. With reference to the national standard, the product inspection checklist mainly includes the following sections:

The packaging and appearance of products refer to the comprehensive performance of the external shape, pattern, color, structure and size of products.

On the one hand, appearance and packaging can promote the increase of sales volume.The beautiful and novel product modeling is easy to win the favor of customers to make the products sell well.On the other hand, to prolong the life cycle of products, many products seem to be approaching the recession period and the sales are already in a weak state.However, once the shape is improved and the color changes, they will come back to life and become the best-selling products in the market.

The function of the product.

On the one hand,ensure that every function of the product can be met,on the other hand,check the basic needs of consumers during use.

Abuse test of products.

Simulate consumers to use and check  whether the product can meet the basic requirements under some common extreme conditions.

From the national standard to the production process of products,for every link that factories are easy to cut corners or have problems.

From this perspective, it is necessary to have rich industry knowledge and understand every manufacturing process of the product, so as to analyze that the factory may cut corners or make mistakes in that process step and focus on them during product quality inspection. Inexperienced inspectors can’t do this, please see our inspection team.

Product Inspection Checklist of CLI

In the third-party quality inspection, products are usually divided into three categories: softline, hardline,electrical and electronic products.Softline includes household textiles,clothing and other textile or knitted products,as well as footwear. Especially clothing,the industry is labor-intensive and prone to quality defects.The manpower involved in sewing and stitching increases the variability of production.The following is the product inspection checklist developed by CLI for softline bedding:

Visual inspection:

During the quality inspection, inspectors will use visual methods such as hand touch and visual inspection to inspect the appearance and packaging of products.

Check whether the sewing is horizontal, flat and vertical. There are no defects such as dirt,oil stains,thread ends,needle skipping and needle dropping on the product.

Check whether there is color difference in batches of products from the same colors.No color bleeding and mixing are allowed.

Check whether the product printing is clear and consistent.

Pay attention to check the craft of each product, especially some lace and pleating.

Pay attention to whether the packaging and printing information are consistent with the color card and the actual product.

Check whether the filling of middle,edge and corner from quilt and pillow are same.

Check the weight and size of the product.

Check the packing materials.

Spot test:

Generally,many tests require factories to provide professional test equipment,but in daily third-party inspection,many factories cannot provide professional equipment,so CLI inspectors will simulate the test conditions,and then check the product functions in combination with consumer use.

Do tensile test on the suture and splice to check whether they are firm and not loose.

The zipper of the product or package should be able to pull the switch normally and smoothly.

Fluffy products, shaking and pulling products to check whether the fluff will fall.

Do the tensile test of the packaging bag to check whether it is firm.Carry out load test on the handle to hang the product for 2 hours.

Color fastness check,testing with washing powder to check whether the product will fade.

Check whether each rubber band can be used normally and then do abuse test: pull the rubber band 10-12 times,check the elasticity and firmness of the rubber band.

Check the GSM of fabric.

Barcode scanning of cartons and products.

Carton drop test.

Determination of Defects in Product Inspection Checklist

Different products will have different quality defects,depending on the materials,production technology and standards. Defects are generally divided into three categories: major, minor and critical defects.

Definition of major defects

The major defects of products with quality defects obviously deviate from the buyer’s product specifications.Major defects are those that may adversely affect the function, performance or appearance of products. Customers can easily notice these defects.These defects may cause customers to return goods,complain or ask for a refund.Most importers set lower limits on major defects than minor defects in the samples they inspect. They usually accept orders with relatively few major defects. However,if the goods fail to pass the inspection due to finding too many major defects, they may reject the order or ask the supplier to keep or rework it.

Definition of minor defects

Minor defects are usually small and unimportant problems, which will not affect the function of products.In most cases, customers won’t even notice a minor defect in the product. And customers are unlikely to return goods just because of a minor defect. Importers often set the highest tolerance, or AQL, for the minor defects in the sample size they inspect, that is, in a certain sampling ratio,specify the number of three types of defects that are acceptable. However, if the number of minor defects found exceeds the limit of the corresponding proportion, the conclusion of defects will fail.

Definition of critical defects

Critical defects are the most serious of the three types of defects.Critical defects will make the product completely unusable or cause harm to users. These defects make enterprises face serious risks of product liability, litigation and product recall. Many importers adopt a “zero tolerance” policy for critical defects in orders commensurate with this risk. If a single critical defect is found in the order, the product inspection conclusion usually fails.

Role of Product Inspection Checklist in Specific Cases in CLI Quality Inspection

Last month, we tested a batch of USB cameras for an American client.Almost no third-party quality inspection had been arranged before and the reason why the client suddenly arranged quality inspection was because there were many complaints on Amazon.The main complaint is from the appearance of the product.There are many finger prints on the camera and there are many scratches on camera body.The client sent 80 defective pictures to our company.When the client placed the inspection order, CLI inspection team immediately worked out the product inspection checklist according to the client’s needs and arranged someone to follow up the inspection fully.The factory explained the finger print of the complaint was because they felt that the film on the lens was not beautiful, so they specially asked the workers to tear off the film before packaging it.However,in the actual operation process the workers did not wear gloves strictly throughout the whole process, which led to the finger print residue. When consumers receive such products, they will think that the products have been used, which affects the shopping experience.

The inspection process established by CLI is mainly as follows:

Product appearance: send the defect photos provided by the client to the inspector for reference and according to industry standards to make a comprehensive inspection of the product appearance.

Check the functions of the product,the  tests are as follows.

In the first two inspections, many problems were found, as shown in the following tables.On the third day,the factory reworked all defects found by inspectors.

In the following inspections,the major problems of the products have been obviously improved and the minor problems have been continuously reduced. In order to avoid finger prints, the factory kept the film, as shown in the following photos, but it still does not look beautiful enough. This problem was repeatedly mentioned in the report to remind the client.

To solve this problem, the factory provided a new solution. After communicating and confirming with the client , the lens film was updated as follows from the seventh inspection,It looks more beautiful:

By June, the whole batch of goods has been inspected 15 times and CLI Company specially arranged two experienced inspectors to take turns to inspect the goods. During the inspection, the inspector constantly gave feedback to the factory for positive rectification. Because there were missing parts in the previous inspection, the factory specially arranged a person to inspect the parts to ensure that similar problems would not happen again. The finger print problem has been completely improved and the scratch is almost gone.

Many importers believe that the use of third-party inspection services not only takes a lot of time in communication, but also delays the delivery time and even affects the sales period. However, when there are many consumer complaints about the products sold by the importer,they have to contact the factory to find out the root of the problem,ask the factory to ensure the next product quality and put an end to any complaints. At this time, however, the trust between the two parties has already had problems and the unilateral promise of the factory can’t reassure the client.At this time, the client chose to use CLI’s service to supervise the factory. For this inspection, CLI provided a professional product inspection checklist. Because of the inspector’s professional service attitude and the inspection report as the basis, the factory also cooperated very well and invested manpower and material resources to improve the product process as soon as possible. In this order, both the factory and us serve the client. For this inspection, we not only help the client control the risks before the products are shipped, but also supervise the factory to improve the quality of the products.

CLI Inspection’s Comments And Summary

This article explains the function, definition, origin and main contents of product inspection checklist in third-party inspection from six aspects.Then combined with CLI’s own product inspection checklist , we give examples of how to help clients find and solve problems in daily product inspection, inspection reports and cases. Understand the clients’ requirements through full communication in the early stage and combine with industry standards to formulate the most suitable product inspection checklist for this product, so as to ensure that the inspector can give full play to the inspection work during the inspection. Hope this article will help you find a satisfactory inspection company more easily.

This article is an original article for CLI Inspection, who is committed to providing high-quality product inspection technology and know-how sharing for global importers and retailers to make imports safer.

All rights reserved. The contents of this website provided by CLI Inspection may not be reproduced or used without express permission.

For reprint, please contact with CLI Inspection, thank you.

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Spell Over What is Commodity Inspection in One Article

With the pace of economic globalization, it has become one of the important business strategies for enterprises to reduce costs and improve operating profits through cross-border procurement. Commodity inspection can effectively ensure that the quality of purchased goods meets the requirements, and timely deal with unqualified goods, which is an important link in transnational procurement. In a sense, procurement and supply chain management can make an enterprise the cradle of profits, and also make an enterprise the grave of profits. Christopher, a famous American economist, said: “There is only supply chain in the market, but no enterprise. The real competition is not between enterprises, but between supply chains.” Therefore, controlling the supply chain has become the most important part in today’s economy and trade.

China has become the world’s largest manufacturing country, and the manufacturing industry’s share of the world has risen to 19.8%. It is a producer of export commodities for importers from various countries. The full bloom of China’s manufacturing industry is very rare in human history. The types of industrial manufacturing are the most comprehensive in the world, and each manufacturing industry chain has covered the low-end and is moving towards the high-end. Due to historical reasons, the history of manufacturing in China is about 40 years, and it is still continuously improving. Moreover, in the field of consumer goods manufacturing in China, its export target is global, including both developing countries and developed countries in Europe and America. Taking China’s plastic toys as an example, the Chinese toy industry chain can not only meet the extremely demanding import requirements of European and American toys, but also take into account the cost-effectiveness requirements of the developing countries, even the requirements of low prices.

Such an industrial chain structure is unimaginable for importers. Faced with the temptation of low prices and severe quality risks, how to deal with different types of Chinese manufacturers is a complicated business, and it is also a matter of knowledge. The perfect quality and safety management capabilities of the cross-border procurement supply chain is very important for the company management of importers from all countries! Ensuring the quality and safety of imported goods is the top priority!

As a professional third-party inspection company, CLI will explain in detail what is commodity inspection?

Commodity Inspection refers to the manufacturer, buyer or third party of the commodity under certain conditions, with the help of a certain means and method, according to the contract, standards or relevant laws, regulations and practices outside China, the quality and specifications of the commodity , Weight, quantity, packaging, safety and sanitation, etc., and make a pass or fail acceptance judgment or to protect the legitimate rights and interests of buyers and sellers, to avoid or resolve various risk losses and disputes between the division of responsibility, which is convenient Business activities related to the issuance and settlement of commodities and the issue of various certificates.

Among them, the quality inspection of commodities is the central content of commodity inspection. The narrow sense of commodity inspection refers to the quality inspection of commodities. Therefore, commodity inspection  is arranged for better quality control.

What are the specific contents of Commodity Inspection?

Check whether the goods supplied by the factory meet the quality requirements stipulated by Chinese laws and regulations or relevant Chinese standards;

To avoid delays in delivery and product defects in a timely manner, take emergency and remedial measures at the first time;

Reduce or avoid consumer complaints, returns, and loss of business reputation caused by receiving inferior products;

Reduce the risk of compensation and administrative punishment caused by selling inferior products;

Verify the quality and quantity of the goods to avoid contract disputes;

Compare and select the best supplier and obtain relevant information and suggestions;

Reduce the high management fee and labor cost for monitoring and inspecting products.

The main basis of commodity inspection

It has been introduced above that the content of commodity inspection includes whether the quality, specification, quantity and packaging of goods meet the requirements, so the basis of inspection is mainly based on the commodity standards and the relevant provisions stipulated in the purchase and sale contract;

Commodity standards are generally divided into Chinese domestic standards and International standards.

Chinese standard

National standards:

Chinese standards are technical requirements that need to be unified throughout China. The standards formulated by the standardization administration department under the State Council are equivalent to the current ISO9000:2000 standards. For example, the Chinese standard of KN95 mask is GB2626-2019.

Industry standards:

When some products do not have Chinese standards and need unified technical requirements within a certain industry in China, industry standards can be formulated. For example, the industry standard of disposable medical surgical masks in epidemic prevention products is YY-0469-2011.

Enterprise standard:

It is mainly produced by formulating enterprise standards as the basis for organizing production when the products produced by enterprises do not have Chinese standards and industry standards. If there are Chinese standards or industry standards, China encourages enterprises to formulate enterprise standards that are stricter than Chinese standards or industry standards. Enterprise standards can only be used within the enterprise.

International and regional standards

International standards

International standards refer to the standards formulated by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and other international organizations.

Regional standards

Regional standards, such as those formulated by the European Union, include ROHS, REACH and so on.

This document, which is very important in trade, will include the specification, quantity, weight, packaging and the quality requirements. It is also an important basis for commodity inspection, because it will reflect the requirements of buyers for their products.

Method of commodity inspection

In large-scale orders, sampling inspection is mainly used. A researcher in the United States found that 68% of unqualified products were found in the first time, 18% in the second time, 8% in the third time, 4% in the fourth time and about 2% after four times. In theory, full inspection is better, but it takes a lot of manpower and costs a lot. Therefore, sampling inspection is a common form of commodity inspection at present, and the sampling standard adopted by most third-party inspection companies, including CLI inspection companies, is ANSI/ASQC Z1.4-1993 Single Sampling Plan for Normal Inspection (ISO 2859-1, MIL-STD 105 E, or BS 6001)

There are many methods of commodity quality inspection, which are usually divided into sensory inspection and physical and chemical inspection:

Sensory test method

Sensory inspection refers to the inspection method that uses human sensory organs as inspection instruments to judge or evaluate the sensory quality characteristics of goods such as color, fragrance, taste, hand feeling and timbre under certain conditions.

Advantages

Sensory test method is fast, economical, simple and easy, does not need special instruments, equipment and places, does not damage commodities, and has lower cost, so it is widely used.

Disadvantages

Sensory inspection method generally cannot test the intrinsic quality of goods. The inspection results are often influenced by factors such as the technical level, work experience and objective environment of inspectors, which are subjective and one-sided, and can only express the quality of goods with technical terms or scoring methods, but can not get accurate values.

The types of sensory inspection mainly include food, textiles, clothing, light industrial products, chemical products and so on.

Physical and chemical inspection method

Physical and chemical inspection method is a method to determine and analyze the quality of goods with the help of various instruments and equipment or chemical reagents. Physical and chemical inspection is often carried out in laboratories or special places, so it is also called laboratory inspection method. Physical and chemical tests are mainly used to test the composition, structure, physical properties, chemical properties, safety, hygiene, environmental pollution and destruction, etc.

Advantages

Physical and chemical inspection method needs certain instruments and equipment and experimental places, and the cost is high; When testing, it is often necessary to destroy a certain number of goods, which is costly; Long inspection time; Need specialized technical personnel to carry out; For some sensory indicators of some commodities, such as color and taste, there is still nothing to do.

Disadvantages

Physical and chemical inspection method needs certain instruments and equipment and experimental places, and the cost is high; When testing, it is often necessary to destroy a certain number of goods, which is costly; Long inspection time; Need specialized technical personnel to carry out; For some sensory indicators of some commodities, such as color and taste, there is still nothing to do.

Therefore, the physical and chemical inspection method is seldom used directly in commercial enterprises, and it is often used as a supplementary inspection of sensory inspection, or a special inspection agency is entrusted to conduct physical and chemical inspection.

This is a common method of commodity inspection, through sensory and physical and chemical inspection, before the sale of goods, analyze the quality of goods to avoid after-sales risks. For traders, this is an indispensable step in trade. For example, in 2020, this COVID-19 pneumonia, no one thought that masks had become a hot product. All countries in the world purchase masks in China, but because the quality of masks will be affected by raw materials and production technology, such epidemic prevention products as masks need to pass laboratory tests or related tests of third-party inspection companies, so as to ensure the quality of masks for importers thousands of miles away and achieve the purpose of safe sales.

Many importers will wonder whether all export commodities must be inspected.

I think so, because importers can’t confirm with their own eyes whether the bulk goods meet their own production requirements, and they are worried that the quality problems will not be remedied until they arrive at the destination port, so they are all looking for effective methods to control the quality of Chinese exported products. At present, the quality control of China’s exported products depends on government laws and regulations on the one hand, and commodity inspection on the other hand. Importers can effectively make up for any loopholes in the quality and risk management plan through independent third-party service providers, which enables global importers to have greater flexibility when building their own procurement centers in China and outside China, and can also work together with suppliers to ensure strict quality and risk management processes are implemented.

Moreover, in more and more countries, when importing goods, the customs will require the goods to provide inspection reports or certificates from third-party organizations. COC (certificate of Conformity), for example, is one of the customs clearance certificates in the Middle East or Africa. Most COC certification needs two steps, one is document review, and the other is commodity inspection. Moreover, it is required to conduct pre-shipment inspection and inspection in the export nations.

What kinds of inspection services are available for commodity inspection of export commodities.

Since it is an export commodity, most importers will choose commodity inspection service, because it is impossible for them to come to China to review each batch of orders in person, which will cost them a lot of manpower, material resources and time. Therefore, importers will choose the inspection service of third-party inspection companies, which will tailor the inspection service according to the status of commodities in different production periods. Mainly includes the following five inspection services:

Initial production inspection

The inspectors inspect the raw materials, primary processed products and parts produced by random sampling.

During production inspection

The inspectors inspect the semi-finished products on the production line or the finished products just off the production line, check the defects and deviations, report them to the manufacturer, and propose effective methods to correct the errors and deviations.

Pre-production inspection

Before delivery of finished products, inspection personnel check the quality of bulk goods before delivery (generally, 100% produced and 80% packaged),and check the details of goods such as quantity, process, function, color, size, specification and packaging. Sampling method is in accordance with internationally recognized standards such as iso2859/nfx06-022/ansi/asqcz1.4/bs6001/din40080. At the same time comply with buyers AQL sampling level.

Container loading supervision

After the sampling inspection before the final product is shipped, the inspectors will assist the manufacturer to confirm the packing used, whether it meets the due cleaning condition and packing conditions, etc. in the factory base, warehouse or packing transmission process.

Factory evaluation

According to the requirements of customers, the inspection company assigns factory auditors to inspect the working conditions, production conditions, facilities, manufacturing equipment, manufacturing methods, quality assurance management and personnel of production enterprises, and puts forward corresponding explanations and opinions, which can not only investigate the problems that may cause quality accidents for customers, but also provide rectification opinions.

How should importers arrange commodity inspection for their orders?

With the development of China’s foreign trade, China has become a big manufacturing country in the world, and more and more importers purchase various commodities in China, so the demand for pre-shipment inspection is also growing rapidly, and there are many third-party inspection companies in China. Corresponding to importers of different sizes, the services provided by third-party inspection companies of different sizes and histories are also different. Importers should choose corresponding third-party inspection companies according to their own needs. After choosing a suitable third-party inspection company, you can arrange commodity inspection according to the following steps:

1.The buyer places an inspection order

Send the order documents and inspection requirements, and the third-party inspection company will sort out the basic data.

2.Contact the factory

Confirm the inspection time before shipment, and know the scale of the factory and the testing equipment that can be provided, so that the inspector can prepare the necessary measuring tools in advance and evaluate the potential risks of the factory.

3.QA department analysis

CLI third-party inspection company will provide corresponding check list for the buyer's reference, confirm the actual inspection requirements with the clients.

4.Improvement of inspection documents

According to the analysis results of QA department, the inspection documents are sorted out for the second time, which is helpful for inspectors to fully make control of the inspection risks in factory during inspection.

5.Follow-up on the day of inspection

The office account manager will keep in touch with the factory and the inspector to avoid the blind spot of the inspector. If there are special circumstances, it will be resolved in time and fed back to the customer.

6.Issue inspection report

The inspector shall provide the actual findings on site according to the inspection requirements, and the client shall determine whether to arrange shipment.

To learn about Commodity Inspection Report, you can click this.

Finally, for clients who often import from China, CLI will also provide a report quarterly or semi-annually, which can record the conclusion of each factory’s shipment and inspection in detail, and buyers can use it to analyze which factories’ quality control is in place. Through this series of inspections, reports and statistical analysis, importers can have a long-term tracking of their own procurement chain and systematically feedback the necessity of supply chain management; For the factory, because the buyer has to pay special attention to the order because of commodity inspection for each ticket, he certainly tries his best to improve the quality of his products and reduce the complaints caused by quality problems.

Now, CLI explains why commodity inspection can help importers reduce risks with the actual cases of third-party inspection companies.

This is a batch of export desks, with a total quantity of 3,200 sets.The buyer has arranged three inspections, the first is the mid-term inspection During inspection, the second is the final inspection PSI inspection, and the last is the loading inspection.

During the mid-term inspection, the inspector found rust on the bottom of the chair. At that time, more than 100 sets of this model had just been produced. After inspector discovered this problem, the supplier immediately arranged for the factory to re-produce. Re-pickling the metal parts and spraying them after pickling. Identify problems in advance through commodity inspection, so that the factory can rectify them immediately. When the inspector went to the factory for PSI for the second time, this problem had been well controlled. For the factory, it is much easier to rework 100 sets of problems found than the last 3200 sets of problems found, and there is no need to worry that rework will delay the delivery time for too long. Therefore, qualified suppliers always want third-party inspection companies to help them control the product quality. Moreover, the inspection fee is paid by the client, so why not the supplier?

All the problems mentioned above are product quality. Now, let’s briefly talk about product packaging and quantity.

Many customers will ask the third party to arrange inspection when bulk goods being loaded in containers in the factory. One purpose is to ensure the safe use of containers and avoid and prevent the occurrence of cargo damage caused by container problems. Another purpose is to ensure that the quantity of products put in container is consistent with the requirements of the list.

The container is provided by the wharf, and the truck driver is responsible for pulling the container to the factory. In the following figure, the inspector found the small hole in the cabinet after checking the light leakage on the spot, and asked the factory to arrange for the container to be replaced, or immediately carry out welding repair.

Through these two examples, we can know that the third-party service organizations responsible for quality management play an effective role in compensating quality and managing potential risks in trade.

To sum up, commodity inspection refers to the comprehensive evaluation of commodity quality advantages by using scientific inspection techniques and methods according to various quality indexes specified in commodity standards.The task of commodity inspection is to analyze and research from the purpose and conditions of use of goods, investigate the composition, structure and nature of goods and their influence on the quality of goods, and determine the use value of goods; promote the improvement of commodity quality, and provide basis for selecting suitable packaging, storage and transportation methods. Moreover, arranging commodity inspection can also properly avoid or solve various risks, losses and disputes on division of responsibilities, which is convenient for commodity handover and settlement. Therefore, commodity inspection is an important link to enable international trade activities to proceed smoothly, that is,commodity inspection is an indispensable link in the process of import and export goods handover.

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Spell Over What is Container Loading Inspections in One Article

In international trade, importers usually entrust a third-party inspection company to carry out container loading inspection in order to avoid the exporter intentionally or unintentionally loading less quantity or mispacking the purchased goods when loading the goods into containers, and to avoid the brutal shipment of goods in the process of packing and ensure that the exporters loading the goods in strict accordance with the requirements.

Although container loading inspections is a very common inspection service in international trade, many importers only know it but didn’t understand how and why. So this article will elaborate on the 7 aspects that importers most want to know, so that you can read the container loading inspections in one article.

What is container loading inspections?

Container loading inspections, also known as loading supervision. Through professional inspectors to carry out container inspection, product inspection and product quantity inventory at the loading site, supervise the on-site product handling, etc., to ensure that the shipped items reach the destination safely and completely.

Why do you need a third party for container loading inspections?

In communication with many familiar customers, it is found that their understanding of container loading inspections remains on the surface, and it is believed that there will be no risk during the process of container loading, and the container loading inspections is only a simple supervision of on-site goods carrying. In fact, otherwise, any problem in any part of the container loading will cause greater losses. If the loading method is not appropriate, various situations may occur such as wrong loading, less loading, wet goods, damaged outer cartons and so on.

In order to ensure the good receipt of goods, the supervision of container loading is an essential link. Loading goods under the supervision and guidance of a third-party inspection company can avoid the defects caused by improper loading methods, and avoid intentional or unintentional mistakes such as under-loading and wrong loading, so as to ensure that the goods you received are in the same good condition as when they were delivered.

For example, a customer of CLI Inspection Company complained that his supplier didn’t pay attention when he pick up the container, and when such a container was transported by sea or in rainy days, the water entered the container, and the product was damaged, which eventually caused huge losses. If the customer had a third party to carry out container loading inspections at that time, the inspector would immediately check the damage of the container when it arrived at the scene, and if the container was damaged, CLI inspection company would immediately notify the customer, thus completely avoiding such losses.

In the process of container loading inspections, the account manager of CLI inspection company will continue to follow up the on-site situation. When problems such as incomplete product quantity, product quality problems, product names inconsistent with the list provided by customers are found, the account manager will immediately feed back the on-site problems to customers to confirm whether to load as usual, so as to avoid risks from every detail.

The prices of different inspection companies are quite different. What are the differences in the process of container loading inspection?

Undoubtedly, price must be one of the most concerned issues for every customer. Faced with various inspection companies in the Chinese market, prices are also different. So, in such a big environment, how to choose a suitable inspection company is particularly important. Many importers ask such a question: Is there any difference in the container loading inspections process of each inspection company? Is it necessary for me to find a high-priced inspection company?

From the scale of inspection companies, there are three types: large, medium and small inspection companies.

Most of the large-scale inspection companies are multinational companies. After a long period of precipitation, they have their own brand effect and have accumulated a large number of customers. Most of their customers are large supermarkets and large suppliers with stable and long-term cooperation. It is precisely because this kind of large-scale inspection company has its own brand effect, and the charging is relatively high, and the cost of container loading inspections reaches more than 380USD.

I believe many customers can accept the higher loading inspection cost, if this can bring a higher standard of service, but it is also because the large inspection companies have a long history and have formed their own container loading system for so many years, and the loading process of each inspection company is similar, so inspectors only need to follow the rules and complete their workload step by step. Such container loading inspections does not have its own core competitiveness. Do suppliers just want to pay a high price to buy a company logo on report of inspection company?

I believe many customers can accept the higher loading inspection cost, if this can bring a higher standard of service, but it is also because the large inspection companies have a long history and have formed their own container loading system for so many years, and the loading process of each inspection company is similar, so inspectors only need to follow the rules and complete their workload step by step. Such container loading inspections does not have its own core competitiveness. Do suppliers just want to pay a high price to buy a company logo on report of inspection company?

In addition to large inspection companies, domestic small and medium-sized inspection companies have also developed with the rise of international trade in recent years. The leaders of such companies usually have experienced inspection, who have worked hard in the inspection industry for decades, and are well versed in the rules and significance of inspection. Generally, this kind of company is small in scale, with about 100-200 employees and 200-250USD in price. With the idea of serving old customers well, it builds its own brand in every detail. Taking CLI Company as an example, according to the different needs and particularities of different customers, different key points of loading containers are formulated, and inspectors on site are responsible for following up on-site loading cases and feeding back problems to customers in time.

A few years ago, a new Russian customer of CLI Company used the container loading inspections service of a small company before finding CLI Company. However, after receiving the goods many times, it was found that the total quality was less than order. This Russian customer couldn’t understand why the quantity was still wrong under the supervision of a third-party inspection company. Is this the problem of the inspection company or is the container loading inspections service just a  superfical process and useless? However, the container loading inspections service is the only service that can solve the problem of shortage of goods. Russian customers have no choice but to try the container loading inspections service of other inspection companies.

Therefore, this Russian customer came to CLI company to find a way to solve the problem and prevent this kind of situation from happening again. According to the feedback of this customer’s problem, CLI inspection company held several meetings to discuss the cause of the problem and revised the loading plan several times, then provided the final plan to the customer. For this customer’s container loading inspections, the account manager of CLI Company will constantly confirm various matters of loading conditions with its suppliers in advance. Because of the particularity of this container loading, CLI Company ask factory to arrange containers to arrive at the site as soon as possible, and inspectors speed a lot of time to complete the loading plan of the company. The inspector not only counts on the spot, but also takes pictures of all sides of each pallet to ensure that the quantity of each pallet can be counted from the report picture.

CLI company also provides a specially formulated counting table,inspector and warehouse keeper take one copy and count separately,signed and sealed after data is cross checked. Finally, each tray is taped with film and affix the label of CLI company. The account manager of CLI company will review the inspector’s report ,count the number twice through the picture to ensure the accuracy of the number. At the same time, in the presentation of the report, the classification of pallets is clear, and the number of comment pallets is clear, so customers can intuitively count the number of products on the report. Up to now, CLI Company has cooperated with this customer for 6 years, and during this 6 years, there has been no shortage of goods in containers, and various processes have been continuously optimized. The customer said that it was CLI company that made him trust the third-party inspection again. In CLI company, there are countless cases of making special plans for customers, aiming at customer satisfaction, and doing every inspection and container loading inspection with care.

If you want to pursue low prices blindly, there are also many small inspection companies on the market for you to choose from. The price of such inspection companies is usually around 100USD. Because of the low price, the inspectors usually employed are not highly educated, and the company will not spend a lot of time training inspectors. There is no macro consideration on the loading site, and there is no awareness of controlling the loading risks in advance.

Whether it is a large, medium or small inspection company, the purpose of container loading inspections is to ensure the safe and complete arrival of the goods. Choose a good inspection company, not from the price and brand, but from the company’s service concept; if can consider all from the customer’s point of view, it is a trustworthy inspection company.

What are the types of containers？

Container is an essential transportation equipment in the process of loading containers, which has rigidity and strength and can be used repeatedly.

Containers can be divided into:

Dry storage container

Open-top containers

Flat rack containers

Ventilated containers

Bulk containers

Animal containers

Tank containers

Car containers

Hanger containers are also called hanger containers

Classification according to main materials:

Steel container: ordinary container

Aluminum container: such as refrigerator

stainless steel container: tank container

Next, we mainly introduce several commonly used containers:

1.Dry storage container is the most common standard container, which can transport as many kinds of goods as possible and is the most widely used container. Dry storage containers are divided into 20GP,40GP and 40HC by volume. the characteristics are as follows:

2.Open-top container:

Open-top container, also known as open-top container, is a special structure container without rigid top. In order to prevent wind and rain, the top is covered with canvas, plastic cloth or plastic-coated cloth supported by the top beam. Other structures are similar to those of ordinary containers. However, this type of container only tries to be not super high, but the cargo volume is relatively large, and it is inconvenient to load and unload through the cupboard door and needs to be hoisted, or super high large cargo.

It can be divided into 20’OT and 40’OT by volume. The container features are as follows:

3.Flat rack container:

Flat rack container is a kind of container which has no top and wall, and the end wall can be removed, leaving only the bottom and four corners to bear the load. This kind of container is mainly used for heavy, large and different shapes of goods such as large pieces, overweight pieces, light soaked goods, heavy machinery, steel, steel pipes, bare equipment, etc., which are not suitable for loading into ordinary containers or open-top containers.

The above is a brief introduction to the types of commonly used containers. Choose suitable containers according to different product types, but during the specific loading, the following matters should be paid attention to at the same time:

(1)Different goods can be loaded in the same box only when they adapt to each other.

(2)Goods at the same unloading port can be mixed in one container.

(3)The stacking level and method of the goods in the container should be determined according to the size of the container and the packing size of a single piece of goods. When loading into the container, make full use of the container capacity as long as the total weight cannot exceed the maximum load allowed by the container.

(4) When different groceries are mixed in the same box, the placement position of the goods should be reasonably adjusted according to the nature, volume, weight and strength of the outer packaging.

(5) The weight of goods in the box shall be evenly distributed.

(6) When stacking the goods in the box, the stacking layers of the goods shall be determined according to the packing strength of the goods. In addition, in order to prevent the lower goods in the box from being crushed, cushion materials should be placed between the goods.

(7) Heat insulation or insulation materials shall be added between goods to avoid mutual abrasion, wetting and fouling of goods.

(8) The loading of goods should be strict and tidy, and no gaps should be left between the goods, so that the inner volume of the box can be fully utilized, and the damage caused by the collision of goods can also be prevented.

(9) Fastening measures shall be taken for goods near the door to avoid the collapse of goods.

(10)Goods with damaged packaging are not allowed to be loaded. Even minor damage should be repaired before loading into the box.

What is the container loading inspections process?

1.The inspector and the factory confirm the time and place of loading. Arrive at the loading place on time.

2.The inspector and the relevant departments of the factory shall handle the data transfer and container loading inspection procedures.

3.Upon arrival at the loading site, the inspector shall first confirm that the container is free of damage, deformation, crack, accumulated water, oil stain and peculiar smell, and that the floor inside the container is flat. There should be no different floor heights in the container.

4.Check the goods: check whether the quantity of products on site is consistent with the product details provided by customers.

5.Size and weight:

To measure the size and weight of products and cartons, they must be measured and weighed under the supervision of the person in charge of factory loading.

6.Take pictures of the products:

It is required to take the product box mark, product appearance and details. Ensure that the loaded goods are consistent with those provided by clients.

7.Loading and stowage: calculate the space occupied by the goods in the container according to the theoretical data on the loading list, and arrange the packing characteristics of the goods: arrange the ranking according to the characteristics of the factory goods, compare with the marks made in advance, and test whether they are overflowing.

8.Supervise the loading workers to place the goods correctly, arrange the space in the container reasonably, and ensure the goods are placed neatly and orderly.

9.Loading supervision:

Confirm that the container loading inspections quantity is consistent with the actual list.

Ensure that the outer box of the loaded goods is intact and undamaged.

Ensure the barcode is intact.

Do not leave the container during loading.

10.Reinforcement: The inspector shall reinforce the goods according to the characteristics of the goods in each factory, and finally arrange trapezoidal reinforcement to prevent the goods from collapsing.

11.Taking pictures:

Take photos during loading: take photos during empty container, half container and full container.

Photographing of containers: including license plate number, vehicle model, container number, etc.

Take a close-up photo of the seal.

12.Report of container loading inspections.

Matters needing attention of inspectors in the process of container loading inspections?

Matters needing attention in container loading inspections.

Get the necessary information such as container number and seal number as soon as possible.

Confirm with the factory before departure whether the goods are all ready and ready for loading at any time.

Arrive at the packing place in advance and check the goods to be packed.

The inspector should control the scene throughout the whole process to avoid damage to the outer box and brutal operation by the containerizer.

Careful consideration should be given to the porter’s suggestions in the process of container loading inspections, and the principle should not be compromised.

In case of any unexpected situation during the process of container loading inspections, such as incomplete loading of goods and not full enough of container,contact the customer immediately, and do not ship  without the customer’s confirmation.

Check whether there are any missing or unloaded goods in the warehouse before sealing the container door.

Information feedback: If there is any problem in the process of container loading inspections, feedback should be given in time. For example, when the total volume of the ordered products is close to the theoretical limit, and the inspector cannot ensure whether it can be loaded, it is necessary to inform the customer in advance and ask the customer to make a decision on whether to come out. Especially under the clause that partial shipment is prohibited under L/C conditions, it is particularly important.

What is the information reflected in the report?

Please check the link of the loading report of CLI inspection company.

As an essential link before shipment, container loading inspections is very important to the transportation of goods. Through this article, we can clearly understand the container loading inspections, the inspection process at the loading site and the relevant precautions, and know that the container loading inspections is not only simple counting and monitoring the site, but also the precautions for packing involve all aspects. Therefore, it is particularly important to have a professional and experienced inspector in the process of container loading inspections, which can control the risks macroscopically and ensure the safe and complete arrival of the shipped goods at the destination.

At the same time, through the comparison of different scale inspection companies, we can know that price and brand are not the main factors that determine the quality of a company, but we need to know whether this inspection company can analyze from the customer’s own characteristics and put itself in the customer’s perspective. Only with such a service concepts , it can be a reliable inspection company for importer.

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Implement Pre-shipment Inspection! Start to Build Brand Popularity

In the traditional trade of international trade, Pre shipment inspection has always been the favorite inspection service for importers. Importers who are thousands of miles away cannot confirm with their own eyes whether the bulk production meet their requirements and they are worried that the bulk production will not be corrected after they arrive at the destination port. Therefore, pre shipment inspection is derived. After the long-term development of foreign trade in China, the pre shipment inspection has become more and more mature and perfect, so what will the pre shipment inspection be like now?

When the 100% of products are finished and 80% of products are packed, the third-party inspection company will arrange an inspector who is familiar with the professional knowledge of the products to the factory. The inspector will write an inspection report by confirming the quantity of the bulk production, randomly selecting the bulk production according to the sampling rules, checking the visual and basic tests of the products. The inspection report can evaluate the overall quality of the goods and reflect the average quality of the products. At the same time, it can also tell the importer the management problems in the factory. The importer checks the defects of the products through the inspection report, and confirms whether the products meet his own sales requirements and arrange the shipment . This is the pre shipment inspection suitable for all products.

What is the basis of the pre shipment inspection service

The basis is generally divided into two aspects, standards and customer requirements. The first is standards, which are divided into enterprise standards, industry standards and national standardsfrom strict to loose. Third-party inspection companies usually conduct inspections according to industry standards and national standards. In the standard documents, the visual requirements, test indexes and test methods of products are listed for use by laboratories, factories and inspection companies. In order to better serve importers, CLI has set up a standard database in the system, which contains the standards of different products and is convenient to inquiry and use.

It is never enough to have the established standard, because the standard only provides reference value. For third-party inspection companies, many tests in the standard cannot be completed by relying on the simple equipment conditions of the factory. At this time, some smart third-party inspection companies need to get clients’ special product requirements, and then simulate the extreme environment by consumer and conduct multiple tests according to the specificity of each product. The purpose of this operation is not only to dig into the inner risks of the products deeper, but also to use the products many times in advance and find potential complaints from the perspective of consumers.  Pre shipment inspection based on standards and client requirements are often more comprehensive and help importers avoid Recall risks.

Service Process and Actual Operation of Pre shipment Inspection

Place orders by clients

Send the order materials and inspection requirements. CLI will sort out the data for the first time to list the doubts and wait for the answers from the factory.

Contact the factory

Confirm the inspection time before shipment. More importantly, further confirm the client’s special requirements for product production and doubts. At the same time, knowing the scale of the factory and the testing equipment that can be provided by factory, the purpose is that inspectors can prepare necessary measuring tools in advance and infer the potential risks of the factory.

QA department analysis

If the client provides the  third party inspection approval samples, the technicians will analyze the approval samples and the special requirements of clients. The purpose is to help inspectors understand the product better and to maintain clear and fair thought at the inspection site.

Improvement of inspection data

According to the analysis results of QA department, the inspection materials are sorted out for the second time, which is helpful for office staff to deeply understand products and control risks.

Follow-up on the day of inspection

Keep in touch with the factory and inspectors to avoid blind spots of inspectors. If there are something special happening, contact with the factory in time to solve it and give feedback to the client.

Issue inspection report

CLI inspection report is composed of quantity table, remarks, defects, tests, size table, product pictures, pictures of warehouse bulk production and non-bribery declaration. A CLI inspection report is mostly 50-80 pages, and even reaches 150 pages when there are many items of the products. A complete report can clearly show our inspection work, please see the specific format of  CLI inspection report.

Taking CLI inspection company as an example, the product types of Pre shipment inspection provided are as follows:

Consumer products category

Grocery: household products, furniture, toys, handicrafts, outdoor products, sporting products, promotional decoration, kitchen products, cosmetics, building materials, hand tools and others.

Textiles: apparel, home textiles, fashion accessories, bags, shoes and socks, leather, fabrics, yarns, etc.

Electrical appliances: household appliances, lamps, audio-visual appliances, communication equipment, electric tools, etc.

Industrial products

Industrial standard parts

Non-standard customized parts

Transportation tools and fittings

Production equipment and instruments

Why do importers need to use the pre shipment inspection service

CLI heard from the importer who uses pre shipment inspection for the first time, before using the pre shipment inspection service, the importer thinks it is unnecessary, which not only spends a lot of time on communication, but also delays the shipment time and even affects the sales period. However, when there are many consumer complaining about the products sold by the importer, he has to contact the factory to find out the root of the problem. At this time, the factory will only answer: We produce the bulk production according to the samples confirmed by you. In this case, importers only can face complaints from consumers alone. Therefore, if the importer does not use the pre shipment inspection service, it is difficult for him to get compensation from the factory and he cannot know the technological defects of the products, unless he spends a lot of time studying the production technology of the products, which is obviously unrealistic.

After the importer used the pre shipment inspection service for several times, CLI actually found the product process problems from the factory who he had cooperated for many years and CLI helped the client solve the consumer complaints that had been bothering him. Because of the inspection report, the factory was also very cooperative, arrange workers and change materials to improve the product technology as soon as possible. This is why importers need to use the pre shipment inspection service. Once there are problems in product quality during the trade, the third-party inspection companies will not be partial to any side, but will only record all the problems that actually found. The importer can take over through third-party inspections and require the factory to solve production problems, further improve the supply chain and promote survival of the fittest.

Is pre shipment inspection the same for importers of different scales?

Generally speaking, because importers and third-party inspection companies are different in scale, so importers should not blindly only consider branded inspection companies when choosing third-party inspection companies, what suits you is the best. (Please click  How to choose a reliable inspection company ). As far as the pre shipment inspection service is concerned, it has different functions for importers of different scales. After all, the needs of importers are different and it also depends on the quality grade of products purchased by importers.

Firstly, for small and medium-sized importers, this type of importer usually has a small number of employees and many things are decided by the boss. At the same time, the cooperative suppliers in China are basically small and such suppliers do not have their own factories. They send out orders to many small workshops for production, so the product risk is the greatest. Therefore, for small and medium-sized importers, pre shipment inspection is very necessary, because every batch of bulk production has great quality risks. Because the importer doesn’t know what kind of factory his products are produced in, he can only trust the suppliers. Even though he finds that the supplier puts his products in a small workshop, he can only verbally ask the supplier to improve the quality of the products because of the low purchasing amount of the products.

Once the small and medium-sized importer has used the pre shipment inspection, he can know the overall quality of each batch of goods. Because the inspection company will randomly select a certain number of bulk products for inspection according to the sampling rules and try to find batch problems and more kinds of defects, so that the importer can require the factory to rework the products in time, or change the production process and re-produce the bulk products. For small and medium-sized importers, although some inspection fees are spent from the original budget, consumer complaints are greatly reduced. This kind of operation is very popular among importers.

However, large importers mostly cooperate with large supermarkets or have their own online stores, so most of the products they purchase are middle and high-end. The management and quality control of Chinese factories that produce these products are stricter than others, so that the importers trust the quality of the product and they only occasionally arrange pre shipment inspection. However, once the product has a consumer complaint, the brand building of importers will be affected. Assuming that a large importer conducts a pre shipment inspection on every batch of his order and summarizes the past complaints to a third-party inspection company. The final result is that the importer’s products can be improved in quality, the quality control system can be improved and the brand reputation can be maintained. If you spend a little money on big things, the inspection cost is only 1% or even less than 1% of the amount of the bulk. Why not?

By comparing importers of different scales, we can know that pre shipment inspection is equally important to them. Although the amount of products is different, most products are directly facing consumers. If the importer fails to carry out self-inspection after receiving the goods and has not used the pre shipment inspection in the early stage, then the result can be imagined! Won’t consumer complaints pile up like a mountain? This is probably the biggest headache for importers. According to the statistics of CLI system, after using pre shipment inspection the complaints received by 85% importers dropped sharply in one quarter, which directly improved the satisfaction of consumers.

Since the data shows the importance of pre shipment inspection, what kind of pre shipment inspection should be chosen that provided by a third-party inspection company?

What are the differences in the pre shipment inspection provided by different types of third-party inspection companies?

As mentioned above, with the development of China’s foreign trade, China has become a big manufacturing country in the world. More and more importers purchase various commodities in China and the demand for pre shipment inspection is also growing rapidly, resulting in various third-party inspection companies. Corresponding to importers of different scales, the scale of third-party inspection companies is different from the services they provide. Importers should choose the third-party inspection companies according to their own needs, otherwise the results may be unsatisfactory.

Let’s start with large inspection companies. Most of them are multinational companies with branches all over the world. Although such inspection companies have a long history and rich experience, their main profit base is laboratory test, so there are great problems in the operation of pre shipment inspection. For example, the customer manager in the office is backward in service consciousness, does not pay attention to improving the professional level of inspectors and thinks that the inspection work is attached to the laboratory. As a result, the inspector simply inspects and takes test samples on site, thus falsely reporting the inspection workload. The company’s management of inspectors is out of control and inspectors can easily team up to blackmail the factory. The inspection report is simple and does not reflect the key points, which is not conducive to the subsequent improvement of products.

Although the inspection fees of large inspection companies are high, some importers like to cooperate with them, because holding an inspection report from an internationally renowned inspection company can make consumers trust more and enhance the brand effect of importers. However, CLI still suggests that this kind of importers need to consider product quality, which is the foundation of brand building.

Small and medium-sized inspection companies are usually not well-known and the inspection fees are also medium, but they do much more work than large inspection companies. For example, according to the client’s order, CLI will advise the client to send a approval sample to the office first. Subsequently, QA department conducts quality audit, mainly including research on production process, potential risks of common defects and pre-research on the scale of the production factory, etc. The office staff will inform the inspectors one by one about the research results of QA department to ensure that the inspectors fully understand the client’s product requirements and potential risks. It is worth noting that on the inspection day, the staff will keep in touch with the inspector to avoid missing any points. After this way of pre shipment inspection, it is not difficult for inspectors to find batch problems. For the factory, it was a nightmare, but for the importer, it is a timely help. Maybe before that, he has worried about how to restrain the factory!

Usually after using the pre shipment inspection of CLI for several times, the importer can see the transformation of the factory, but the premise is that the factory is willing to cooperate with the improvement, because he values the potential for future development of customers. This result is overjoyed and everything will fall into place. That’s why importers love the pre shipment inspection provided by medium-sized inspection companies.

The last category is the subminiature inspection company, which has low inspection fee. By taking advantage of this, it can advertise through multiple channels to attract importers. Many importers are willing to try low-price inspection and take chances. If the result is not bad, wouldn’t it save a lot of fee? But unfortunately, the result was not what was expected.

Pre shipment inspection provided by subminiature inspection company is a minimalist operation!There are few defects found in a 20-30 page inspection report. I’m afraid the inspector is acting as a photographer on site, which only gives the importer the illusion that the workload is very full. Such inspection companies also understand their own shortcomings, so they occasionally require the inspector to found quality problems of product to prevent clients from complaining or even lose them.

Why do they want to operate pre shipment inspection so simply?

In fact, the reason is very obvious. The quotation is low and they need to pay the inspector. The remaining profit is pitiful! So how does the company survive? They can only rely on the workload of more than one order a day and require the inspectors to go to 2-3 factories a day for inspection, so as to realize the profit growth of the company. However, this goes against the meaning of pre shipment inspection. They don't have time to check enough sample sizes, so that they can't find the technological problems of products. In addition, inspectors usually only have high school education and their English is poor. Even the basic printed information may not be checked clearly and the report can only be translated into English by the office. Therefore, if importers are considering improving their own supply chain management level, please choose a third-party inspection company carefully, or try different inspection companies at the same time to select one with high cost-effective.

Intrinsic meaning of pre shipment inspection

The above analysis from two aspects, importers and third-party inspection companies, explains the different functions of pre shipment inspection. Although the routine operation of each inspection company is the same, the energy invested by each inspection company is quite different. As far as CLI is concerned, it belongs to a small inspection company, which pays attention to improving its own QA level, because it is the basis of improving professional services and then tailors the inspection process according to the special requirements of different clients, from the office to the inspector, anticipates the risks in every parts and finally gives clients a professional and targeted pre shipment inspection report. This service is not aimed at factories. On the contrary, there are many benefits for factories, such as improving production efficiency, reducing production costs, controlling supply chains and standardizing enterprise standards. Self-motivated factories also hope that they can develop more stably and rapidly, expand production scale and increase sales profits.

Importers can also get inspiration for product improvement, expand sales market, raise brand awareness and stand firm in the fierce competition in the market from the pre shipment inspection services. The tripartite cooperation among importers, factories and third-party inspection companies promotes each other, not only the cooperation of pre shipment inspection, but also many other types of inspection services in international trade, which require importers to choose suitable inspection services according to their own needs, so as to solve the final purpose of improving product quality.

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Go Deep Into China Inspection Service

CLI Inspection is a Chinese third-party inspection company whose main business is consumer goods inspection. Based on the daily practice of third-party inspection services provided by CLI Inspection Company for importers, this paper illustrates the necessity of China inspection services in international trade by discussing the importers’ demand for China inspection service, the content of China inspection service, the type and characters of third party inspection reports.

Macroscopically speaking, TPI is an independent third party (such as a full-time supervision and inspection institution) who is placed outside the interests of buying and selling, and carries out the commodity conformity inspection and recognition activities as a fair, fair and authoritative non-party according to relevant laws, standards, contracts and other basis recognized by both parties.

Therefore, the scope of these definitions and processes mentioned above is narrowed, and the inspection service below only refers to the third-party inspection service of consumer goods. The inspection service in China only refers to the companies or quality consulting institutions that provide third-party quality inspection services of consumer goods for cross-border importers in China. The target customers only refer to various commercial entities that conduct cross-border trade of consumer goods in international trade.

Understanding the needs of importers is the first step to understand China inspection service

The demand for quality control of large supermarket chains in Europe and America is supplemented by inspection and mainly by lab testing. These super-large multinational companies are huge in size, and they cooperate with super-large factories and traders for a long time. Such super-large factories and traders have strong quality awareness, strict quality control and good product quality. Therefore, the inspection focuses on the internal quality of laboratory testing, which is expensive, but for such super-large companies, they can afford it, in order to prevent product problems and complaints, which will cause the Group’s international reputation.

Small and medium-sized importers, online sellers, give priority to product inspection, supplemented by laboratory testing. These small and medium-sized importers have small business scale, low purchase order quantity and value, and usually have their own sales channels, physical stores and online stores or Amazon stores. These importers have average bargaining power with suppliers and cannot get good prices from large supplier factories. They have to get goods from small traders or factories. They need to buy products with high cost performance, instead of high price and high quality. Moreover, they hope to continue to develop the supply chain of B+ or even A- products at B- price. They need to continuously improve the quality management level of the supply chain. However, the day is not as good as expected. Small factories have smaller customers, average factory quality control, poor economic benefits, poor workers’ treatment, and old workers can’t keep stable. As a result, workers’ mobility is high, production equipment is relatively backward, and product quality is often not guaranteed. Therefore, importers’ demand for supplier quality control and product quality improvement is more urgent, and they need better third-party inspection services. First, they can restrict factories; second, they can ensure that there is no batch problem, and laboratory tests are expensive, they choose not to do the testing, unless they are special products or target market governments have mandatory requirements.

What are the types of companies providing China inspection service in China, and what are their characteristics?

Super-large companies such as SGS and ITS have high quotation for product quality control, mainly due to high lab testing fees. Because these established multinational third-party inspection companies have a history of hundreds of years and have international fame, they all serve large international importers with a history of 100 years and have long cooperation time. According to SGS 2019 financial report, 90% of SGS profits come from laboratory testing, not inspection. Their development strategy is turning to the field of higher value-added services. However, the inspection service is mainly driven by people, and the added value is relatively low, so the inspection service is not highly valued, and the inspection service is reserved only to ensure the integrity of the service.

The inspection of international large-scale third-party inspection companies is generally as follows: novice inspectors will be trained for three months to take up their posts directly and inspect the goods independently, because all the trading companies undertaking the stores will place orders in large factories, and there will not be much problem in general quality. However, if the products fail to pass the product safety requirements of the countries and regions where they are sold, a large number of products may be recalled, and whether the products meet the statutory product safety requirements, Only by sending the product to the laboratory to finish the test can we know. Therefore, the requirement for the inspector is to do a superficial test, mainly by the inspector going to the factory site and randomly taking the test samples and sending them back to the laboratory of the third-party inspection company. This seems counterintuitive, but it is a fact.

Because the customer groups of the old-fashioned large-scale third party inspection companies all want to do laboratory tests, there is no need to do professional on site product inspection in factories, but only need to do testing samples picking and send to the laboratory, and the professional degree of the laboratory is little affected by human beings. After all, the test equipment is an objective cold machine.

This is also why, if small and medium-sized importers chose such old inspection companies to do product inspection, the cost will be very high. One reason is that the inspection cost itself is relatively high, which generally costs more than 380 US dollars per man-day. Another reason is that their service concept is to guide customers to do expensive laboratory testing.

Third-party inspection companies with about 100-200 employees in medium-sized companies have developed with the rise of the Internet, focusing on China’s export market, expanding their customers by constantly participating in Canton Fair, with high cost performance and no international popularity, focusing on inspection. Although the price is low, the price per person-day is generally about US$ 290, but the workload per person-day is low, which often requires more than two inspectors to complete the inspection work for one inspection, so as to increase the turnover.

Since the founders and management of such companies mostly advocate Internet thinking, the core competitiveness of the company is the online and offline carpet marketing of the company to obtain a large number of customers and operate the inspection business in an extensive way, completely ignoring the inherent objective laws of the inspection industry. The understanding of the third-party inspection industry is very superficial, but the company undertakes the inspection tasks of clients, sends the inspection task to inspectors, arranges inspectors to complete the inspection tasks in factories, and the inspectors issue inspection reports to clients and then collect money.

If there is a problem and the customer complains, the company will shift all the responsibilities to the inspector, simply and rudely respond to the customer and solve the problem through fines and dismissal. Therefore, the inspector has no sense of belonging in such an inspection company, and after working frequently for 1 or 2 years, he has changed jobs, resulting in a high employee’s turnover rate of the company. The inspector has changed one batch after another, whose inspection level is hovering at a low level and cannot be improved.

In order to reflect the workload and please customers, the company’s management ignored the diversification of inspection workload and asked inspectors to unconditionally complete customers’ unreasonable inspection requirements, which led to inspectors spending a lot of time on non-important things. The company’s management is mostly European and American cultural background, either professional managers or upgraded from the company’s business department, and is unfamiliar with inspection business. It is impossible to keep a dynamic balance between the customer’s third-party inspection requirements and the actual professional inspection, which leads to an abnormal inspection method, which is popular and ultimately suffers customers.

The important reason why such companies can continue to grow is that they have developed with the rise of the Internet, and they are very familiar with Internet marketing. The ability to develop new customers is greater than the ability to provide professional services to customers. The reason why the business has always developed is that the increased new customers are greater than the lost old customers, and the company’s business can continue to grow.

The price of a subminiature company is about USD 100 per person-day, and the inspection service is basically not guaranteed. The price is low, but the service quality is lower. Because the price is low, in order to save costs, the companies generally hired inspectors who have lower education and do not understand English. As long as they have done inspection work in factories, they need men to adapt to high-intensity business trips. Even some inspectors know nothing about the products they inspect. For such inspection companies, The so-called inspection is just going through the motions, and the practice of formalities. Their business routine is to attract customers through low prices, increase turnover (increase the number of working days for an inspection project) by falsely reporting workload, but let inspectors reduce workload.

Because importers generally don’t know how to inspect goods, considering the lower man-days cost, it is usually easier to accept the quotation of more than 2 man-days, so the price will naturally go up, and the quotation may be 2 man-days, but in fact, the inspector finished reading it in one day, so he took a few photos casually to write a report and patted his ass away. This kind of company requires the inspector to go to several factories for inspection a day to reduce costs and increase the turnover.

In order to complete the task, inspectors show up at the factory and take some product photos. The service quality can not be guaranteed at all, which leads to serious Customer Churn rate. However, there are always unknown importers. In order to save costs, they choose such a company. This is also the reason why they can basically maintain the company’s operation. Even some companies, with the gimmick of providing inspection services for importers, buy and sell customer information to make money after obtaining customer information, so as to increase profits. It is meaningless for importers to find such third-party inspection companies to inspect goods, and they will lose confidence in the inspection industry.

Small third-party inspection companies with a price of about US$ 200-250, whose main service target customers are small and medium-sized importers. As analyzed above, such importers have more urgent demand for supplier quality control and product quality improvement, and need better inspection services. For such third-party inspection companies, they are faced with complex product quality inspection risks. It is no exaggeration to say that to do a good job well, they need very professional process management and inspectors’ on-site management and control level.

CLI inspection belongs to this type, and CLI inspection self-positioning is the most cost-effective inspection service. Our service aim is to “make imports safer”, and the price is reasonable, at USD 238 per person-day. Inspectors are trained regularly to update their professional knowledge and enhance their service awareness. The workload is scientific and reasonable, there is no falsehood, no superficial inspection, but do inspection with deep QA testing method. The vast majority of inspection tasks are completed in one man-day. All-round control of the early, middle and late stages of inspection. CLI inspection knows well what kind of inspection services for this type of importer needs, and we are able analyze the problems from the customer’s point of view to ensure the interests of importers to the greatest extent.

What are the inspection services in China?

Taking CLI inspection as an example, this paper introduces what services are provided by third-party inspection companies in China. The services content provided by our company is comprehensive, but it focuses on the whole process quality control of product manufacturing and laboratory testing consultation. You can also go to the official website to review, and the content of the website looks intuitive.

PSI (Pre Shipment Inspection)

1. Evaluate the product if matches with product specifications, packaging, packing and marking. 2. Evaluate product for safety, design, function, appearance, and performance. 3. Assess packaging form. 4. Verify material/units if match related standards of import country.

DPI (During Production Inspection)

1. Check the quantity and monitor the production schedule. 2. Evaluate the production status during the manufacturing process 3. Evaluate the product if matches with product specifications, packaging, packing and marking. 4. Ensure the calibration and accuracy of equipment. 5. Give advices to improve product quality and minimize defects. 6. Verify material/units if match related standards of import country.

IPI (Initial Production Inspection)

1. Check the all raw material and components manufatured to meet client standards. 2. Evaluate the goods designs reliability during the initial stages. 3. Detect any production problems occurs during process during the initial stages. 4. Improve the production capacity by putting forward valuable suggestion.

CLS (Container Loading Service)

1. Record the weather, arrival time of container, container No. , truck No. 2. Check the inner & outer condition to see if there is any damage, wet, hole, peculiar smell. 3. Check the quantity of goods loaded and record the condition of outer packaging (master cartons/pallets). 4. Randomly draw and open some cartons to verify that the goods meet with clients' specification. 5. Supervise the whole loading process. 6. Seal the container with the custom's seal. 7. Record the seal No. and departure time of container.

SP(Sample Picking)

Pick the samples randomly in the factory and seal the samples and send them by express to the client or the clients' appointed institution.

Lab Consultancy

The focus is to select specific product testing items list and test item price comparison for customers.

What is the inspection service process in China?

After years of development of inspection service in China, the general service process is as follows:

Send an email to the inspection company to inform the inspection requirements, or place an order on the website of the inspection company.

E-mail includes: information of products for inspection provided by importers and customers, modification information, purchasing order, product specifications, inspection requirements, supplier contact information, including supplier name, factory address, inspection date and contact information.

Relevant information confirmation: factory, inspection date and inspection address, etc.

Arrange inspectors to the factory for product quality inspection.

The office staff of the inspection company shall review the inspection report and send it to the customer.

Customer payment.

Significance of inspection report in China inspection service?

Taking the work practice of CLI inspection as an example, we believe that,for importers’ customers, the inspection report carries the contents of China inspection service in written form, and a detailed and illustrated inspection report enables importers’ customers to have a clear understanding of the quality of bulk products when reading the inspection report, and based on this, importers easily decide whether to notify the factory to arrange shipment or not.

The content section of the inspection report mainly includes: basic information of products and orders, inspection scheme, inspection conditions, evaluation of product quality status, what product tests the inspector has done on site, quality requirements concerned by customers, what result that the inspector has performed in place on site, and pictures of products.

For the inspection company, by reviewing the inspection report, we can further have a deeper understanding of the quality of products produced by the factory from a technical point of view. Generally speaking, we can summarize the gains and losses of the inspector’s work at that time. Because the inspection work is based on random sampling and there are various factors affecting the inspection, CLI inspection believes that the inspection work always needs continuous improvement and optimization. Most importers’ customers tend to buy products from one factory for many times. Therefore, the professional inspection report is helpful for the customer’s improvement of work quality.

What are the characteristics and causes of typical third-party inspection reports?

The inspection report can reflect the inspection level of the company to a certain extent, but different company inspection reports have their own characteristics, which often have historical reasons.

Large companies are simple (with few pictures), because these old third-party inspection companies have a history of hundreds of years, and their business processes were formed in the 20th century. With the invention of electricity, transnational trade developed greatly. At that time, international trade was mainly based on telephone and fax communication, so the inspection company’s report was usually 3-5 pages without pictures.

Most of the company’s customers were super-large supermarkets at that time, and customers gave full authorization to these established third-party inspection companies.To a great extent, the inspection reports of these inspection companies are the key to determine whether a batch of goods are qualified or not. However, due to the objective conditions at that time, the transportation links were not very convenient. This method of introducing third-party inspection to evaluate product quality in transnational trade had obvious advantages at that time. It could promote transnational transactions and lubricate all links of transactions. Under the historical conditions at that time, it was the most advanced method. In addition, for decades, long-term cooperation and mutual trust have been used up to now.

Up to now, the format of the inspection report has changed, but the whole content has not changed in essence, which also leads to the report being simple. All the target customers tend to get used to and accept such report content and format. This is like the feeling that the old people are nostalgic to read newspapers, holding a newspaper in their hands. Older people prefer to shop in physical stores rather than online.

Therefore, if a small importer chooses the services of such an old-fashioned third-party inspection company, he will feel that he is dealing with a slow-moving and stubborn person, and he can’t hear or understand your needs. This is an inevitable result.

The photo-type (with many pictures), In the inspection process, inspector takes a lot of time to take pictures and needs a lot of time to deal with the pictures of the report, so he is perfunctory in the actual inspection work for the inspector. The general idea of this kind of inspector is “just make inspection casually, but every detail of the picture should be photographed.” Because he missed a picture, it may be an insignificant picture, he will be severely punished. .Because the customer doesn’t know much about the inspection industry, he thinks that the more pictures he reports, the more detailed his work is and the more “professional”, but this is actually putting the cart before the horse.

Because this kind of third-party inspection service provider has a general history of about 30 years, with the rise of the Internet and globalization, it has been growing and growing in the new historical trend. With the start and development of Chinese manufacturing, digital cameras, Internet and communication technologies have greatly promoted the progress of the global supply chain management system during this period.

In order to dig customers from the old inspection companies, the inspection companies developed in this period generally tried their best to advertise and develop customers in Alibaba, Made in China, global sources and Canton Fair. The main customers were small and medium importers, and in order to realize the service differentiation, they ask their inspectors to take a large number of product inspection pictures as one of the gimmicks of inspection services to please customers.

Comprehensive type (taking CLI as an example) (usually 100 pictures are inspected every time, and the report editing time is 1 hour, which is reasonable in the balance between workload control and professionalism). However, the company boss and managers of various departments were inspectors of large third party inspection companies, who are very familiar with inspection, but also know the problems existing in the inspection process of large inspection companies, and are good at summing up and finding problems, and retaining customers by providing better services than the former two.

The quotation workload of this kind of company to customers is reasonable, and the workload of inspectors is saturated in one day. Therefore, it is very important to ensure that inspectors can spend limited working time on the cutting edge on the inspection day. It is meaningless and time-consuming to take too many pictures, and the inspection work is superficial; Too few pictures were taken, and the report was not rigorous and rich.

Therefore, before the inspection, the account manager of CLI company analyzes and evaluate the difficulty of the inspection work from all aspects, it ensures that the inspector will do the work thoroughly in the factory on the inspection day.This practice will consume a lot of office labor costs, but for CLI, this is one of the key steps for CLI companies to provide customers with professional, rigorous, differentiated and targeted third-party quality inspection services.

This kind of professional quality personnel in the office carry out all-round risk management and evaluation before the inspection work, and even comprehensively control the inspection day, which is one of the fundamental reasons for the extremely low customer churn rate of CLI inspection company. The all-round control of the professional account manager in the office and the two-way pull of the inspector’s strict implementation on the spot according to the inspection plan basically ensure the effectiveness of the single-day inspection work and never become superficial.

Small company simple type (report can be completed in 15 minutes)

The profit model of the subminiature third-party inspection company has been analyzed above, so I won’t repeat it here. In order to reduce the workload of the inspector for a single order, the report of this kind of company is also very simple, because the inspector has to inspect 2-4 factories every day, and the whole workload in a single day is heavy. The inspectors of this kind of inspection company generally have junior high school education and low English level, and they only write Chinese reports, which are translated into English by the office staff. Because the report should be provided to foreign customers in English, such reports are full of confusion and become a mere formality. It is difficult to find valuable quality problems by making the perfunctory or even deceptive inspection methods for the kind of company. For importers, quality risks cannot be avoided. (please ask for CLI inspection report)

Summary

Today, when globalization is irreversible, trade between countries is getting closer and closer, China is an indispensable production end, and it is a general trend for importers to purchase China inspection services. If you want to choose a reliable Chinese third-party inspection company, the first step is to understand China inspection services. So this article analyzes in depth:

For the inspection requirements of importers in different sizes, simply speaking, large importers choose large inspection companies, while small and medium-sized importers choose inspection companies with high cost performance;

There are differences in the service quality of third-party inspection companies in different scales, and there are many reasons for this difference. Objectively speaking, it is related to customer groups, company positioning and profit base; Subjectively speaking, it is related to leadership background and vision, service concept and other factors;

General process of inspection service in China;

The characteristics of inspection reports of third-party inspection companies in different scales also reflect their service quality.

Finally, I hope readers will have a clearer and deeper understanding of China inspection service after reading this article.

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Can the Third Party Inspection Approval Samples Help Me Reduce the Product Quality Risk？

What is approval sample?

In international trade, when clients communicate orders with factories, factories need to provide samples to clients for approval. Both sides discuss to confirm the product details, including the product’s function, appearance and process. Finally, factories use the correct materials according to the results of the discussion to reproduce a sample as a reference for mass production. At the same time, they have the client’s signature to prove the accuracy of the sample. This is the process of the approval samples. However, some of the clients cooperated with CLI did not provide third party inspection approval samples, when placing inspection order to CLI, together with some documentation requirements and pictures of products.

During the inspection, inspectors will give priority to inspect products according to the documents provided by clients in the previous period, and then add their own professional knowledge to discover product defects.But most of CLI’s clients do provide approval samples prior to inspection proceeding.

This kind of third party inspection process is being carried out by most inspection companies.Superficially, there will not be too much problem. For most of clients who received and confirmed the approval samples,  it is hard to them to have in-depth knowledge of the product’s manufacturing process and crafts. They tends to pay more attention to the function and appearance of the product, instead of products of its own.  After all, whether the product can occupy a certain position in the market is the most concerned problem for the client. As for an inspector, although he has professional knowledge of different products, he is, indeed, not the one who is most familiar with the complete production process of products. Because the details of the products are manufacturing by the factory, there are tends of factors have effect on the final quality of finished products. If this is a immoral factory who cares profit much more than quality, you are almost 100% possible to get massive products that is not completely consistent with your approval samples?

Is the approval samples useful for the third party inspection?

As compared, when the client provides approval samples to third party inspection companies prior to inspection, it enables the inspector can compare the approval samples with the goods during inspection.  Many clients also know about this,  but do not know well about the significance of approval samples for third-party inspection. As for third party inspection companies who just superficially compare the appearance of bulk products and approval samples, and take photos. It is another kinds of “superficially inspection＂, so just keep away from this, and stop using it!  As approval samples is the criteria of quality standards for both sides of international trade, but the both of sides probably have blind area of thinking. Importers care much more about appearance ( models, style, color ), prices, but supplier or manufacturers care about the manufacturing cost. Few of them keeps an eye on the quality demand of end consumers.  Shortly, third party inspection company not only requires to inspect the quality of bulk as an objective third party, but also to find out possible quality problems that might give negative effects on the ones who buy from the prospective of end consumer. So Avoid Superficial Inspection is something that clients should always pay attention to, when using third-party inspection services.

For a rigorous third-party inspection company, having the approval samples provided by clients is just like having the magical weapon. Because the inspector can get the details and results of the order confirmed information between the client and the factory:  what the raw materials of the products used and the production process ( if importer is enough professional,but it is not mostly). The inspector can use it to compare with the bulk samples, analyze the problems existing in the goods, and reflect them to the clients and the factory in time. It is convenient for clients to negotiate with factories for the rework or remedy actions. It helps to prevent the risk of defective products circulating to the sale market in advance. By just offering  approval putting the approval sample in the factory can avoid the annoying complaints of consumers. Why not do such wonderful things?

What CLI third party inspection do after receiving the approval samples from client ?

Despite not every client provide approval samples (Golden samples) to third party inspection before inspection proceeds, we always ask clients to send us the approval samples as much as possible. It is key factor for us to give clients much better professional third party inspection services. So, we are pleasured to receive international courier (approval samples, gold samples) from clients.

In fact, it is because our QA engineers  need to carry out quality risk analysis on different products. Before the pre-shipment inspection, the QA department’s technicians will conduct a comprehensive study on the approval samples sent by clients, including raw materials, processing technology, structural analysis, functional testing and most importantly, abuse testing of simulated consumers under relatively extreme conditions. These all take some time. Although inspectors are also employed through professional training, they will be negatively affected by some uncertain factors during the  inspection. Such as the factory environment, like lack of workers to offer basic co-operation to move on inspection, the equipment that the factory can provide and the factory coordination, etc., it will possibly lead to negligence of one of them. However, if the inspector receives the foresight from the QA department in advance and always keeps the key points in mind for inspection. By which, it enables the inspection job much more professional.

Look at the actual case then you will understand

For a lady handbag, the inspector found that the height of the handle was different by comparing the approval sample with the bulk production. Although the diameter of the handle was the same, which satisfied the arms of ladies of different sizes.

But the position of handle is not satisfying. Does the factory just want consumers to carry it like this?  Don’t the factory want to sell to fat ladies?  When the client received our inspection report, he immediately asked the factory to rework all products, because he didn’t want to receive bad reviews from the consumers.  What if clients are planning to set up a store on Amazon at this moment, then how to Avoid amazon’s bad reviews is probably his first consideration.

This was another lady handbag (please ignore the color difference between the two pictures, which was caused by the different light). The left picture was the goods inspected by the inspector during inspection, while the right picture was the goods received by the client after factory shipped it out.  The inspection company has already informed the client in advance in the inspection report, on which there was a problem with the material of the product and it is prone to creases easily. Since the third party inspection approval samples are not provided by clients during inspection, it is impossible for us, the inspection company to know whether the factory has replaced the raw materials with inferior ones. What is more, the client say nothing about it, just a few photos of products when placing inspection order to us.

A month later, when the client received the shipment, and found that most of the products had creases on the surface, who expressed regret to us right away, and appreciated our careful and responsible work. Such problems we already mentioned on the report.  But for some reason, the client still decided to let it go.  Later on , the client checked the approval samples in his hands and found that there would be no creases on handbag. Speaking of which, everyone should understand that the factory cut corners. This is why we would advise clients to provide approval samples as much as possible when using third-party inspection services.

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How to Find a Reliable Third-party Inspection Company？

China has become the manufacturing center of the world, and more and more importers choose to import from China because of its low price and good quality. In order to better ensure the quality of products, most importers will choose third-party inspection companies, but how to find a reliable third party inspection company is also one of the most distressing problems for importers. However, it can still provide importers with some ideas, such as how to choose a third-party inspection company with appropriate scale, price, which is also professional and high efficiency.

Why is it not easy to find a reliable third-party inspection company ?

To tell the truth, on how to find a reliable third party inspection company，besides the recommendation of friends, importers can only find a suitable and reliable third-party inspection company through the Internet . Alibaba and Google are the two most important ways. However, due to too much network information,it is difficult to screen. With limitation of different line, Importers certainly don’t know as much about the third-party inspection industry as third-party inspection companies do, so they are passive and at a disadvantage when communicating with third-party inspection companies. Therefore, some importers may be on small and medium scale, in order to save time, they directly choose relatively large and well-known third-party inspection companies, although they know that it is very uneconomical to do so.

Why should importers and third-party inspection companies match each other ?

Before answering the question of how to find a reliable third-party inspection company, it is necessary to clarify the market positioning and company size of the import company. Generally, there are the following types: super-large, large, small and medium-sized (third-party inspection companies can also be classified in the same way).

For super-large import companies, they don’t worry about how to find a reliable third-party inspection company at all.  Such as Wal-Mart, which has an import department, the company will allocate quality budget and directly designate inspection companies, while super-large third-party inspection companies have a long history and are well-known, which is the best choice for super-large import companies.

For large-scale import companies, it may be because the super-large import companies directly designate the third-party inspection company, and require all the cooperating companies to use this inspection company. The cooperation time is long, and both parties have generated trust, so they have been using this inspection company.

For small and medium-sized importers, it is more appropriate to choose small and medium-sized third-party inspection companies instead of large ones. Why not choose a super-large or large third-party inspection company? First, the fees are expensive. Their services are mainly aimed at super-large or large import companies. Small and medium-sized importers are only small customers in their eyes, but the prices offered to small and medium-sized companies are much higher than those offered to super-large or large import companies. For example, SGS gives Carrefour a price of $120 (Manday: one day’s work for an inspector), but the price for ordinary guests is $400, which is quite different. However, the quantity and value of their purchasing orders are relatively small, so such a high inspection price is obviously inappropriate. However, in the eyes of small and medium-sized third-party inspection companies, their target clients are small and medium sized, so they will pay more attention to each clients, strive to keep customers, and provide more targeted services, which is cost-effective for importers.

The following figures shows some of the most common product defects in small and medium-sized factories during CLI service, which shows the importance of pre-shipment inspection.

Among global importers, small and medium-sized importers account for the vast majority. Such importers may have their own sales channels, be wholesalers themselves, or open their own stores (offline physical stores, online stores, Amazon stores). For wholesalers, products with defects and quality problems may be returned by customers in batches. Small supermarkets can attract repeat customers only if their products are of good quality, while Amazon hates bad reviews, and poor product quality or defects are the main reasons for bad reviews, which highlights the importance of finding a suitable and reliable third-party inspection company. Please refer to how to avoid Amazon’s negative reviews .

Alibaba is one of the main ways for importers to find third-party inspection companies, but it is not recommended.

Why not recommend looking for a third-party inspection company on Alibaba ?

Alibaba is indeed a big platform for finding suppliers and factories, and many third-party inspection companies can be found in it, which is convenient for contact and inquiry, which is its advantage. However, the merchants in a big platform, especially those selling services, may write a lot of details on the page, but the service quality is invisible. Merchants want to highlight their own advantages only by price, so most of them are micro third-party inspection companies with ultra-low prices. The importer, as a buyer, of course hopes that the lower the price, the better. The third-party inspection company on Alibaba just caught the importer’s thinking inertia and relied on low price and impulse order quantities to maintain profit. But this is harmful to importers and inspection companies. The reason why I say this needs to be connected to the next question to answer.

What kind of company can be regarded as a reliable third-party inspection company？

The price is appropriate and reasonable. First of all, the price needs a suitable standard. Generally speaking, more than $300 per man-day is a high rate, and less than $120 per man-day is a low price.

It is easy to understand that the high man-day rate means high inspection cost, but it is obviously not suitable for small and medium-sized importers to choose large inspection companies. If the price is too low, the service will be bad.

The reason is easy to understand by examples. Suppose you are an importer, there are 8 articles of products for orders that need to be inspected, and the third-party inspection company A offers 100 USD per man-day, they quote you 2 Man-days for 8 articles, completed the inspection in two days; Inspection company B, the price is 200 USD per man-day, but the inspection is completed in one day. It looks the same, even A looks like even better, but it is not, and the service quality is much worse.

The inspector of Company A inspects your 8 items in two days, but the inspector may only go for one day, maybe one morning, and take a few photos and leave, because this kind of inspection company requires the inspector to inspect the goods of several factories at the same day, and usually does not inspect the goods in one factory for a whole day. However, when Company B finishes the inspection in one day, inspectors generally do not inspect other homes on that day.

If the above situation still exists, it is unreasonable for Company A to quote for only one day. Let us make it clear by counting an account. The average daily cost of inspectors is 50 US dollars (the normal salary level of third-party inspectors in China), and the travel accommodation is 20 US dollars. In addition, the office review report and the daily salary of the staff who docked with the guests are 20 US dollars, which adds up to 90 yuan. Of course, there are office rent, water and electricity, etc. Company A only charges 100 US dollars, but there is no such profits at all. No company can do this for no profit. If the company want to make a profit, who can only let inspectors inspect two or four factories a day, and this mode of running an inspection company needs to be supported by high quantity of inspection orders, or reduce the cost of inspectors. When the average daily salary of inspectors in Company A is less than that of other inspectors, It will inevitably lead inspectors to inspect goods at will and be busy running between multiple inspection sites every day. Or Company A will use unprofessional inspectors to reduce costs, and the inspection effect will be basically zero. There are no fewer companies doing this, so they can only attract customers at a lower price than others in Alibaba, but this will definitely lead to a lose-lose situation. Therefore, it is not recommended to find a third-party inspection company on Alibaba, which is risky.Therefore, it is very important for importers to avoid looking for low-priced third-party inspection companies.

Service major. Service-specialized companies will consider problems from the perspective of customers, reply to emails in a timely manner, communicate smoothly, and write well reports, which is basic. More professional companies will start to search for information after receiving customer consultation, from sorting out relevant national standards to simulating consumer use scenarios to formulate inspection procedures, control inspectors’ on-site inspection well, and conduct in-depth QA tests, because they know that providing high-quality services can help importers avoid risks and keep customers and do long-term business.

However, third-party inspection companies with unprofessional services would rather put all their money into advertising in Alibaba or Google, instead of using it to improve service quality and service superficiality. Inspection is just a superficial formality, which can’t really design inspection methods suitable for customers’ products.For example, some inevitable batch problems will not be written in the report by general third-party companies, but service-conscious inspection companies will remind clients of this in the remarks of the report, help asking factories to improve the process and improve the product quality. Moreover keep in touch with inspectors at any time during the inspection process. CLI has always insisted on doing so.

Corporate culture.95% of the customers of China’s third-party inspection companies come from abroad, and most of them have their own websites to display their detailed information, including inspection prices and products. Therefore, the corporate culture here mainly refers to website construction. The website of reliable third-party inspection companies can see inspection industry articles, inspection standards and inspection cases, which can be used as reference. The picture below is the homepage of the website of the third-party inspection company screened shot.

Can an importer choose only one inspection company?

Of course not. Putting eggs in a basket is of course a great risk. One way to reduce the risk of importers is to use several third-party inspection companies at the same time, compare them horizontally, eliminate them in time if the service is not good, and stop losses in time. This is the wise move.

Summary

As mentioned at the beginning of the article, this article is not to directly recommend a third-party inspection company, but to share some ideas. In a nutshell, it is not easy to choose a reliable inspection company, and choose one that matches the size of your company; If you want to identify good or bad, be careful to find a third-party inspection company in Alibaba. It is best not to use it if the price is too low; Reliable inspection companies generally have appropriate prices, professional services and good corporate culture.