Does Your Supplier ‘Not Have Enough Time’ For Product Inspection? What Does It Mean? |
Posted: November 6, 2019 |
Have you ever come across a situation where you find yourself struggling to keep up with the workload as your supplier runs late in meeting his deadlines? And to top it off, he exclaims that due to several ‘unforeseen circumstances he simply does not have time to implement product inspection.’ Now, the only two options that you have are to either let go of quality inspection altogether or to delay the shipment- both of which might cost you severely in the future. Most, if not all, importers have found themselves in a similar situation at least once in the course of their business. So the question arises: what does it mean when your supplier says that he does not have ‘time’ for inspection, and what should you do in such a situation? Once you have successfully placed an order with your supplier, there are several things that have to be taken care of: receiving and coordinating on several important dates that the factory will provide to you, such as the date of beginning production as well as the expected order completion date. All of the product inspections that you would like to carry out will depend upon these dates, and thus will have to be carefully based off of these. In order to achieve a smooth transaction with timely product quality inspections, it is essential to maintain a free line of communication between you and the supplier, where important information is shared easily and without any delay. During the entire process of production and delivery, delays are quite common; however, a successful business will try to anticipate any delays as much as it can and thereby try to avoid them in order to stay on top of its production schedule. However, what actions are you required to take when your supplier informs you that he is unable to carry out product inspection prior to shipping because he simply does not have the time? What exactly does ‘not enough time’ mean? The first thing that you may wonder is whether the supplier is actually out of time due to factors that are out of his control, or if he is intentionally trying to avoid product inspection and cover up using the shortage of time as an excuse. In the latter case, not having enough time at hand for product inspection may imply one (or more) or the following:
This may be perhaps the most obvious cause of running out of time for product inspection. A production delay may be caused by the following reasons:
It is also possible that the factory is trying to hide quality issues found within the raw materials, semi-finished, or finished goods. Most factories have a system of internal quality inspection that can pinpoint these issues before any outside party inspects its products. So it may be possible that certain products need rework which is costly for the factory, for which reason it might neglect to inform you about the delay. Even if they do plan on informing you about any irregularities, they might decide to wait until the last moment so that they leave no time and space for a third-party inspection.
Another possibility is that your supplier himself may be helpless because he has subcontracted a part of the production process to another supplier. However, he would only need to use an excuse if he has hidden this information from you, for any reason. Perhaps he does not wish to raise any concerns regarding quality in your mind, and so preferred not to let you know about his contract with another factory. Whatever the reason may be, if there is a delay in the factory of the subcontracted supplier, then your supplier is also bound to face delays.
How to make sure you receive ample time for product inspection? Having seen some of the possible reasons why your supplier may insist that he has run out of time for product inspection, your next thought would be as to how to avoid such a situation. Here are a few measures that you can take to make sure that you have enough time for product inspection prior to shipping:
Conclusion To have healthy terms with your supplier, it is necessary for both parties to be on the same page regarding quality control and product inspection. Make sure that your supplier is made aware of your requirements well beforehand.
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