i think thats an excellent read. thanks.

but seriously, if you're starting with a new supplier and you've put in an order for thousands of items. will the supplier really let you inspect every single item?

i think the article covered almost everything..

except, what sort of contracts are usually put in place between long distance shipments when it comes to items that slip through the quality checks that shouldn't have passed?

sending back incurs costs.. who picks up the cost?

Originally Posted by gr2

i think thats an excellent read. thanks.

but seriously, if you're starting with a new supplier and you've put in an order for thousands of items. will the supplier really let you inspect every single item?

i think the article covered almost everything..

except, what sort of contracts are usually put in place between long distance shipments when it comes to items that slip through the quality checks that shouldn't have passed?

sending back incurs costs.. who picks up the cost?

GR2,
I agree, its hard to convince the new supplier to let you inspect 100% of the production, but remember YOU are the customer. So, yes, the supplier will let you do this, if the factory thinks long term, and the business you may bring to them will be significant.

If they think you are not worth the effort, then they may reject your request. If this is a problem, and you cannot find a factory who thinks this is a smart way to ensure quality on the initial orders, then it becomes a bigger issue, hopefully you can, but I would think doing significant random inspetions (higher than normal %) will make you feel better.

Also, great point about the the items that do ship, but are defective. Normally we have worked where we have charged the factory for the cost of the product, and the cost of the initial freight. If the supplier would like the item to be shipped back to them for further review, they also will need to pay this.

Usually, we would send images and outline the problem, to help them avoid it in the future. And in some cases have airfreighted back samples when the defective rate was very large at our own cost, so the supplier would understand the size of the charge back, and why it occurred. Also, if the defective problem was hard to explain, and better to view a physical sample, we would often send it back for our own QC team to review 1st, and then take it to review with the factory. Sometimes at our own cost, if we think it would be a good training lesson for our QC...