3 Types of Audits That Protect Your Supply Chain

When you are having goods manufactured overseas, it can present some challenges for quality control. Since you’re not in the country where the product is being made, you can’t just drive over to the facility and check how things are being done or going any time you want, and it’s likely you can’t keep hopping on a plane to do that, either. One way to help minimize the financial and associated risks in this situation is by using some common audits to help you verify the reliability, legitimacy and trustworthiness of your suppliers in your chain.

Social compliance audit

Also known as social audits, social accountability audits or ethical audits, these types of audits are used to monitor and verify your supplier’s working conditions for compliance with the relevant labor standards. These also help brands manage the social compliance risks that could harm their reputation. Factory disasters such as fires, unethical labor practices and other troubles can all bring negative publicity for a brand and cause irreparable harm to its image on the global stage.

First assessment audit

The first assessment audit is used to understand the production capabilities of a supplier and their internal quality controls. The auditors you hire will actually physically visit your new supplier’s facility to see what the practices and conditions there are. They will also review all relevant certificates and documents the facility has; examine its human resource policies, including management and working conditions; take a look at samples; explore the history of the facility; and identify its current organizational members.

One of the big benefits of this audit is that it will allow you to weed out “bad” suppliers or ones who simply cannot handle your product despite their promise to do so. After all, you don’t want to find out a supplier can’t handle an order after you waited weeks for it. You will be able to gain insight into a supplier before deciding to make a full run of a product there, and the results could very well prevent you from making a very expensive mistake.

Full monitoring audit

For this audit, an experienced professional inspector will evaluate your supplier in accordance with global ISO 9001 quality standards. Taking over two days to complete, this audit is performed at the production site itself. You’ll receive more insight into the background of your supplier’s business and gain a clear window into their practices, procedures and internal standards. Not only does this type of audit protect your business, but it’s also a way to establish your sourcing relationship with your supplier over the long term.

Using overseas suppliers can be very beneficial to a business as long as it’s done with oversight on the ground. Work with a qualified quality audit services in the Philippines provider to ensure you know what you are going to get before you place your order.