Everything You Need to Know About a Man-Day in Product QC Inspection

Some instances have made us realize that many buyers who may not have ever spent a little time in Chinese factories have developed certain perceptions that are completely false.

For example, “various steps in the metal factories are carefully conducted in the metal factories from surface treatments to casting & forging and even the packing as well as assembly” “in the case of modern slavery, it is also crucial to work for 12 hours in a single day for Chinese production operators” and so on. 

A good quality inspector has to spend 8-10 working hours at a factory is another popular misconception. The hollowness of these beliefs is what we aim to expose in this article.  

No Chinese company has a network of inspectors close to its location. Sometimes, they are 2 hours away but not less than 30 minutes. So, the whole trip of commutation is sometimes 4 hours. 

Many trips are made shorter with a high-speed rail network. Although, it does not connect all the cities. Mass of people in China chooses intercity buses. They are quite popular and common. The heavy traffic and crowds to get to the high-speed rail stations ultimately lead to a longer journey than usual trips. No one can neglect this fact as you cannot parachute to the factory grounds. 

If someone’s factory is a bit away from the main city, just say 3 hours, then it might take an entire day. According to us, 50% of the day is spent on traveling.

Showing up and inspecting does not end the inspector’s task!

The inspector studies the documents of the clients before going on inspection services in China when it is a one-shot work. This is not mandatory for high volume and regular clients as the staff are given special training. Although this is not feasible for all the clients.

He does not directly open the cartons and walks into the factory whenever he shows up. Moreover, he does not start inspecting in silence without any interruption. These are the required introductory steps for every professional in every country.

To conduct processes like counting and sampling takes a lot of time if you need an accurate outcome. If something goes wrong during the process. The report will be tagged as not trustworthy.

The task of putting these findings together in a specific format takes a lot of time. The inspector might not be allowed to work in good conditions by sales reps of qualified technicians. The discussion’s tone is aggressive in some cases which makes it quite impossible to collect one’s thoughts. This is to be done outside the factory with a complete focus for about an hour.

It is impossible to work without interruption!

Sometimes the foreign buyer wonders what is the issue? They think that they can order food and go to the conference room when they are at the factory.

This cannot be possible every time. It is because the factory representatives might desire to take a break and take their guests outside for food.

You cannot force the factory personnel to monitor a QC guy when they have a 90-minute break as this is a minimum break in China.  This much rest is what they expect, and this is quite justified! Moreover, when the facility is officially closed, they will not allow the inspector to work alone. 

To spend more than 4 hours a day on visual inspection is tiring!

The burden can cause some obvious repercussions. You cannot expect someone to work continuously and do a great job. When you work without breaks for a few days then your eyes will automatically get closed at 4 pm. 

This means that we can conclude here that a sensible target is to deliver five productive hours in a day. In case the factory is difficult to reach then it might get reduced to 3-4 hours. The most important thing here is to keep in consideration this fact at the time of quotation. Otherwise, it will be a work of constant rush. It will become much more expensive and result in some serious issues that will go neglected. 

When you get an efficient partner for quality control in China then they will know exactly what they have to look for. We need to understand that spending more hours does not mean more productivity.  What holds more importance is the use of available time smartly and efficiently. Moreover, understanding the goals hold utmost importance.