China Quality Focus and all its employees perform inspections and audits according to international quality standards and international norms & regulations.
Of course, beside our expertise, we also use our experience, our common sense and our western logic in order to secure your business and to protect your interests.
Inspection standards
China Quality Focus uses the proven method of Acceptable Quality Level (or Acceptable Quality Limit) to conduct product inspection. The standard definition of Acceptable Quality Level (AQL) is "the maximum defective percent (or the maximum number of defects per hundred units) that, for purpose of sampling inspection, can be considered satisfactory as a process average".
Basically, we will randomly select a sampling size quantity (based on the AQL tables) to be inspected, and after inspection, according to the number of defects found (critical, major, minor defects), we will advice you to accept or to reject your shipment.
In case of quality problems we will of course help you to determine the best actions and solutions to put in place, this is part of our services.
How to use the AQL Tables?
Determine the sampling size according to your ordered quantity and your level of severity (I, II or III). The standard level, the one used by default and by 98% of the people is the level II for a standard inspection.
Let's take a hypothetical inspection of a 30 000 pieces lot. The Table A, under the column level II, gives us the letter M, which corresponds in the table B to a sampling size of 315 pieces to inspect.
The usual AQL used by people is generally: 0 / 2.5 / 4 for Critical / Major / Minor defects. For the letter M, 315 pieces to inspect, the column 2.5 for defects gives us two numbers: 14 & 15.
Thus Among a sampling size of 315 pieces inspected, the maximum number of major defects authorized is 14. If we find 15 major defects, you should reject your shipment and / or perform defect sorting, ask for a re-work of the production or ask for a replacement of your production. Then you should get your shipment re-inspected a second time.
In the contrary, for these 315 pieces inspected, if we find less than 15 defective items, this means that there are 95% chances to have less than 5% (15/315) defects in the whole inspected lot.
Factory Audit standards:
We will control and audit your suppliers according to International Quality Standards.
For a Factory Evaluation and a Factory Audit: we will inspect your supplier according to the ISO 9000 standard.
We will review the organization, the capacity of production, the equipment, the R&D, the quality process and management and the working conditions.
The aim of such evaluations / audits is to answer the following question:
Is this supplier or factory really capable of manufacturing my order, in terms of quality and delays?
Social Accountability International Standards:
This Audit is especially designed for evaluating the social working conditions of your supplier / factory according to the norm SA 8000.
SA8000 is based on international workplace norms in the ILO conventions and the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on Rights of the Child. The official standard is at www.sa-intl.org and here is a summary:
- Child Labor - no workers under the age of 15; minimum lowered to 14 for countries operating under the ILO Convention 138 developing-country exception; remediation of any child found to be working.
- Forced Labor - no forced labor, including prison or debt bondage labor; no lodging of deposits or identity papers by employers or outside recruiters.
- Health and Safety - provide a safe and healthy work environment; take steps to prevent injuries; regular health and safety worker training; system to detect threats to health and safety; access to bathrooms and potable water.
- Freedom of Association and Right to Collective Bargaining - respect the right to form and join trade unions and bargain collectively; where law prohibits these freedoms, facilitate parallel means of association and bargaining.
- Discrimination - no discrimination based on race, caste, origin, religion, disability, gender, sexual orientation, union or political affiliation, or age; no sexual harassment.
- Discipline - no corporal punishment, mental or physical coercion or verbal abuse.
- Working Hours - comply with the applicable law but, in any event, no more than 48 hours per week with at least one day off for every seven day period; voluntary overtime paid at a premium rate and not to exceed 12 hours per week on a regular basis; overtime may be mandatory if part of a collective bargaining agreement.
- Compensation - wages paid for a standard work week must meet the legal and industry standards and be sufficient to meet the basic need of workers and their families; no disciplinary deductions.
- Management Systems - facilities seeking to gain and maintain certification must go beyond simple compliance to integrate the standard into their management systems and practices.