A Graph Showing Why You Should Do Quality Control

If you’re thinking of skipping quality control when importing from China – including importing from China to UK, then you must read this!

Take a look at the graph below. It shows the results of quality control inspections throughout various Chinese provinces.

It shows whether the goods produced were WITHIN or BEYOND acceptable quality limits.

Red = Beyond Acceptable Limits.
Blue = Within Acceptable Limits.

You will notice some regions score much better than others. (See also how understanding China’s manufacturing geography leads to better sourcing results)

Acceptable quality limits refers to the level of defects allowed in production.

The standard terms to be within acceptable limits are:-

0% critical defects (totally unacceptable: a user might get harmed, or regulations are not respected),

< 2.5% major defects (these products would usually not be considered acceptable by the end user) and < 4.0% minor defects (there is some departure from specifications, but most users would not mind it).

Provinces like Zhejiang and Guangdong in eastern and southern China are within acceptable limits far more often than provinces in northern and western China.

The chinese factories and workforces in these regions are more experienced and skilled. Easy Imex tends to work with factories in these two provinces when importing to Australia.

However, in the WORST region of China 81% of quality control inspections are BEYOND acceptable limits!

Consider this: 81% of the product produced by factories in Shanxi province (near the famous terracotta warriors) is not up to acceptable quality standards.

If you were buying product from this province would you think twice about doing a quality control inspection? I’m sure you would.

Now, here’s something more important to consider. Even in the BEST region of China in terms of product quality, 35% of quality control inspections are BEYOND acceptable limits.

That’s a 1 in 3 chance of getting product NOT up to your standards. This should tell you the importance of doing some form of quality control before you export goods from China. Unless you enjoy taking on great amounts of risk!

So before you start importing, ask yourself, where am I buying from? And should I be doing some form of quality control?