In various countries such as in Vietnam, in Bangladesh, and in India there happens a visit of thousands of inspectors and auditors. And sometimes this happens like the managers and the workers of the factories try to make them fool.
Have a look at the 3 very common ways in which the members of the factory try to make fools of the auditors. Be aware and focus on the below-mentioned steps:
How different factories try to cheat on audits for social compliance (or ‘ethical sourcing’)
The basis of social audits is reliable documents and also personal interviews.
It is the happening of a few years ago when I heard one of the Chinese manufacturers who was telling his staff the following stated message:
We are putting efforts to assemble more new customers. This directly means more business and finally leads to more work and eventually more salaries for you.
But, first of all, we are required to clear the audit test. What basically happens in the audit test, the auditor will come and check the working conditions and will ask some questions regarding your work and the working hours.
Sometimes it happens you skip a day of rest, and you agree with it because you get paid more. That’s what you all want, right?
So, the documents are being prepared by us in order to show what actually the customers want to see.
The auditor might ask such kinds of questions which will be required for the defense of the workers for the company. Only in this way, we may get new customers for our business. Do not forget that in this way, we will get more money and will grow our business.
So, do not forget to say that your working time is just 55 hours a week, and you always remain free on the whole Sunday. They will not have any contrary proof, so you can easily say that, and they will not be able to say ‘it’s not true’.
Many people since years are wondering whether these audits really work or not. According to me, it is just a waste of time and money.
How factories cheat on quality system audits
You know, the basis of Supplier audits are just the documents. It is often asked by the manufacturer what documents will your auditor review. And remember that we should be having some records available on that particular day whether they are original or not.
I remember helping a distinguished manufacturer of the aftermarket auto parts in state name Zhejiang, about five years ago. We are paying our attention more on maintenance, calibration, and dimensional control in order to help them so that they can get excellent remarks on the upcoming audit.
While passing from the hallway, the new graphs were seen there on the board by me. And in that, there could be seen pre-filled fake data regarding their first-pass yield all the way through the following week — until the audit scheduled date.
Bad habits die hard…
But sad to say that most of the ISO 9001 implementations accentuate that problem.
Let’s know the trick of avoiding over-reliance documents.
- There should be a surety of checklist calls for observation of practices in the workshop.
- Do various unannounced audits (this is pretty common in different industries like the food industry).
- Conduct process audits instead.
How factories cheat on product inspections
As I was little sure about the picking of the examples, so, I am going to give a few examples.
See how the factory cheats at every stage of a quality inspection:
- Before the inspection of the products, the modification can be done with them. For example, underwear that is cut in small sizes can be stretched at that time. As well as the modification in the eyewear can also be done if in case they are out of shape.
- The pieces that are damaged or bad are replaced during the final inspection. Those pieces are kept at the bottom or at the back of the pile.
- The test requires special equipment, and sometimes it may happen that there may arise the manipulation of the equipment’s accuracy.
- Some bad products that are put aside during the inspection and before the inspection can be salted.
Wrapping up
Follow a sound procedure in order to avoid this. Few basic points are suggested before. Making use of third party quality inspection services that offers a framework is one further step in the right direction.
