Why resist an audit?

Twice in as many days, I’ve had clients who tried to book Simple Factory Audits (sample report here) with our sister company China Quality Focus, only to have the vendors refuse. They are happy to have the client fly half way around the world for a visit, but no doing for a professional 3rd party auditor to set foot in the building.

Ladies and gents, this is a three-alarm fire bell. You are not dealing with a reputable firm if they won’t stand an independent audit. They are a trading company or a bad factory, plain and simple.

I came out of the automotive industry, which the best crucible for grown-up business I know. I can remember auditors from Mack Trucks, Peterbilt, etc., showing up unannounced to inspect our facility. We even had an ISO audit starting when OSHA showed up for a surprise inspection. I stood two audits in one day on my facility and passed both with flying colors. So don’t give me your *bleeping* sob story.

A Simple Factory Audit is the cheapest insurance policy you can buy. If your supplier won’t allow it, run screaming in the other direction. It is only going to get worse if you stick around.