Factory Audits
Before you send a deposit to a factory you found online, you need to know who you are really dealing with. An audit answers that question.
A factory audit is an on-site evaluation of a potential manufacturing partner. It covers the facility, equipment, quality systems, management, workforce, and certifications. The goal is to answer one question: can this factory make your product at the quality you need, on time, and without creating problems you cannot afford to solve?
Audits are not optional for serious hardware brands. A beautiful website, a responsive salesperson, and a slick WeChat gallery do not tell you whether the factory actually owns its tooling floor or sub-contracts everything to a shop you will never see. The only way to know is to send someone competent to walk the floor.
A proper factory audit covers four layers. First, the physical facility: Is the factory floor clean, organized, and well-lit? Are machines maintained and calibrated? Are raw materials stored properly, or are injection molding pellets sitting open on a dirty floor absorbing moisture?
Second, quality management systems: Does the factory have a dedicated QC department? Do they use statistical process control? Is there incoming inspection on raw materials, in-process inspection on the line, and final inspection before shipping? Ask to see recent inspection reports — not the ones they prepared for your visit, but the ones from last week for another customer. A factory with nothing to hide will show you.
Third, production capability and capacity: Walk the floor during working hours. Are machines running or idle? How many lines are dedicated to your product category? Ask what other products they are currently running — if your smart pet feeder is their first electronic device, that is a problem.
Fourth, management and workforce: How long has the factory been in business? What is the turnover rate on the line? Does the engineering team speak enough English to understand your spec sheets, or will critical details get lost in translation? Meet the person who will actually oversee your project — not the sales manager who does the airport pickup.
Red flags you should never ignore
No QC department
If quality is "everyone's responsibility" but nobody's job title, walk away. A factory without a QC manager and inspection station is gambling with your product.
Evasive about sub-suppliers
You ask where their PCBs are assembled and they change the subject. Many small-to-medium factories sub-contract heavily. That is not inherently bad, but you need to know who the sub-suppliers are and audit them too.
Dirty or dark production floor
Electronics assembly requires ESD protection — wrist straps, grounded mats, humidity control. If the floor is dirty and workers are not wearing ESD protection, you will get boards killed by static discharge.
Only wants to communicate through the salesperson
During the audit, they steer you away from the engineering team and the floor. They want to control what you see and hear. A good factory will let you talk directly to the people who will make your product.
No documented processes
You ask how they handle a non-conforming batch. They describe it verbally but cannot produce a written procedure. Without documented processes, consistency is impossible at scale.
What founders should remember
Audit before deposit, always
No exceptions. A $500–$1,500 audit fee is the cheapest insurance you will ever buy. Losing a $15,000 deposit to a factory that cannot deliver is far more expensive.
Send someone who knows manufacturing
If you cannot go yourself, hire a third-party auditor with experience in your product category. A generalist auditor who has never seen an injection molding line will miss critical signals.
Document everything with photos
Take pictures of the floor, machines, QC stations, calibration stickers, and material storage. These become your baseline for future visits and your evidence if things deteriorate.