The Factory Audit Checklist: 47 Things to Verify Before Placing an Order

Factory audits intimidate most buyers because they don’t know what to look for. This checklist covers 47 specific things to verify — with explanations of why each matters.

Section 1: Legal & Business (8 items)

1. Business license validity — Does the license cover manufacturing (制造业) or just trading?
2. License registration scope — Does the claimed product category match what’s on the license?
3. Company age — How long have they been registered? Less than 2 years is a risk flag.
4. Bank account name — Does the bank account name match the company name on the license?
5. Export license — Do they have an export license, or do they use a freight forwarder’s license?
6. ISO 9001 certification — Is it current? Which body issued it? Verify on the certification body’s website.
7. Product certifications — FCC, CE, RoHS — are they actually held, or is the factory using a customer’s certificate?
8. Trade assurance or equivalent — Do they participate in any third-party verification scheme?

Section 2: Facility (10 items)

9. Physical size vs. claimed capacity — A 200m² factory claiming 50,000 units/month output is lying.
10. Production line count — How many SMT lines? Manual assembly lines? Wave solder?
11. Worker count — Ask for payroll records. 20 workers making 10,000 units/month is physically possible or not?
12. Material storage — Is ESD-sensitive material stored properly? Is the storage area organized?
13. Work-in-progress storage — Is WIP labeled and tracked?
14. Finished goods storage — Is it separate from raw materials? Is it clean?
15. Power supply — Is there backup power? Electronics manufacturing needs stable power.
16. Cleanliness — Is the floor clean? Are tables organized? Dirty factories make dirty products.
17. Lighting — Is inspection lighting adequate? 1000+ lux for electronics assembly.
18. Temperature/humidity control — Required for component storage and SMT paste application.

Section 3: Equipment (9 items)

19. SMT line age — Equipment older than 15 years is a risk; older than 20 years is a red flag.
20. Solder paste printer — Do they have an automatic printer, or are they hand-applying paste?
21. Reflow oven profile capability — Can they program and verify reflow profiles?
22. AOI (Automated Optical Inspection) — Do they have it? Is it in use or turned off?
23. X-ray capability — Required for BGA inspection. Do they have it in-house or outsource?
24. Wave solder — For through-hole components, is the wave solder properly maintained?
25. Hand soldering stations — Are they ESD-safe? Are iron tips replaced regularly?
26. ICT/FCT test fixtures — For your product specifically, do they have or will they build test fixtures?
27. Calibration records — Are test instruments calibrated? When was the last calibration?

Section 4: Quality Systems (11 items)

28. Incoming material inspection process — Do they inspect components when they arrive?
29. Incoming QC records — Can they show you actual records from the past month?
30. In-process QC — Who checks quality during production? How often?
31. Final inspection process — What’s their sampling plan? AQL 2.5 or 4.0?
32. Defect rate records — What’s their reported defect rate? Is it credible?
33. Customer complaint handling — How do they track and respond to customer complaints?
34. Non-conforming material process — What happens to rejected components or products?
35. Engineering change control — How do they handle product changes? Do they notify customers?
36. IPC-A-610 knowledge — Do their QC inspectors know IPC-A-610? What class do they inspect to?
37. Golden sample practice — Do they use golden samples? Can they show you the current one?
38. Traceability — Can they trace a specific unit back to its production date and batch components?

Section 5: Product-Specific (for electronics, 9 items)

39. ESD controls — Are wristbands in use? Are mat ground straps connected?
40. BT/WiFi module source — Where do they source the radio module? Grey market is a risk.
41. Battery source and documentation — UN38.3 test reports for lithium batteries.
42. Firmware flashing process — How is firmware loaded? Is the version controlled?
43. Product testing — What do they test on 100% of units before packing?
44. Waterproofing process — For IPX-rated products, how is sealing verified? Pressure test?
45. Cosmetic inspection criteria — Do they have a written standard, or is it subjective?
46. Packaging verification — Is drop testing done? Carton marking compliance checked?
47. Regulatory marking verification — Is CE/FCC marking correct and complete on production units?

How to use this checklist

Don’t present this as a questionnaire — factories will give you the answers they think you want to hear. Instead, ask open-ended questions and observe. “Show me your incoming inspection process” will tell you more than “Do you do incoming inspection?” (The answer to the second question is always yes.)

Disqualifying findings: items 1–4 (legal irregularities) and items 39–47 (ESD failures, undocumented firmware) should be treated as disqualifying without remediation. Everything else is conditionally remediable.

Need someone to run this audit for you?

Our Factory Audit & Verification service covers this entire checklist — with on-site visits, photo documentation, and a written pass/conditional/fail report delivered within 48 hours.

Frequently asked questions

How long does a factory audit take? A standard audit takes 4–8 hours on-site for an electronics factory. Add 1–2 days for travel if the factory is outside Shenzhen or Dongguan. We deliver the written report within 48 hours of the visit.

Can I do an audit remotely? A partial audit is possible — you can verify business registration, request photos of the facility, and review certifications remotely. But equipment verification, ESD compliance, and quality process observation require physical presence. Remote-only audits miss the items that matter most.

How much does a factory audit cost? Our standalone factory audit service is priced at $300–$800 depending on location and scope. Audit is included at no extra charge in our commission-based sourcing engagements.

What happens if the factory fails the audit? We issue a Pass / Conditional / Fail rating. Conditional means specific remediation steps are required before production begins — we follow up to verify. Fail means we recommend finding an alternative factory; we’ll restart the search at no additional cost if you’re in a commission-based engagement.

Do you audit factories I found myself? Yes. Audit is a standalone service. We can audit any factory in Shenzhen, Dongguan, Yiwu, and most other manufacturing regions in China.