A chemical plant audit checks four things: that the company is legally allowed to make your product, that it can make it consistently, that its lab can prove it, and that it operates safely enough not to be shut down. You need documents, a walk through the plant and time with the people who run it.
Our general guide to what a factory audit should contain sets out the basics. Chemical plants add their own checks.
Legal and licence checks
- The consent to operate from the Gujarat Pollution Control Board, with your product and its quantity listed.
- The factory licence and any approvals from the factories inspectorate for hazardous processes.
- Storage licences for petroleum products or explosives where they apply.
- Product registrations, such as agrochemical manufacturing licences.
- Any recent closure directions or notices from the pollution board, and how they were resolved.
Process and capacity
- Walk from raw material receipt to finished goods store and note each step.
- Check that the reactors, dryers and filters can make your product at your volume.
- Ask whether the equipment is shared with other products, and how cleaning between products is controlled.
- Look at raw material storage, labelling and testing on arrival.
- Check the warehouse for segregation of incompatible materials and first-in, first-out control.
The laboratory
The lab is where many plants fall short. Check that it has the instruments to run every test on your COA, that they are calibrated, and that analysts keep raw data. Ask to see the chromatogram or titration record behind a recent COA. Check that retention samples are kept, labelled and stored properly. See checking a COA is genuine.
Safety and environment
- Check fire protection, emergency showers, gas detection and the condition of hoses and valves.
- Ask for the hazard and operability studies or other process safety reviews for your product.
- Look at the effluent treatment plant and ask where treated water goes.
- Check how hazardous waste is stored and which authorised facility receives it.
- Ask for the accident and near-miss records and what changed after them.
Safety and environment are not only ethical questions. A plant with poor effluent handling can be closed by the board, which stops your supply. Our article on pollution board closures explains the risk.
Records and people
Pick a past batch and trace it from raw materials to dispatch. Read the batch record, the test results and the complaint log. Talk to the production and quality heads, not only sales. A plant that runs well can answer specific questions without hesitation.
After the audit
Write down what you found, with photos and document copies, while it is fresh. Grade each finding as critical, major or minor. Ask the plant for a corrective action plan with dates for anything serious, and check it on the next visit. Repeat the audit at regular intervals, and after any change of site, process or ownership. An audit is a snapshot. Its value grows when you compare one visit with the next and see whether the plant keeps its promises.
Next step
We audit chemical plants across Gujarat and give you a written report with evidence. Book a free sourcing review.