Audit an engineering factory by following a part through the plant, from drawing to dispatch, and asking for evidence at each step. A good audit checks what the factory does, not what it says it does.
Our general guide to what a factory audit should contain covers legal, financial and social checks. This article focuses on the engineering side.
Before you visit
Send a short questionnaire covering company details, machine list, certificates, main customers and outsourced processes. Ask for photos of the shop floor and the measuring room. Use the answers to plan what you will check on the day.
Bring your own drawing. Asking the factory how it would make your part is the most useful conversation of the visit.
Plan for a full day for a medium-sized plant. A short tour of the showroom and the assembly bay is not an audit. If critical work is done by subcontractors, add time to visit at least the most important one, such as the foundry or heat treatment shop.
What to check on the day
- Drawing control: how drawings are received, how revisions are tracked, and how old versions are removed from the floor.
- Material receipt: whether incoming steel, bar or castings come with mill certificates, and whether they are checked and labelled.
- Traceability: whether a finished part can be traced back to its material heat number and production batch.
- Machining: whether setups are approved with a first-piece check before a batch runs.
- In-process inspection: whether operators measure parts at set intervals and record the results.
- Outside processes: who does heat treatment, plating and painting, and how results are checked on return.
- Measuring equipment: whether gauges are calibrated, labelled and suitable for the tolerances.
- Non-conforming parts: how rejects are marked, kept apart and investigated.
- Final inspection and packing: what is checked before dispatch and how parts are protected.
Look for evidence
For each point, ask to see a record. Pick a part that was shipped last month and ask for its material certificate, inspection report and dispatch record. If the factory can produce them quickly, its system works. If it takes an hour and the papers look new, it probably does not.
Talk to operators, not only managers. Ask an operator how often they check a dimension and what they do if it is out of tolerance. Their answer tells you more than the quality manual.
Score and report
Use a simple scoring sheet so you can compare factories. Note strengths, gaps and red flags, with photos. Agree any corrective actions in writing before the first order, and check them on a follow-up visit or before shipment.
For more detail on equipment, see checking machining capability.
Next step
We audit engineering factories in Gujarat and give you a written report with photos and scores. Book a free sourcing review.