Most factory audits are theatre. A polite tour of the shop floor, a few obligatory questions, a chai. The real audit happens in five checks — all of which take under three minutes each.
Check 1 — The scrap bin
If the scrap bin is full of small offcuts, the cutting is efficient. If it’s full of large panels, someone is either mis-grading leather or over-ordering — both bad signs for your unit cost.
Check 2 — Stitcher posture
Watch two stitchers for a minute each. If their heads are down and hands relaxed, the pattern is right. If they’re constantly re-positioning the material, either the pattern is off or the machine is out of tune.
Check 3 — The QC table’s reject pile
Ask to see the current shift’s rejects. A healthy factory rejects 2-4% at final QC. A factory with zero rejects isn’t doing QC — it’s doing hope.
Check 4 — The finished-goods store
- Boxes labelled and racked by SKU
- No dust on top boxes (means recent movement, not dead stock)
- A physical count sheet visible at the entrance
Check 5 — The worker canteen
Sounds trivial. It isn’t. Factories that treat workers well have lower attrition, which correlates directly with quality consistency. It’s the single best leading indicator you have.
“You can’t tell if a factory is good in the office. You can tell in about 15 minutes on the shop floor if you know what to look at.”— Ashwin Nair
