Plant visits and live video audits: see your material being processed
Customers can visit our processing base in person or join a live video walk-through. What a visit covers and how to arrange one.
Many of our customers first see our plant on a screen. A live video audit lets a buyer or quality engineer walk the shop floor with us in real time, ask to see any area, and check the equipment that will process their order. Customers who travel to China are welcome to visit in person.
What a visit covers
- Incoming coil storage and the matching of coils to mill certificates.
- Slitting, cutting and stamping lines.
- The quality lab: coordinate and vision measuring machines, burr and thickness checks.
- Finished goods packing and labelling.
Before the visit
Tell us what you want to achieve: a first look at a new supplier, a check of a specific order, or a formal audit against your supplier questionnaire. A first visit usually follows the material from incoming coil to packed product. An order check focuses on one line and its records. For a formal audit, send the questionnaire in advance so that the right people and documents are on hand.
What experienced auditors look at
- Traceability in practice: pick a coil or carton at random and ask us to show its certificate and inspection record.
- Storage conditions: coils off the floor, covered, away from doors and moisture.
- Calibration labels on gauges and measuring machines.
- How non-conforming material is marked and kept apart from good stock.
These checks take a few minutes each and tell you more than a presentation. We are happy for you to choose what to look at during the visit rather than follow a fixed route.
Safety shoes and a high-visibility vest are needed on the shop floor; we provide them for visitors. Photography is welcome in our own areas, but please ask before photographing a customer’s parts or drawings.
Video audits that work
A video audit works best when it is planned like a visit. We use a handheld camera on the shop floor and a second camera or screen share for documents, so that you can see a coil and its certificate side by side. Send your list in advance; if you want to see a particular test, we schedule the call while that order is running. Plan for about an hour, and record the call if your procedures require evidence.
After a visit we send a short note of what was shown and any follow-up points, so that both sides have the same record.
How to arrange it
Send us your preferred dates, the people attending and anything you specifically want to see, for example a running order or a particular test. For video visits we agree the platform and time zone in advance.
