Why is the checklist not published?

Because a checklist handed out free is a checklist handed to the other side, and it stops working the moment it is in the wrong hands. It is also not mine to give away - it is a personal working asset, built over time from being inside plants and then from buying from them. What I can do is use it, and to use it with you on a specific factory.

What does buying your time actually mean?

You bring a question about a specific factory or a specific supplier - whether the plant is running what it says, how the quality control is really set up, what a price is actually made of - and I answer it from that background. It is billed as time rather than as a document, because the answer is the thing and the checklist is only how I get there.

Is this a service you sell alongside the trading?

Yes. It is separate from any order, it does not depend on buying from me, and it is not a condition of anything. If you want the trading relationship, ask for a quote and I will quote the goods. If you want the judgement on a factory, ask for the time and I will tell you what I can and cannot tell from outside it.

The Factory Inspection Checklist Is Not on This Page

I am not going to publish the factory inspection checklist on this site. It is my own working asset, I built it and I use it, and it does not belong in public. That is not a piece of marketing strategy - it is simply that a checklist given away stops being worth anything, including to the person who gave it away. What I can do is use it, and to use it with you on a specific factory, as time you can buy.

Why a checklist stops working the moment it is given away

A checklist is a tool for verifying a supplier, and the interesting thing about it is that it works in one direction only. Handed to a buyer, it becomes a document they will run through before they buy - fine, and also fine for the supplier to run through in reverse, because everything on a checklist is something a competent supplier knows to display. A published checklist trains the people it was supposed to catch.

There is a second reason, and it is the one that matters to me. The value of knowing a factory is not in the items on the list. It is in the judgement of which of them mean something for this plant, this product, this order - and that is exactly the part that does not fit on a page. A list cannot carry it, and a list that pretends to is worse than no list, because it gives the reader a false sense that the hard part has been done for them.

What the checklist actually is

It is mine, built over years from two positions: inside plants, where I watched how production was really run and what a visitor is shown versus what happens on an ordinary Tuesday, and then on the buying side, where I found out which of those things actually predict a shipment that arrives as promised. I keep it because it is faster and more accurate than starting from scratch each time.

It is also not a certification, and I want to be exact about that. There is no version of inspecting a factory from outside that tells you the batch will be right. The strongest thing an inspection can do is raise or lower your confidence, and the most useful outcome of one I have done is a list of questions I could not answer - which is often worth more than a clean report, because it tells you what to watch.

What you can buy

My time, on a specific question about a specific factory. Bring me a supplier and a worry - is the plant running what it says, how is the quality control really set up, what is this price actually made of, is this a trading company pretending to be a factory - and I will answer it from that background, including the parts I cannot settle from outside.

It is billed as time rather than as a document, because the answer is the deliverable and the checklist is only how I get there. It is short: a conversation with somebody who has been inside plants, about one factory, ending in a view you can act on. A multi-week audit and a report you hand to a bank are different products.

One factory, one report, usually one day. Payment comes first and the report follows it. I write to a report structure I already hold, and I write it to cover what you asked about - and where what I normally check is wider than your question, the report covers that too. You are not buying a thinner document than the one I would have sent you anyway, and a report is my judgement rather than a certificate: where something could not be settled from outside the plant, the report says so.

It is also completely separate from buying anything from me. It is not a condition of an order, it does not depend on there being an order, and if you want the trading relationship rather than the judgement, ask for a quote and I will quote the goods like anyone else. I would rather earn a sale than sell the idea that I can be bought.

What I am not

I am not an expert on how to make a customer feel safe. I am a person who works in a service business, and the honest position is that I do not have a method for convincing anyone of anything. What I do have is a background, a way of reading a factory, and a set of questions I have learned to ask.

If you want to know what any of that is worth, the fastest way to find out is to trade with me and see how it goes. If you want the judgement on a factory you are considering and would rather not place an order first, buy the time - it is the same answer, and it is the honest one to sell you because it does not depend on you buying anything from me.