Company
Quality & Production
A bulk order that does not match the sample; a colour that drifts between batches; a logo that sits differently from one item to another; packing that is wrong when the cartons open. Each one has a point in our process meant to catch it.
This page is the working order of a job: what is confirmed before production starts, what is checked afterwards, what happens when a check finds a fault, and where the goods come from.
Checked before packing
- Artwork first Logo layout, size and the process it will be made by, agreed before production.
- A sample where it matters A physical sample where the risk calls for one; the charge and the freight depend on the product and the customisation.
- Colour on Pantone Where colour is critical, the Pantone reference is confirmed before bulk production.
- One collected shipment Goods gathered at one point, then checked, counted and packed before dispatch.
Before bulk production
Four things are settled before the goods are made.
Each one leaves you something you can actually look at and approve, which is what makes the checks later on possible.
-
Step 01
Artwork and the process it is made by
The logo is laid out at its real size and prepared for the method it will actually be made by — print, embroidery or PVC — with the packaging layout. What you approve is a layout, not a finished product.
-
Step 02
A sample, where the risk calls for one
A new product or supplier, a strict Pantone match, an unusual material or structure, a complex logo, custom packaging or a high-value order point to a physical sample; a mature product or a simple logo can be handled with an electronic proof. The sample charge and the freight depend on the product and on whether it is customised.
-
Step 03
Colour fixed on a reference
Where colour requirements are strict, the Pantone number is the main confirmation basis, and the colour is confirmed before bulk production runs.
-
Step 04
The sign-off before production starts
Production begins from a formal order confirmation, not a verbal OK: specification, material, size, quantity, colour, artwork, process, packaging, price, freight terms, lead time and payment terms.
That confirmation is also the standard the goods are later checked against.
From production to the container
The goods come together in one place before they leave.
Where several items are on one order, this is the part that keeps them one shipment instead of five.
-
Made here, or placed with a supplier
Own-production items run in our factory; the rest are placed by purchasing.
-
Collected at one point
Finished goods go to one collection point, not straight out from each supplier.
-
Final check
QC runs there, against the standard confirmed at the sign-off, and you are updated at each of these points.
-
Quantity check
Counted against the confirmed quantity before anything is packed.
-
Packing confirmation
Cartons, inner packing and labels are confirmed before the boxes close.
-
One dispatch
One delivery leaves once everything has arrived.
A supplier shipping straight to you is a special case, not the route. Collecting first is also how the mismatch from several factories producing separately is reduced: uneven quality, Pantone drift, logos that do not sit the same way, packing that does not match. Where a consignment has to be split, the batch dates, quantities, extra freight and your own event date are confirmed first. The next stage has its own page: Quality Control & Shipping Coordination.
When something is wrong
The default is to stop, not to ship.
A check that finds a problem is only worth anything if the goods are still in our hands when it does.
The shipment is held first
When goods clearly do not match the standard you confirmed, the default is to stop the shipment rather than send it and explain afterwards. The problem is confirmed first, with the pieces and the records in hand.
Rework before a difficult phone call
Whether the goods can be reworked is the next question; if they can, that is what happens. If they cannot, you hear it from us with the facts and the options, and a serious problem goes to our own management. The goods move only after you confirm.
Dispatch is not the end of the project. The order runs on through the transit, your receipt of the goods, your confirmation of quantity, quality and packing, and after-sales, and it counts as finished when you have the goods and nothing major is outstanding. A complaint is worked the same way as a defect found here: the evidence is gathered — photographs, video, quantity records, sample and QC records — the source of the problem is established, and then a solution is put to you.
Where an item comes from
Two routes into your order, one standard it is checked against.
Which route supplies an item changes who answers for the making, not what is expected of the result.
Made in our own production
On the items our own production covers, cost, process, lead time, production and quality sit with the factory, so the process limits are known first-hand.
Placed with a supplier
Everything else is placed by purchasing, which matches a product to a supplier and confirms cost, minimum quantity, lead time, samples and supplier risk before the item is quoted. Design prepares the artwork for the method that supplier will run: layout, size, visuals, Pantone confirmation, print or embroidery files, packaging layout.
More than one source
- Core products are kept with at least two mature suppliers, and key products preferably with two or three: a main source and a back-up.
- A second source covers peak-season capacity, a price move, a rush order and a quality fluctuation.
- A new supplier is not used for an important order on price alone: capability, samples, quality, minimum quantity, lead time and response are checked first.
What is not on this page
We would rather leave a field empty than fill it with a guess.
A buyer can work with a gap they know about. They cannot work with a figure that quietly turns out to be invented.
- No certification marks and no third-party audit reports: nothing of that kind has been supplied, and a badge we cannot back with a document is worth less than none.
- No defect rate, inspection level or AQL figure, because no measured figure exists here to publish.
- No lead time in days: a rush request is answered by checking whether production, the lead time and the transport can actually work, and if they cannot we say so.
- No factory floor area, output or capacity figure, and no production-site staff total, because the material carries none.
- No specification field is filled in to look complete: where a product detail is unverified the field stays empty rather than carrying a guess.
What is missing here changes by product, so the answer is per product: tell us what you are buying and what your compliance team needs with it, and we will say what exists for that item rather than offer a general claim. Packing and kitting has a page of its own: Custom Packaging & Kitting.
Where to look next
The rest of this section.
Three pages for the detail around this one, and the contact page if you would rather ask directly.
- About Us The company, the range and how one order is held together.
- Company Who the company is, where it is based and how the work is organised.
- Our Approach How a brief becomes a finished order, and how the risks are handled while it runs.
- Contact The published addresses for a question, a sample or a project.
Tell us the standard, and we will tell you where it gets checked.
Send the products, the quantities and the date you need them by, with your logo file if you have one. We will come back with the specification, and with the artwork and sample steps the order would take.