Third party inspections in Qarma
Within Qarma, you can monitor the production of your products, even if your office and supplier are located far apart. In case you have a third-party inspector, it’s still possible to do in Qarma. We seamlessly integrate with your ERP system or receives your orders, automatically creating planned inspections for the third-party to carry out. You can add unlimited users to the system, allowing them to perform inspections at the factory. Rest assured, third-party users cannot access any sensitive information, as we ensure data privacy through user roles and groups to prevent the sharing of sensitive information. We do this by applying the user role specifically to only see the suppliers they perform inspections for.
We are a digital platform that streamlines the standardization and documentation of findings within reports. By training both your third-party users and local offices, we ensure that everyone is aligned in conducting inspections within Qarma. Our offices in China and Vietnam provide training in the suppliers' native languages to eliminate any language barriers. Additionally, most of Qarma automatically translates into the third-party’s preferred language, further enhancing ease of use.
Once an inspector completes an inspection, Qarma automatically generates a report, including photos, dimensions, barcodes, and other relevant data, based on the checklists you choose. There is no waiting time for a third-party company to upload findings and pictures in an Excel file or any other format before acting. We provide real-time data and instant notifications as reports are finalized. We provide best practices for each inspection type based on our experience with similar inspections. Any type of inspection is supported, and multiple inspections of a product are possible—whether it's a sample inspection, pre-production, during production, or final inspection before shipment from the factory. By defining your checklist, you set the specific checkpoints for the inspector to assess the product.
Approval and notifications
When setting up an inspection, we can automatically assign the relevant individuals as watchers / approvers. They will receive immediate notifications once the inspection is complete through email notifications. If the factory’s network connection is stable, you also have the option to review the inspection in real time, allowing you to address pending findings before the inspection is finalized. This enables swift actions, such as approving the inspection or suggesting improvements, either through our corrective action feature or by scheduling a re-inspection for the third-party user to conduct.
Statistics
This section outlines how the data captured in Qarma supports fact-based decision-making based on supplier inspections. The collected data can be leveraged for internal meetings or direct discussions with suppliers. Depending on the inspection results, including the inspector’s conclusion, the approver’s decision, or specific defects. You can engage with relevant internal team members or suppliers to improve product quality. We provide a clear overview with the ability to dive deeper into inspector conclusions, defects, and other key details. Additionally, the data captured inside Qarma is provided through a Power BI file that offers you a thorough overview of inspection performance and more.
The following examples of the Qarma Dashboard and Power BI file demonstrates how you can track defect trends per supplier. If you're interested in exploring what our statistics can offer, feel free to contact us for a free demo, or reach out to our support at support@qarmainspect.com or reach out to your Qarma representative.
Qarma Dashboard
If you want an overall trend on supplier performance and the defects they report, we provide a simple overview with the option to dive deeper into the defects identified during inspections.
When you access the dashboard page on the Qarma website, you’ll first see key information, including a stacked bar chart displaying the number of inspections and their types. Further down the page, you'll find insights in conclusions based on inspection types. To filter by supplier, click on "Show filters" as highlighted below:
Here, you will find filters such as supplier, inspector, conclusion, and inspection type if needed. Additionally, we offer the option to filter by custom fields defined in the data integration we set up with you, such as country, incoterm etc.
What the filter does, is to filter only on the given supplier you entered.
It will also present information related to conclusion of inspections further down the page.
If you want to have a deep down in the defects caught in the reports for the supplier, click on the defects tab in the top left corner shown below:
What the view then offers is the defect types defined in your account. For more information related to defect types, visit this link.
Additionally, the view shows the number of detected defects, categorized as minor, major, or critical. To review reports for a specific defect, click on "Browse" as shown below.
You will now have the option to view defect images from the various reports, with the ability to select "View defect in report”.
This view now allows you to take action on defects, whether by using our corrective action feature, requesting a re-inspection, making the specific checkpoint inside the checklist mandatory, or adding a more detailed description to the checkpoint for future inspections.
Qarma Power BI
When you enter a partnership with Qarma, we provide a free standard version of Power BI that highlights, among other things, the suppliers in the system, where we store information such as:
1. Rejection rate
- Re-inspection rate
- Defect rate
- Measurement rate
2. Number of Inspections (over time)
3. Location of Inspections (saved when an inspector takes a photo)
4. Number of Defects and Category (distribution of minor, major and critical)
5. Pareto of Defects
The statistics provided by the supplier card allows you to monitor inspection locations, which can be particularly useful when working with traders to gain insight into where your products are produced. Additionally, the rejection rate offers the same overview as the Qarma dashboard, but with the added ability to dive deeper into defect types using our Pareto analysis of defects. This enables you to take targeted action on specific defect categories, such as color deviations and more.
Furthermore, it is also possible to obtain the same overview for individual SKUs if needed.
This enables you to not only focus on the supplier manufacturing your goods but also gain an overview of any recurring defect trends for any given product. If the product is recurring, you can reach out to the supplier responsible for the SKU and propose improvements based on a Pareto analysis of defects.
Not only does our Power BI template offer statistics related to defects based on supplier or products, but it also provides overview regarding inspectors and a general overview in terms of inspections
If you’re interested in a demo of how Qarma can enhance your supplier inspection process, feel free to reach out for a free demo. If you’re already a customer and is yet to have the function of supplier performing the inspections for you, reach out to support@qarmainspect.com or your Qarma representative.