Library
Resources for industrial procurement from China
Guides, checklists and field notes for procurement teams that actually place orders in China and accept delivery on the other side. Use them to qualify suppliers, plan factory checks, verify documentation and control shipment release before equipment leaves the factory.
Working tools
Working tools buyers can pick up and apply to a real supplier file. Ungated and ready to apply to a real supplier file. Printable capability materials — capability statement, FAT methodology and project intake template — are on the downloads page.
Working tool
Prepare a BOQ / specification
Start here. The nine field groups a BOQ or spec needs so supplier offers stay comparable and the order is controllable — and what to send for an initial review.
Open the toolWorking tool
Supplier due-diligence checklist
Screen the supplier before award. Legal identity, manufacturer status, certifications, references, documentation gaps and quotation red flags.
Open the toolWorking tool
Supplier technical file checklist
Check the supplier file before import. Datasheets, certificates, test reports, drawings, packing list, inspection evidence and shipment-document consistency.
Open the toolWorking tool
Supplier comparison matrix
Compare competing supplier offers on a single basis. Thirteen categories — scope, exclusions, standards, FAT, documentation, warranty, schedule and commercial terms.
Open the toolWorking tool
Factory acceptance test checklist
Use during FAT. Twelve sections — supplier readiness, document pack, test plan, non-conformities, corrective actions and the release decision.
Open the toolWorking tool
Pre-shipment inspection checklist
Use before shipment release. Inspection scope, test records, serial-number matching, packaging, non-conformities and written release authorisation.
Open the toolThe procurement-control sequence
From the qualification work before award, through the factory execution stage, to engagement evidence that shows how the same control points play out on a real file.
For EPC teams
EPC procurement support in China
Where Sinospect fits across an EPC equipment package — qualification, technical review, FAT/PSI, documentation and shipment readiness — without replacing the EPC's engineers.
OpenHow we work
Execution partner vs sourcing agent
What changes for the buyer between a sourcing agent who stops at the quote and a China-side execution partner who controls the order through handover.
OpenChoosing a control
Pre-shipment inspection or an accountable supply model?
A decision matrix between a terminal inspection gate and a supply model with engineering authority, staged leverage and contractual remedies — including the coverage arithmetic and the orders where a single inspection is the right answer.
OpenPerspective
The controlled order package
A Chinese factory builds the last document that reached the floor — not the deal you agreed. Why one bilingual, version-controlled order package is the fix.
OpenRegional guide
China sourcing for African projects
Requirements vary by country and trade lane. This regional guide covers long sea routes, destination documents, evidence-based payment release and continuity using examples from selected African markets.
OpenMaterials
Importing construction materials from China
Sandwich panels, aluminium profiles, technical flooring, cleanroom doors — what to specify, how to verify compliance, inspect before shipment and protect the payment.
OpenMaterials
Sourcing cleanroom and facility systems from China
Sandwich-panel cores and EN 13501-1 fire classes, cleanroom doors, coving and the HVAC envelope — how to specify, verify CE and ISO 14644 documentation against the exact product, and release the final balance only after QC.
OpenPayment & terms
Payment terms for China sourcing
Who you pay, when the factory is paid, and how terms are set. You pay one accountable supplier; the factory's final balance is released only after Sinospect's QC passes.
OpenPayment & terms
Protecting a deposit on custom equipment
No deposit on custom equipment is risk-free. How to protect it in layers: supplier diligence, staged payments against independently verified milestones, and the right bank instrument.
OpenBefore award
China supplier qualification
How to verify legal status, production capability, certifications and references before committing to a Chinese industrial equipment supplier.
OpenBefore award
Factory visit checklist & visit vs audit
A field checklist for a qualification visit — floor, documents, management — and how a visit differs from an audit, a FAT and a pre-shipment inspection.
OpenFactory execution
Factory acceptance testing (FAT)
What FAT covers, the four phases of factory inspection, what it delivers in writing, and when to plan it in the project timeline.
OpenAcross the project
Document control method
Per-stage method that turns supplier paperwork into a controlled record — from qualification through FAT, shipment release and final handover.
OpenClearing the destination
Certificate of conformity (COC)
What a COC is, which party can issue one and which cannot, why it usually rests on a pre-shipment inspection, and why the application has to be lodged before the goods leave China.
OpenAcross the project
Technical clarification log template
Tracker that separates supplier sales replies, engineering clarifications and acceptance criteria — each item kept open until evidence closes it.
OpenFactory execution
FAT/PSI defect patterns (2023–2025)
An anonymised internal sample of 96 China-origin inspections — which defect and hold categories were most common before release, by equipment family and stage caught.
OpenReference
Procurement and inspection glossary
One-line definitions of the terms used across this library — FAT, SAT, SIT, PSI, DUPRO, ITP, AQL/ISO 2859-1, supplier qualification, manufacturer vs trading company, USCC/GSXT/SAMR, EU-GMP.
OpenEvidence
Selected field notes
Anonymized examples across post-installation support, installation acceptance and pre-shipment corrective action.
OpenDeeper guides
Focused guides that go deeper on the specific questions that come up during supplier qualification and factory acceptance.
How do you verify a Chinese industrial equipment supplier?
Step-by-step process: legal entity, registry lookup, business scope, document authentication, factory visit.
Read the guideWhat documents should a buyer request from a Chinese manufacturer?
Enumerative list — business licence, ISO certs, product certifications, audit reports, references — and what each one proves.
Read the guideHow can you tell if a Chinese supplier is a manufacturer or trading company?
The single most reliable diagnostic: business scope on the licence. Plus address, capital, and technical questioning.
Read the guideWhat is a certificate of conformity (COC), and who issues it?
Why some destinations require one before customs clearance, why an accredited body — never the factory or its agent — issues it, and how the pre-shipment inspection produces the evidence the application rests on.
Read the guideHow do you consolidate shipments from multiple Chinese suppliers?
The consolidation-warehouse workflow: supplier delivery packs, verification at arrival, loading survey, one export declaration and document set — and the failure modes that erase the savings.
Read the guideWhat are the warning signs in a Chinese supplier quotation?
Pricing patterns, payment terms, specification language, missing certifications, and what the quote does not say.
Read the guideHow should EPC teams compare Chinese supplier offers?
Total cost of ownership, specification normalisation, risk-adjusted scoring, and decision documentation.
Read the guideWhat is a factory acceptance test for industrial equipment?
What FAT is, what it proves before equipment ships, who attends, and how it fits the procurement timeline.
Read the guideWhat is the difference between a factory acceptance test and a site acceptance test?
What each test verifies, what each signature triggers, and why passing FAT is no guarantee of passing SAT.
Read the guideWhen does partial discharge testing belong in a factory acceptance test?
What PD measurement reveals that a pass/fail withstand test does not, which high-voltage equipment it applies to, and what a credible witnessed result records.
Read the guideI can't travel to China for the machine test — can an independent engineer attend for me?
What delegated witnessing has to mean to be worth anything: who controls the agenda, how a structured remote witness differs from a supplier-led video call, and what the evidence package must contain.
Read the guideHow does AQL sampling actually work in a pre-shipment inspection?
What “AQL 2.5” commits you to: lot size to accept/reject numbers under ISO 2859-1, who sets the defect-class AQLs, and where sampling breaks down for industrial equipment.
Read the guideWhat should a China supplier visit report record?
The 11-section template — identity verified on site, the floor walk, witnessed testing, red flags — and how findings map to proceed, proceed with conditions or disqualify.
Read the guideContact
Have a live procurement file to review? Send the equipment list, quotation, inspection report, certificate package or shipment dossier — Sinospect responds with an initial view on supplier route, documentation gaps and execution risks.