Reference

Glossary of China procurement and inspection terms

Inspection and acceptance

FAT(Factory Acceptance Test): The contract-defined acceptance event at the manufacturer’s premises before shipment, verifying the equipment against the specification, drawings, performance requirements, and documentation package named in the purchase order. The last point where the buyer holds full leverage. Where Sinospect supplies as principal, a passed FAT is what releases factory payment. What is a Factory Acceptance Test.
SAT(Site Acceptance Test): The equivalent acceptance event at the project site after installation, verifying that the equipment performs under real operating conditions, utilities, and plant integration. Passing FAT is no guarantee of passing SAT. FAT vs SAT.
SIT(Site Integration Test): Testing at the project site across equipment and system boundaries, verifying correct interaction between subsystems and with the wider plant or control system. Formally defined, with FAT and SAT, for process-automation systems in IEC/ANSI/ISA 62381.
PSI(Pre-Shipment Inspection): A factory check after the FAT and before packing or loading, focused on what actually ships: quantity, packing, preservation, marking, documentation, and punch-item closure, with no substitution against the inspected unit. Pre-shipment inspection checklist.
DUPRO(During-Production Inspection): An in-process check while manufacturing is under way, on a partly completed lot, so non-conformities are caught before they are built into a finished unit rather than surfacing at the FAT.
ITP(Inspection and Test Plan): The agreed schedule of inspections and tests across the production cycle, naming each test, the standard it follows, the acceptance criteria, the instruments, and who witnesses. Agreed before manufacturing starts; the document a FAT is run against.
Punch list: The dated register of outstanding non-conformities and incomplete items recorded at an inspection or acceptance event. Each item carries a severity, an owner, and a closure date; the list governs whether equipment is released, released with conditions, or held. Factory acceptance test checklist.
Factory audit: A structured assessment of a manufacturer’s quality system, production capability, and controls, conducted at the plant. Distinct from a FAT, which tests a specific order’s equipment, and from a qualification visit, a lighter walk-through before award. Factory visit checklist and visit vs audit.
Commissioning: The handover phase where equipment is brought into operational service, typically including SAT, calibration, training, and warranty start.

Sampling and testing

AQL(Acceptable Quality Limit): The worst tolerable defect rate that still passes a sampling lot, set per defect class (critical, major, minor). It governs the accept/reject numbers, not a target for production quality. How AQL sampling works.
ISO 2859-1: The acceptance sampling standard. Maps lot size and inspection level to a sample size and to the accept/reject numbers for a given AQL. The basis for most pre-shipment sampling; weak for low-volume bespoke equipment, where unit-by-unit verification is more appropriate. How AQL sampling works.
Type test: A test performed once per design to validate the design itself (short-circuit tests for switchgear, temperature-rise tests for transformers). Often already done by the manufacturer, with reports referenced at the FAT rather than repeated for each contract.
Routine test: A test required by the applicable standard on every unit produced (insulation resistance for transformers, hydrostatic test for pressure vessels). Performed per unit, not per design, and witnessed at the FAT.

Procurement and supply

EPC(Engineering, Procurement, Construction): Project-delivery model where one party is contracted to design, source, and build. EPC procurement support in China.
OEM(Original Equipment Manufacturer): Used in supplier vetting to distinguish a factory from an intermediary. Sinospect is not an OEM: it qualifies and buys from OEMs, then supplies onward as an accountable principal.
Supplier qualification: Verifying, before award, that a supplier exists legally, can actually manufacture what it claims, holds the certifications the project requires, and has delivered comparable equipment before. The step before price comparison, and the one most international buyers skip. China supplier qualification.
Manufacturer vs trading company: The distinction between a factory that makes the goods and an intermediary that resells them. The most reliable diagnostic is the business scope on the registered licence; address, registered capital, and technical questioning corroborate it. The risk is an opaque trader who marks up without proving quality or standing behind the goods. Manufacturer or trading company?.
MOQ(Minimum Order Quantity): Often a constraint in China sourcing.
Incoterms: International Commercial Terms (FOB, CIF, EXW, DDP, etc.) defining risk transfer and cost responsibility.

Supplier identity and standing (China)

Unified Social Credit Code(USCC): The 18-character identifier on a Chinese company’s business licence, the primary key for verifying that an entity is registered and active. Used to look the company up on the official registry rather than trusting a name on a quotation. How to verify a Chinese supplier.
GSXT(National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System): The official registry where a Chinese company’s registration, business scope, registered capital, and standing can be checked against its Unified Social Credit Code. How to verify a Chinese supplier.
SAMR(State Administration for Market Regulation): The authority that administers company registration in China and operates the GSXT registry.
EU-GMP(European Union Good Manufacturing Practice): The regulatory framework for medicinal-product manufacture. For regulated lines, the qualification documentation an end client will be audited against is part of the equipment’s acceptance, not an afterthought; a capable general-purpose unit can still fail on documentation alone.

Documentation and certification

CE marking: A manufacturer’s declaration that a product meets the applicable EU directives, shown by the CE mark. It is a regulatory statement, not a quality mark or a third-party endorsement — the manufacturer self-affixes it, so the supporting technical file matters more than the symbol.
Declaration of Conformity(DoC): The signed document a manufacturer issues to attest CE compliance. A usable one names the specific directives and the harmonised standards applied, the product and its identifiers, and the responsible person — not a generic one-line claim.
ISO 9001: The quality-management-system standard. A valid certificate is issued by an accredited certification body, not self-declared, and should be checked against that body and its current scope — a lapsed or out-of-scope certificate is common. China supplier qualification.
ATEX: The EU directives for equipment used in potentially explosive atmospheres. Relevant wherever dust or gas creates an ignition risk; the certification is specific to the hazardous-area rating, not a general approval.
IECEx: The international scheme equivalent to ATEX for explosive-atmosphere equipment, with broader geographic acceptance. Often requested alongside or instead of ATEX depending on the destination market.
EN 12976: The European standard for factory-made solar thermal systems, cited frequently for solar water heaters and a common reference point when qualifying solar suppliers.
Solar Keymark: A voluntary European quality mark for solar thermal products, based on the EN 12975 and EN 12976 standards. A practical shorthand for whether a solar thermal product has been independently tested to the European norms.

Logistics and shipping

Bill of Lading(B/L): The carrier’s document acknowledging receipt of cargo for shipment. A negotiable instrument in international trade and a key part of the document pack — an incorrect or late B/L stalls customs release at the destination.
Packing list: The itemised list of contents per package, used for customs clearance and for reconciling what arrived against what was ordered. Mismatches between the packing list, the invoice and the physical goods are a common source of clearance delay.
HS code(Harmonised System code): The customs classification code that drives duty rates and clearance. The correct code belongs in the document pack before shipment; a wrong code means reassessment, delay, or an unexpected duty bill at the destination.

How Sinospect uses these terms

These are working definitions, not dictionary entries. They reflect how the terms are used on a live procurement file: a FAT that releases factory payment, an ITP agreed before manufacturing starts, a business scope read off the registered licence to tell a manufacturer from a trader. When Sinospect supplies equipment from China as the principal, the inspection and acceptance steps run before the factory is paid; for buyers sourcing direct, the same steps run on the client’s own order.

Start with supplier qualification and factory acceptance testing, or send a live file through contact for an initial review.