How we work
A principal trader owns the defect.
There is no upstream party to pass a defect to and no agency relationship behind which to shelter. Because we take title, a quality failure is our loss before it is anybody else's. That is why the quality function is funded as a capability rather than tolerated as an overhead.
01The five gates
Every consignment. Every time.
| Gate | When | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| G1 Specification | Before quotation | We write the technical specification rather than copying the factory's. It states alloy and temper, wall thickness, coating standard and class, resin grade, conductor cross-section, valve brand, hardware brand, wear layer in millimetres, moisture content range, fire classification, and the applicable destination standard with its year. If the specification cannot be written, we decline the enquiry. |
| G2 Pre-production sample | After order, before production | A physical sample approved against the specification and retained. Sealed, signed, dated and photographed by both parties. The retained sample is the reference for every subsequent dispute. |
| G3 During production | At 20 to 40 per cent completion | Catches systemic error while correcting it is still cheap. Mandatory on first orders, on Qualified-tier suppliers and in all restricted categories. |
| G4 Pre-shipment | At 80 to 100 per cent packed | Sampling to ISO 2859-1 at an agreed acceptable quality limit. For Qualified-tier suppliers this is a payment gate: the report is received before the balance is released to the factory. |
| G5 Loading supervision | At container stuffing | Verifies goods, quantities, marks, packing, dunnage, lashing and container condition. On tile, stone and glass this gate prevents most breakage claims and costs very little. |
02Incoming tests
Deliberately simple, because a test that needs a laboratory does not get done.
| Product | Test | What it catches |
|---|---|---|
| Cable | Weigh the drum. Copper mass per kilometre is arithmetic. | Under-gauge conductor and copper-clad aluminium sold as copper |
| Aluminium composite panel | Micrometer on the skin | Signage grade at 0.21mm to 0.30mm sold as architectural at 0.5mm |
| Aluminium profile | Micrometer on wall thickness, weigh a one-metre length | 1.4mm wall supplied against a 1.8mm specification |
| Float and processed glass | Zebra board for optical distortion, heat soak certification, coating date | Greenhouse-grade float, missing heat soak, oxidised soft coat |
| Insulating glass units | Cut a sacrificial unit and inspect the seal | Single-seal hot melt butyl supplied as dual seal |
| Tile | Carton marking for calibre and tone lot, rectification squareness, wet slip test | Mixed tone in one pallet, out-of-square large format, wrong slip class |
| Resilient flooring | Wear layer gauge, core density | Under-declared wear layer, over-filled recycled core |
| Sanitaryware | Water absorption on a broken sample, trapway glazing, valve brand identification | Semi-vitreous body, unglazed trapway, generic valve |
| Casegoods and joinery | Moisture meter at 8% to 12%, edge band scratch test, hardware brand check | Warping in service, EVA edge banding, substituted hardware |
| Structural steel and reinforcement | Third-party witness testing at the mill, EN 10204 3.2 certificate | Re-typed mill certificates, wrong ductility class |
| Scaffolding | Micrometer on tube wall, galvanising thickness gauge, demand the load table | Under-gauge tube, pre-galvanised passed off as hot dip, untested copy systems |
| Circuit breakers | Verify the type test report and CB Scheme certificate against the exact model | Overstated breaking capacity |
03Independence
Independent, named, and paid for by us.
Inspection is carried out by internationally accredited third-party bodies, including SGS, Bureau Veritas, Intertek, TUV and QIMA, engaged and paid by Weidaolong rather than by the factory. Reports are issued to us and shared with the buyer. Where a buyer prefers to appoint their own inspector, we accommodate it and give full access.
Weidaolong is not itself accredited by, nor affiliated with, any of these organisations. They are named as the independent bodies whose services we engage.
04Claims
What happens when something is wrong.
Occasionally something is wrong. What matters is what happens next.
Because we hold title, a claim is made against us, not passed by us to a factory in another jurisdiction and another language. We hold the retained pre-production sample, the inspection reports, the loading photographs and the specification, which means the facts are usually established in days rather than months.
We ask for one thing in return: notify before installation and preserve the goods for inspection. A defect found before fixing is a commercial matter. The same defect found after fixing is a construction problem, and no supplier in the world can put that right.
Want the inspection plan before you order?
Send the specification. We will come back with the gates we would apply, the tests at each one, and who would carry them out.
Request a quotation