Sheet Metal Supplier Audit Checklist
Thirteen checks for vetting a sheet metal supplier — or any overseas factory — across identity, capability, quality system and export practice. Built for remote verification: every item can be checked with documents, a live video walk-through and sample reports, without flying to the factory.
Identity & site
0/3Capability & capacity
0/3Quality system
0/4Export & communication
0/3Work through the four passes in order — identity first, money last. A supplier who fails the identity pass rarely improves on the quality pass, and a factory that clears all four is worth a trial order before it is worth a flight.
Questions about auditing a supplier
Structured around how overseas buyers actually verify factories remotely: documents, live video, sample reports.
Can I really audit a factory remotely?
You can verify identity, equipment and quality practice remotely with documents, a dated live video and sample reports — which is what this checklist covers. What a remote audit cannot replace is walking the floor unannounced, so treat a clean remote audit as qualification for a trial order, not as final approval.
Which pass fails most often?
Identity. A surprising share of “factories” approached on marketplaces are brokers with a business licence registered to an office address. It is also the cheapest pass to run — the licence and a dated video settle it in an afternoon.
The supplier passed every check but quotes are still high. Now what?
A clean audit tells you the factory is real, not that it is cheap. Price is a separate conversation about process route, quantity and tolerances — take the audit result to the negotiating table along with a drawing that follows the DFM rules, and ask what design change would move the number.
Does WERIX pass this checklist?
We invite it. The licence matches the Dongguan factory, the equipment list is the one shown on the factory tour page, ISO 9001 is the only certification we claim, and sample FAI reports ship with first orders on request. Run the checklist against us — it is the fairest way to compare suppliers.
Keep going
Calculators — enter dimensions, get a number
Sheet Metal Weight CalculatorWeight per piece and per batch from L × W × t, with real alloy densities.Bend Allowance CalculatorThe neutral-axis length through a bend, from thickness, radius, angle and K-factor.Sheet Metal Cost CalculatorWhere a part’s cost actually sits — material, cutting, forming, finishing and setup.Press Brake Tonnage CalculatorBending force in kN and tons from thickness, material and bend length, with a 20% margin.K-Factor Calculator (Reverse)Reverse a K-factor from a real bend: outside dimensions and flat length in, K out.Hole-to-Bend Distance CalculatorMinimum hole-to-bend and hole-to-edge clearances from thickness and inside radius.Charts and checklists — read, print, work through
Sheet Metal Gauge to mm ChartSteel (MSG) and aluminium (B&S) gauge dimensions, and why we quote in mm.Sheet Metal DFM ChecklistThe 24 checks we run on a drawing before we quote it, grouped and explained.Sheet Metal RFQ ChecklistThe 12 items that make an RFQ quotable in one round, with the reason each matters.Run it against us first
The licence matches the factory, the equipment list is public, ISO 9001 is the only certification we claim, and sample FAI reports go out with first orders. A checklist like this is the fairest way to compare suppliers — start with us.
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