Auditing a Chinese stone factory without flying there
A remote audit can verify three things: the factory exists, it owns the relevant machinery, and it can run your specification. It cannot verify management quality, financial health, or whether peak season will push your order back. Done properly, it filters out most intermediaries.
What should a video audit show?
Not the showroom. Ask for an unbroken walk from the gate, past the signage, into the workshop, along the machines, through the block yard and into packing. No cuts. Ask them to state the date, or hold up that day's newspaper. A video with cuts is a video you did not see.
How do you confirm the factory exists?
Cross-check three documents: the business licence, whose registered scope must include stone processing; the corporate bank account name, which must match the licence; and the site on a map, which should be an industrial area rather than an office building. If the three disagree, stop, and do not accept explanations.
How do you verify the machinery?
Ask for model numbers and quantities, then ask them to walk to each machine and film the nameplate. A plant with saws but no polishing, or polishing but no cutting, is outsourcing a key stage, which means delivery is not in its own hands. That matters more than floor area.
Can production be watched remotely?
Yes, if you schedule it. Ask for a batch to your specification and two clips during the run: one while sawing, one before packing. That is more useful than a walkthrough, because you are auditing this order rather than the building.
Where are the blind spots?
Management quality, financial health, and whether peak season will push your order back. None of those show on camera. The way to reduce risk is not a more detailed audit but a smaller first order, with payment milestones tied to inspection milestones.