Capacity vs. Order Mismatch
- Stated production capacity reconciled against your PO size and lead time
- Worker count and shift pattern cross-checked against payroll database
- Machinery utilisation rate calculated and benchmarked against industry norms
Risk Intelligence · Tier-2 Exposure
Your goods may be produced in a workshop you've never seen.
The factory you audited is real. The factory making your order, often, is not. Hidden subcontracting is the single biggest blind spot in China sourcing — and the fastest way to fail CSDDD, UFLPA or a customs hold.
Why this happens
Capacity is finite. Your order isn't the priority.
When a Chinese factory wins an order it cannot fully fulfil, it does not turn it down. It sub-contracts the overflow — usually at night, usually to a workshop within 5km, almost never on the audit list.
Standard one-day audits cannot detect this. The day-shift line is your order. The night-shift line, in another building, is also your order — built by a third party with no compliance, no QC and no traceability.
When customs, a regulator, or your own brand audit finds it, the liability lands on the importer.
The forensic signals
Subcontracting leaves fingerprints. We look for all of them.
Night-Shift Surveillance
- Discreet observation of after-hours truck movements in/out of the factory gate
- Cross-reference of waybills against declared production schedule
- Geotagged photo trail of any unannounced satellite workshop
Material Flow Forensics
- Raw-material inflow vs. finished-goods outflow reconciliation
- Serial-number traceability test on a random sample of finished units
- Tooling and mould inventory check against your tooling registry
Sub-tier Mapping
- All identified sub-tier workshops mapped, photographed, and registry-pulled
- CSDDD-grade tier-2 supplier file delivered with worker headcount evidence
- Risk-scored recommendation: accept, restrict, or terminate the supplier
How a sub-tier investigation runs
Three days of unannounced observation, one defensible map.
- Step 01
Brief
PO, lead time, declared capacity, factory address. We model expected production load.
- Step 02
Day visit
Floor walk, worker count, machinery audit, payroll reconciliation.
- Step 03
Night observation
Discreet 48-hour observation of gate traffic and after-hours activity.
- Step 04
Sub-tier map
Identified workshops visited, registry-pulled, photographed and risk-scored.
Free download
Spot subcontracting before the regulator does.
The capacity, payroll and material-flow checks that expose sub-tier production — built into our 25-point red-flag checklist.