Customer factory tours: 6 questions we hear most often

We hosted 23 customer factory tours in Q1 2026. After the umpteenth identical follow-up email, we figured we'd collect the most common questions and answer them in one place.

Whenever a buyer visits Beilun for the first time, the conversation tends to converge on the same six questions. Some are technical, some are commercial, all are reasonable. Here are the answers we give on the shop floor — written down so you don't have to wait for the visit.

1. How do you protect our tooling?

Each customer's mold lives in a dedicated rack with a customer ID label and a sealed condition-history sheet. Tools are insured for replacement value; they're never run for another customer; they're not used as test articles. When you transfer a tool elsewhere, we ship it within 5 business days at our cost, with the maintenance log.

2. What stops a defective part shipping?

Five gates: IQC on incoming material; FAI on every new batch; in-process SPC every two hours; FQC AQL 1.0 with 100% visual on cosmetic surfaces; OQC packaging audit. Critical-to-quality features are 100% measured by GO/NO-GO. Anything that fails any gate is segregated in a red-tagged area until disposition; nothing is ever "re-blended" silently.

3. Can we audit you any time?

Yes. We've hosted unannounced audits from German, Japanese and American customers. We don't pre-warn the shop floor. The only thing we ask is that you wear PPE — we'll supply it at the gate.

4. How do you handle a quality escape?

For any escape we issue an 8D within 48 hours of notification. Containment is immediate (sort, quarantine, ship replacement); root cause is closed within 14 days; corrective action verified by a follow-up trial within 30. If we caused the problem we take the cost — including third-party sorting at your dock. We track recurrence; one repeat in 90 days triggers a senior management review.

5. What's your real lead time?

Tooling: 25-45 days from CAD freeze, depending on complexity. First articles: 7-14 days after tool. PPAP: 14-21 days after first article. Mass production: 4-6 weeks lead time for repeat orders. We don't quote shorter than these unless your program already has tooling in our racks.

6. Are you the cheapest?

Sometimes, usually not. There's a 5-10% cheaper foundry within 20 km of us; there's a 25% cheaper foundry within 100 km. We compete on the second order, not the first — on the total cost when you include rework, expedites and warranty. If short-term unit price is your primary criterion, we're not your supplier and we'll tell you that politely. If supply continuity matters more, let's talk.

"The right supplier shouldn't be the one with the lowest quote. It should be the one that lets you forget about supply problems and focus on your customers." — Our standard close on tours.

Planning a visit? Reach our visitor coordinator at sales@nbhiyet.com at least one week ahead. We'll arrange airport pickup and a hotel near the factory.