But, big companies don't really have that excuse, because they should know what they're doing.
> Bernie was disturbed by the finger-in-bottle exchange, when I told him about it. “I hope they are washing their hands, at least,” he said. Since the bathrooms had no soap, I told him that it was not likely.
> I explained to Sister how this could be a problem. She told me that she understood and would address the situation.
> “I will tell the workers not to put their fingers in the bottles when you are at the factory,” she said.
....
> The hair gel that we produced at the factory was green. One day, I noticed that the worker who filled the gel bottles had a skin condition. His hands were covered with the slick formula, and beneath the green, shimmery layer, I could see that the skin on his hands was peeling. Small, raw patches of flesh were exposed, and you didn’t have to be a dermatologist to see that his skin was infected.
> “We should probably do something about this one,” I said to Sister, trying to sound calm, while in my head alarm bells were ringing.
> Sister did not see the point. “Why?” she asked.
> “It might be a health issue?”
> “But the worker has done nothing wrong. It’s just an allergic reaction.”
> Trying to press the matter, I suggested that the worker might contaminate the product.
> Sister twisted around the argument. “How can he harm the product when it was the product that caused him the harm?”
etc.
Otherwise we will just engage in 'No True Scotsman' fallacies.
And if you find any issues, you test the whole shipment.
And then you compare the results to the outgoing QA test results.
And if any results can't be explained by failures relating to shipping, then you fire your supplier.
You let them know ahead of time that this is the procedure you'll apply, and then they'll do proper QA testing.
You should probably run with multiple suppliers in the first place, so it's easier to switch between them? Of course, that extra overhead probably will eat into your cost savings.
No major medical company wants to risk recalling defective product by using a disreputable Chinese manufacturer. Unknowingly selling counterfeit product is a pretty bad look to the FDA and consumers.
This is the main reason why many procurement departments have a no China policy.
This isn’t as protective as one would imagine. Unscrupulous floor managers will still swap materials, run the crap and sell the good stuff.
As they say, heaven is high and the emperor is far away.