How to check factory order completion
A completion percentage means little until the factory defines what it measures. Ask for order-specific quantities at a common reporting time, count each physical unit once, and record inspection and packing separately. Materials purchased are not finished goods. Cambridge China Bridge can help reconcile factory progress with its staff in China.
Ask what the completion claim measures
Ask whether the claim describes materials purchased, operations completed, labour used, money spent or finished units. Request the calculation and its denominator: the agreed order quantity for the stated product and revision. A spending-based estimate cannot tell you how many units are ready to ship.
Agree the meaning of each stage before comparing updates. HMRC's stock guidance describes manufactured work in progress as uncompleted products. For this operational tracker, define finished as all agreed manufacturing operations completed, with inspection outcome and packing recorded separately.
Keep materials outside the unit tally
Use a materials ledger showing the component or material, measurement unit, quantity received, quantity issued, unused balance, losses and allocation to your order. Separate a purchase order from a supplier delivery and a verified factory receipt. Ask where allocated stock is held, including stock at subcontractors.
Use the approved BOM to assess which materials could support complete products. A surplus of housings cannot compensate for missing fittings. Label any possible output as a material-based estimate, allow for losses, and exclude materials already incorporated into unfinished or finished goods. Never add component counts or material weight to product-unit totals.
Count physical units once, then add status
Create a product ledger by order line, variant, batch and location, using the same reporting time. Give each physical unit or identifiable batch a single manufacturing state: unfinished, finished or scrapped. Record units requiring rework separately within the relevant state. Finished quantity includes packed finished goods; packing does not create additional goods.
Add inspection outcome, hold or release status, and packing status as separate fields against those same units. Keep physically examined sample units separate from the quantity covered by a batch decision. An inspected batch is not evidence that every unit was examined. Use the inspection guide to plan the checks.
| Factory figure | Record it as | Avoid this addition |
|---|---|---|
| Materials received | Available inputs in their own measurement units | Materials plus product units |
| Work in progress | Physical unfinished products at their current operation | The same batch counted at successive operations |
| Finished units | Products with manufacturing completed, including packed products | Finished plus packed |
| Inspected units | Actual sample examined and batch covered, recorded separately | Inspected plus finished |
| Packed units | Contents of identified cartons, with inspection and release status | Cartons plus their contents |
Reconcile the snapshot and its movements
Compare the agreed order quantity with usable finished units, potentially usable unfinished units and the remaining unstarted or replacement requirement. Keep scrap visible as a loss, rather than treating it as fulfilment. Record approved order changes and any shipments already dispatched so the outstanding balance has a clear basis.
Between updates, reconcile each state from its previous balance, additions, transfers out and losses. Moving a batch from unfinished to finished reduces the former and increases the latter. Rework moves existing goods; replacements introduce new goods. Match carton identifiers and contents to the packing list, and investigate unexplained gaps rather than adjusting totals to fit.
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Request evidence and use the reconciled balance
Ask for a dated tracker backed by production records, material receipts, batch labels, inspection reports and carton tallies. Request a walkthrough covering storage, production, rework and packing areas, including subcontracted work. Photographs support a check but do not independently establish the total quantity. Mark unsupported quantities as unverified and assign someone to resolve them.
Use the reconciled balance to identify the operation or missing input that blocks the next usable batch. Follow the factory delay guide for recovery planning and the balance-payment checklist before a payment decision. Ask for the next update against the same definitions, rather than another unsupported completion percentage.
Frequently asked questions
Does materials purchased mean my order is nearly finished?
No. Ask what has arrived, what is allocated to your order and which components are missing. Materials support a possible output estimate, not a finished-unit count.
Should I add finished, inspected and packed quantities?
No. These figures can describe the same goods. Count physical units once, then attach inspection, release and packing status to the relevant batch or units.
Does an inspection pass mean every unit was checked?
Ask whether the report covers a sampled batch or individually examined units. Record the sample examined separately from the batch covered by the acceptance decision.
What should I ask the factory for in a progress update?
Request a dated order-line and batch tracker, separate materials balances, unfinished and finished quantities, rework and scrap, inspection outcomes, carton contents and evidence for each balance.