How to stop packing pending production approvals

Tell the factory exactly where to stop

Use a packing hold when a production decision remains open but the factory is preparing to pack. Make the instruction specific enough for the packing supervisor to execute without interpreting an email conversation.

Send this instruction with the hold list: “Hold reference: [reference]. Stock: [order, variant, lot, quantity and location]. Stop before: [operation]. Permitted work: [explicit operations]. Release evidence: [documents and physical checks]. Release authority: [named person]. This instruction remains active until a written release identifies the stock and hold references.”

Ask production, packing and warehouse supervisors to confirm the actual stopping point and quantities already beyond it. Include loose goods, work in progress, sealed cartons and stock transferred elsewhere. If the factory cannot distinguish affected stock, extend the hold to the uncertain stock while its identity is checked.

Write release conditions that resolve the actual decision

Treat the following as suggested order controls, not statutory inspection criteria. Replace each release condition with your agreed specification, test method and acceptance criteria before work resumes.

Use batch traceability records to connect each entry to physical goods. For a substituted part, resolve the underlying decision through component substitution approval; a photograph confirming its colour does not answer a question about its material or performance.

Worked example: overlapping holds on the same stock

Hypothetical training example only: an order contains 1,200 units. Lot A contains 800 units made with the approved component. Lot B contains 400 units made with a proposed replacement. All 1,200 units await artwork approval.

Create an artwork hold covering A and B, and a component hold covering B. When the artwork is approved and the physical packing sample is accepted, close the artwork hold. A can then proceed to packing if it has no other open holds. B remains held: closing one decision does not close the other.

Suppose the component decision then accepts 350 units in B and rejects 50. Reconcile the order as 800 + 350 released + 50 held = 1,200 units. Give the 350 accepted units a physically identifiable sublot before releasing them. If the factory cannot separate those units from the rejected 50, keep all 400 held.

Record the final position as 1,150 units released for packing and 50 held. Do not turn this into shipment approval automatically. For the separate decision about continuing manufacture, see whether one failed batch should stop production.

Separate commercial approval from UK safety review

For consumer products within its scope, the General Product Safety Regulations 2005 remain the GB baseline: producers must ensure products are safe before placing them on the market. OPSS guidance explains that specific product legislation usually takes precedence where requirements overlap. This paragraph concerns Great Britain; obtain a separate assessment for Northern Ireland. See the official sources below.

As a purchasing control, keep safety-related component changes, warnings and supporting test evidence assigned to the person responsible for compliance review. Ask that reviewer to identify the applicable product rules, standards and evidence for the actual goods and destination.

Record packing release and safety review separately. A buyer accepting a print colour or delivery compromise should not be recorded as having accepted unresolved safety evidence. Attach the review outcome to the relevant hold before authorising the affected packing operation.

Restart at the line and reconcile what actually happened

For each release, record the hold reference, evidence references, approver, released quantity, remaining held quantity and exact stock location. Check all open holds against that stock. Send the revised instruction to the original recipients and require the packing supervisor to acknowledge the scope before restarting.

At restart, compare the component, artwork, accessories and packing sample with the approved revisions. Remove superseded materials from the active packing area and check an actual pack from the resumed work. For rework, use corrective-action closure evidence to establish what was checked and accepted.

If packing continued during the hold, identify the affected cartons and agree what must be opened to check the unresolved issue. An exterior photograph cannot establish which concealed component or accessory was packed. Follow the repacking and relabelling checks, then update the quantity reconciliation.

For help coordinating the hold list, factory acknowledgements and release evidence, use Cambridge China Bridge’s supplier-problems service. Keep approval authority explicit in the instruction.