Factory audit

ALDI (Aldi) is a globally renowned chain supermarket brand. Its factory inspection is mainly aimed at ensuring that suppliers meet the standards in areas such as social responsibility, quality control, and food safety. 

Core contents of factory inspection:

Social responsibility inspection: Focus on verifying labor rights, working conditions and ethical standards. Prohibit child labor and forced labor, ensure employees' rights to free employment and association, and eliminate discriminatory practices; Work hours must comply with legal requirements, wages must be no less than local standards and paid on time; The factory must provide a safe production environment, equip with fire-fighting facilities, protective equipment, and conduct regular safety training, and the living facilities must meet hygiene standards; At the same time, the factory must comply with environmental protection regulations and prohibit bribery and corruption.

Quality inspection: Evaluate the factory's quality management system and production processes. Need to establish ISO 9001 or equivalent system, clearly define the responsibilities of the quality team; Strictly control raw material suppliers, standardize incoming material, process and finished product inspection procedures, retain inspection records; Establish a product traceability and recall mechanism to ensure rapid handling of quality incidents.

Food safety inspection: For food suppliers, require them to obtain international certifications such as BRCGS, IFS, etc., effectively implement system documents such as HACCP plans, and employees need to receive food safety training; The production environment needs to be reasonably divided to prevent cross-contamination, standardize equipment cleaning and disinfection; Accurately identify and isolate allergens, use metal detection and other equipment to prevent pollution risks.

Other types of factory inspections: Anti-terrorism inspection focuses on supply chain security, reviewing physical, personnel and goods security measures; Sustainable development inspection focuses on ESG practices, covering sustainable agriculture, carbon neutrality and other fields. 

Audit Institutions and Methods

Audit Institution: ALDI usually entrusts third-party institutions to conduct factory audits, such as the headquarters, Dahan, BV, TUV, etc., to ensure the independence and fairness of the audits.

Audit Method: The first factory audit is usually a notice-based audit. Subsequent audits may adopt surprise audits or semi-surprise audits to verify the daily compliance of the factory.

Audit Rating and Result Application

Audit Rating: The results are determined by ALDI customers. Key aspects examined include transparency of wages and working hours, authenticity of piece-rate wages, etc. The rating may affect the depth of cooperation and order allocation.

Result Application: After the factory passes the audit, it obtains a qualified certificate, which is valid for typically 1-2 years and requires regular re-audits. If the factory fails the audit, it must submit a rectification plan and complete the improvements within the specified time. Some serious issues may lead to the termination of cooperation. 

Authentication process 

Application and Preparation: Usually, the factory application and inspection request are initiated by the customer or the intermediary. The ALDI submits written review requirements to the factory. After the ALDI's approval, a relevant inspection agency is designated. The factory pays the inspection fee to the agency. After receiving the fee, the inspection agency will send the inspection questionnaire and confirmation letter to the factory. The factory fills them out and returns them. Based on this, the inspection agency formulates the inspection plan.

On-site Inspection: The inspector conducts a physical inspection of the factory, including the factory building, production workshops, warehouses, dormitories, etc. They check for the presence of child labor or forced labor, as well as safety, fire protection, environmental protection conditions, and the factory's production operation status. They also take photos for archiving.

Document Review: The inspector will conduct a detailed review of various documents and records of the factory, such as business licenses, employee handbooks, factory rules and regulations, recruitment registration materials, labor contracts, salary sheets, etc., to determine whether the factory's management is standardized and whether the wages, benefits, and social security comply with local legal requirements.

Employee Interviews: The inspector will have individual conversations with the workers, usually in a group or one-on-one format, without inviting the representatives of the workers' management to participate. The workers are selected by the inspector for the interview, aiming to understand whether the actual management system and operation of the factory match the provided information.

Final Meeting: The inspector summarizes the collected materials during the inspection process, organizes the inspection results, and informs the factory representatives at the final meeting. They point out the non-compliant items and regulatory and standard requirements, and answer the questions raised by the factory.