China Supplier Quality Management Program

A Proposal for
FMS Group

FMS has successfully established China supply capability and is now moving to the next stage: formalising supplier governance, quality visibility and compliance evidence across the supply base.

For Review
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Executive Summary

Dear Tony,

Thank you for the opportunity to set out how C2W Group can support FMS across your China supply base.

Executive Summary

FMS has successfully established China supply capability and is now moving to the next stage: formalising supplier governance, quality visibility and compliance evidence across the supply base.

C2W’s role is to act as the China-side extension of your supplier management team, giving FMS the visibility and control to scale the supply base with confidence. We combine supplier verification, factory capability assessment, social compliance evidence, technical inspection and corrective action management into one managed program.

Unlike inspection platforms that sell individual reports, C2W builds long-term supplier knowledge and accountability through directly employed, China-based quality engineers. C2W Group was built around this problem: helping Western companies build, control and improve their China supply chains.

This is a China supplier quality management partnership, not an inspection booking platform.

01 — Recommended Structure

Recommended Structure

We recommend structuring the engagement in two parts:

Initial Supplier Onboarding and Governance Review. Verify, audit and qualify each supplier and build the inspection framework.
Ongoing Supplier Quality Management. Maintain control through regular inspection and corrective action once production is active.

This lets FMS first establish confidence in each supplier, then hold that standard over time as the program grows across multiple sites.

Program Roadmap

Phase 3 runs as the ongoing managed program (Section 5), the natural destination once suppliers are active.

Phase 1
Establish supplier baseline
Supplier verification
Factory audit
Social compliance
Standards mapping
>
Phase 2
Control production quality
Inspection
Reporting
Corrective action
>
Phase 3
Improve supplier performance
Supplier scorecards
Risk trends
Supplier development
02 — Initial Supplier Onboarding and Governance Review

Initial Supplier Onboarding and Governance Review

This stage verifies each supplier, assesses operating capability, reviews the quality system, gathers social compliance evidence and creates the inspection framework for future production quality control.

2.1  Supplier Verification

A desk-based verification review to confirm the supplier is a legitimate operating entity before deeper work begins. Covers:

Business licence and registration review
Registered entity and ownership confirmation
Factory versus trading company identification
Address and operating consistency check
Litigation and basic risk screening against available China records
Written verification summary with risk comments
2.2  Factory Capability and Quality System Audit

A C2W quality engineer attends the supplier site and assesses operating capability and the quality control system. The audit covers:

Factory layout, scale and operating condition
Production processes relevant to FMS products
Equipment and process capability
Staffing, capacity and management structure
Incoming material, in-process and final inspection controls
Traceability, batch control and calibration
Non-conformance handling and corrective action process
Welding, coating and dimensional process control where relevant
ISO certification evidence where applicable
Overall supplier suitability for FMS requirements
Weld review at audit is visual assessment only, unless specialist NDT requirements are separately agreed. C2W does not certify weld integrity.

The audit report includes photographic evidence, observations, key risks, gaps and recommended corrective actions.

2.3  Social Compliance and Modern Slavery Evidence Review

A social compliance review carried out to SA8000 principles and built to support FMS reporting under the Australian Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth). We do not simply hand over a generic audit; we assemble the evidence in the form your compliance team can file. The review covers:

Worker conditions, working environment and welfare facilities where accessible
Working-hours and payroll evidence review where made available
Employee interview notes where permitted
Health and safety observations
Management-system evidence review
Documented ethical-sourcing evidence trail
Corrective action recommendations
C2W does not provide legal certification under the Modern Slavery Act. Our role is to gather a structured, defensible supplier evidence trail and flag practical risks and gaps for FMS to address.
2.4  FMS Standards Mapping and Inspection Checklist

Before the first inspection, a C2W engineer works with FMS to turn your drawings, tolerances, specifications and product requirements into a practical, agreed inspection checklist. This includes:

Review of FMS drawings and specifications
Critical-to-quality feature identification
Defect classification matrix (critical, major, minor)
Dimensional, visual, packaging and labelling checklists
Supplier-specific risk points
Alignment with specific Australian Standard clauses where FMS supplies the standard references and measurable acceptance criteria
C2W is not an Australian Standards certification body. We inspect against FMS drawings, specifications and agreed measurable criteria, including specific Australian Standard clauses where these are supplied by FMS and translated into objective inspection requirements.
2.5  Post-Audit Summary and Corrective Action Review

Following the audit, C2W provides a management-level summary of findings, including:

Supplier strengths and weaknesses
Key risk comments
Recommended corrective actions
Approval, conditional approval or rejection recommendation
Review call with FMS where required
Practical next steps for supplier development or inspection control
03 — Ongoing Supplier Quality Management

Ongoing Supplier Quality Management

Once suppliers are active, C2W supports FMS with ad hoc, scheduled or monthly quality inspection.

3.1  Standard QC Inspection Visit

A standard inspection covers:

Product inspection against FMS drawings and specifications
Dimensional, visual and quantity checks
Workmanship and surface or coating checks where applicable
Packaging and labelling review
Supplier QC record review
Photographic English report with pass, fail or conditional release recommendation
3.2  Higher-Level Technical Inspection Visit

For higher-risk or more technical product, a deeper inspection scope covers:

Detailed dimensional and process-control review
Visual weld quality assessment (specialist NDT separately agreed)
Coating thickness measurement where applicable
Extended documentation and supplier record review
Corrective action verification
More detailed technical reporting
Specialist NDT, destructive, metallurgical or laboratory testing and certification work are excluded unless separately agreed. Where required, C2W can coordinate suitable third-party testing providers and manage the process with FMS approval.
3.3  Corrective Action Follow-Up

Where a supplier has failed inspection or shown repeat defects, C2W attends site to confirm corrective actions have been implemented, covering evidence review, process-change verification, reinspection of affected product, supplier discussion and a close-out recommendation.

3.4  Golden Sample Control

C2W can hold and manage the approved reference samples for FMS components, so every inspection is judged against a controlled physical standard rather than drawings alone. This is scoped per product.

3.5  Rapid Response Troubleshooting

For line-down or defect events, C2W can attend site at short notice, often within 24 hours where location permits, to assess the issue and recommend corrective action. Charged at the applicable inspection rate with priority scheduling; a short-notice premium may apply.

04 — Commercial Schedule

Commercial Schedule

All fees are quoted in USD and are inclusive of travel within C2W’s established regional coverage of your suppliers’ locations. There is no separate travel charge or per-visit mobilisation fee for suppliers in Nantong, Wuxi, Shangyu and the surrounding regions.

4.1  Initial Supplier Onboarding (per supplier)
Service Fee (USD)
Supplier Verification Report150
Factory Capability and Quality System Audit950
Social Compliance and Modern Slavery Evidence Review850
FMS Standards Mapping and Inspection Checklist350
Factory audit volume benefit
Single supplier: USD 950 per supplier
Two or more suppliers onboarded: USD 750 per supplier, applied automatically

Where the factory audit and social compliance review are completed on the same site visit, they are scheduled together at no additional visit cost.

4.2  Complete Supplier Onboarding Package (per supplier)

A saving against the itemised total, with the post-audit management summary included. Audit and social compliance run on a single site visit.

Service Fee (USD)
Complete Onboarding Package: verification, factory audit, social compliance review, standards mapping and inspection checklist, and post-audit summaryUSD 1,950
4.3  Ongoing Quality Inspection (per man-day)

Each inspection visit is typically one engineer for one working day. Additional days or a second inspector are charged as shown above.

Service Fee (USD)
Standard QC inspection visit350
Higher-level technical inspection visit450
Follow-up corrective action visit350
Additional same-day inspector300

Committed volume. Where FMS commits to four or more inspection days per month, the standard QC rate reduces to USD 300 and the higher-level technical rate to USD 400 per man-day. Committed rates apply to Nantong and Wuxi. Shangyu is charged at the standard rate.

4.4  Additional Services

Golden sample control and rapid response troubleshooting are available as described in Sections 3.4 and 3.5, scoped to requirement, with priority scheduling for FMS.

05 — Optional: Ongoing Managed Program (Monthly)

Optional: Ongoing Managed Program (Monthly)

Once FMS has more than one supplier active, C2W can run the ongoing managed program: acting as an extension of your China supplier quality management function rather than simply coordinating inspections. This is Phase 3 of the roadmap and, for most clients, the natural destination. It gives FMS genuine supplier risk visibility, quality performance trends and improvement tracking across the whole China supply base, managed by C2W and reported for your management and board.

This includes:

Named C2W quality engineer responsible for FMS supplier quality activities. A single accountable owner of your China supplier quality, not a rotating contact.
Quarterly consolidated supplier scorecard across all FMS sites. A single portfolio view of supplier risk, quality performance trends and improvement tracking, built for board and compliance reporting.
Monthly inspection planning and supplier coordination
Report consolidation and corrective action tracking
Quarterly management review call
Supplier risk log and support with FMS internal governance records
Monthly Supplier Quality Review Pack

Each month FMS receives a consolidated review pack, so the managed program produces a tangible deliverable, not just activity:

Supplier quality scorecard
Inspection summary for the period
Open corrective actions and status
Repeat defect analysis
Supplier risk rating
Recommended improvement actions
Managed Program Fee
Ongoing Managed Program
USD 1,500 per month

Invoiced monthly in advance. Optional — available once FMS has multiple active suppliers.

Not required for one-off inspections. It becomes valuable once FMS has multiple active suppliers and a regular cadence.

06 — What FMS Gains

What FMS Gains

The program is designed around outcomes for FMS, not activity for its own sake.

Improved supplier confidence
  • Clear visibility of supplier capability
  • Early identification of quality risks
  • Evidence-based supplier decisions
Reduced supplier risk
  • Documented supplier governance
  • Modern Slavery evidence trail
  • Corrective action tracking
Better supplier performance
  • Same engineers over time
  • Repeat issue reduction
  • Supplier improvement plans
Management visibility
  • Consolidated supplier scorecards
  • Quality performance trends
  • Board-level risk reporting
07 — Why C2W Group

Why C2W Group

FMS will have options in the market, including large inspection platforms. Those platforms are built for standard, one-off inspection bookings. C2W Group is a different kind of partner.

We will be straight with you. For a single one-off inspection, a large platform may be the lower-cost option. For a supplier base that has to satisfy an Australian board and Modern Slavery obligations over time, the difference in continuity, engineering judgement and accountability is where the real value sits.

C2W’s difference is that we are not only inspection professionals, we are manufacturers ourselves. Our engineers assess suppliers from the perspective of whether they can consistently produce, control and improve a product, not simply whether they pass a checklist.

Track record and certification

C2W Group has operated in China since 2005. We have completed over 20,000 projects across industrial and consumer categories, with more than 150 staff on the ground including engineers and QC specialists, and our directors carry over 65 years of combined China manufacturing experience.

Our Shield Works manufacturing facility, part of the wider C2W Group, is certified to ISO 9001 (Quality Management), ISO 45001 (Occupational Health and Safety) and ISO 14001 (Environmental Management), all by the British Standards Institution (BSI). Our inspectors apply ISO 2859-1 (AQL tables) as the recognised international standard for acceptance sampling.

What this means for FMS
Dedicated engineers, not a freelance pool. The same engineer owns your factories and builds real knowledge of your undercarriage components, recurring defects and FMS expectations over time.
Regional coverage in your suppliers’ region. Directly employed C2W staff across China, including Jiangsu and Shanghai, support Nantong, Wuxi and Shangyu, giving faster scheduling and stronger responsiveness.
Reporting for decisions, not record-keeping. Clear findings, risk rating, photographic evidence and corrective action recommendations written for management and board use.
Pre and post-inspection engagement. We agree exactly what to inspect and how acceptance is judged before we attend, and we walk FMS through findings after.
Supplier development, not just inspection. We track corrective actions to closure and help raise supplier standards, which matters where FMS intends to keep these suppliers long term.
Real manufacturing experience. We run our own ISO-certified factory, so we assess capability and process risk from the inside, not from a checklist.
Supplier Intelligence
Every inspection, audit and supplier interaction builds a deeper understanding of the supplier. Over time, C2W builds a supplier intelligence profile for each factory covering capability, quality performance trends, risks and improvement opportunities. This is knowledge a platform booking model cannot accumulate, and it is what makes the managed program compound in value the longer it runs.
Standard inspection platform C2W Group
Rotating freelance inspectors booked per jobDirectly employed C2W quality engineers, the same engineer across repeat visits
Templated, largely automated reportsHuman-authored technical reports with engineering judgement
General inspection resourcesEngineering-background inspectors for fabricated, structural and safety-critical parts
Inspection booking onlyVerification, audit, social compliance, standards mapping and corrective action under one partner
Offshore coordinationBritish owned and managed, Western-standard accountability
Report issued, file closedCorrective action tracked to closure and supplier development over time
08 — Payment Terms

Payment Terms

Onboarding services and one-off inspections are invoiced on confirmation and payable before the scheduled visit.
The Complete Onboarding Package is invoiced per supplier on confirmation.
Where FMS moves to a committed monthly program, inspections may be invoiced monthly against a confirmed schedule.
The optional monthly governance fee is invoiced monthly in advance.
Sample costs, freight and any third-party testing are passed through at cost with supporting receipts.
Invoices are issued in USD by China 2 West Services Ltd.
09 — Assumptions

Assumptions

FMS will provide drawings, specifications, tolerances and inspection criteria before inspection.
Where Australian Standards are relevant, FMS will provide the specific standard references and measurable acceptance criteria to be inspected against.
C2W inspects against agreed measurable requirements and does not issue Australian Standards certification.
Fees assume one C2W quality engineer on site for one working day per visit unless otherwise agreed.
Fees are inclusive of travel within C2W’s established regional coverage. Suppliers in remote locations outside this coverage may carry separately quoted travel, confirmed in advance.
Supplier access to records, payroll evidence, worker interviews and restricted areas is subject to supplier cooperation and site rules.
Reports are issued in English.
Reinspection, urgent short-notice inspection, multi-day inspection or expanded product scope may be quoted separately.
Specialist NDT, laboratory, destructive and metallurgical testing and certification work are excluded unless separately agreed.
10 — Recommended Next Step

Recommended Next Step

We recommend beginning with your current Nantong supplier as the first supplier baseline assessment and quality control case. This lets FMS validate our reporting format, establish the inspection checklist, review capability and the quality system, create the social compliance evidence trail and agree the right ongoing cadence. The same framework then applies to future suppliers in Wuxi, Shangyu and beyond.

We would welcome a short call to walk through the structure and reporting format with you, and suggest using the Nantong supplier baseline assessment as the first engagement to confirm the inspection framework and ongoing cadence.

The objective is not simply to inspect suppliers. It is to give FMS the confidence that its China supply base is controlled, measurable and improving over time.

Warm regards,

Mark Jacobs

CEO, C2W Group / Shield Works

July 2026