Factory tour

It's been a long day that's felt only moderately productive. I work with two different companies that conduct social and environmental audits of factories, and there are a lot of trust issues between all three parties. To help remedy this, we decided that we needed to conduct joint visits of factories while I'm in town.

So, we got up early, crossed the border into China, and went to a sweater factory. One of the audit firms already visited this factory in Janurary, so we were following up to make sure any issues have been remediated. So, the seven of us met with some factory managers in a conference room to discuss the day's objectives.

After a presentation by factory management about their commitment to social and environmental compliance, it was time for lunch! Since all the workers would be eating, we went to a nearby Chinese restaurant and had awkward business lunch conversation, only in Chinese. So, basically I ate and sat silently.

We returned to the factory after lunch and started our tour by visiting the dormitories. Walking slowly through the dorm facilities, we poked into a few rooms and the lead auditor tested a bunch of the emergency lighting. Meanwhile, I was getting antsy because I wanted to get onto the factory floor, where the real action happens!

After our belabored tour of the dormitories, we went to some weird training facility where there were no people, no production, and no issues. We came to a huge bulletin board of photos from a 20th anniversary celebration and everyone took their time to ooh and aah over the photos. Again, I was ready to visit the actual factory.

Next up was the water treatment facility, which I simply refused to indulge. While my party stared at water flowing out of a tube, I went for a little walk and started peeking at the factory workers. Finally, once the group realized I had strayed, they quickly caught up and the real work began!

Fortunately for the company, this was a stellar factory and there really was very little to worry about. Aisles were clear, everything was clean, emergency exits and fire extinguishers were clearly marked.

Workers were hard at work and interviews revealed that things were hunky-dory. We walked through the flat knitting machines, the pressing area, the sample room, the quality check area and the packaging area. All as it should be.

The auditors took time to review all the payroll and hours logs, we informed factory management of the minor citations that need to be fixed, then we began on our journey home, which took 2 hours and 45 minutes.

So, it was a long day, but not very eventful. And since I need to do the same tomorrow and Friday, let's hope the factories are a bit more interesting...