When a delivery has a problem: how Huasheng investigates and responds

No supplier can promise that nothing will ever go wrong between a factory in China and a farm in another hemisphere. What a buyer can expect is a clear process when something does. This article describes ours.

1. First, which kind of problem is it?

Huasheng handles three kinds of report separately:

• Packaging and transport: leaking or dented containers, damaged labels, wrong quantities.
• Product quality: a result outside the agreed specification, or a physical change in the product.
• Field application: a result in the field that differs from what was expected.

The first is usually visible on arrival; the second needs analysis; the third needs the conditions of use before any conclusion is possible.

2. Check the goods on receipt

CropLife guidance on the transport of crop protection products recommends an inspection on unloading that checks the quantities and types delivered, looks for leaks or spills in the transport unit, and examines packages for leaks or damage [3]. Photographs taken at this point, with the container number and batch labels in view, are the most useful evidence for a transport claim.

3. What we ask for

• The order number, the batch number and the date the goods were received.
• Photographs of the packaging, the label and the product itself.
• How and where the goods were stored, and for how long.
• For a field report: the crop, the rate and timing used, the mixing partners and the weather.

4. How we find the cause

With the batch identified, we review the batch documents against the agreed specification and arrange, with the manufacturing or supply partner concerned, retained sample testing or a supplementary evaluation. Where an independent result is needed, testing can be commissioned from long standing partner laboratories such as the Shanghai Research Institute of Chemical Industry Testing Centre. FAO notes that whether a stored product is still within specification can only be verified by having a sample analysed by the manufacturer or an independent laboratory [2].

5. Changes that look like defects but may not be

• Sediment or a clear layer in a suspension concentrate: on standing, these products usually develop a concentration gradient, which is why the FAO and WHO manual calls for homogenising before sampling, as the manufacturer instructs [1].
• Caking of powders: dust and wettable powder formulations cake more readily than sealed liquids under high temperature, high humidity, strong sunlight or compaction [2].

Other signs, such as gelling of liquids or discoloration, are among the signs of deterioration that FAO lists for stocks in store [2]; these are tested, not assumed.

6. Reporting back and what changes

We report the findings and the measures that follow to the customer. The record of batch, crop, rate, timing and storage or field conditions also feeds back into later supply, so that a packaging, storage or labelling change can be made where the investigation shows it is needed.