QIMA announces free inspection services in China for personal protective gear and masks

QIMA, a leading provider of quality control and supply chain compliance solutions, announced today that it will begin offering its inspection services free of charge in China for productions of disposable filtering face masks and medical protective gear, in an effort to contribute to the global effort to tackle the COVID-19 outbreak.

Since the start of the pandemic earlier this year, there has been a growing shortage globally of personal protective equipment (PPE) as the number of infections grow. Brands like Zara, Gap, Hanes and LMVH have responded by pivoting their manufacturing to help meet this need and give back to its global communities, and purchase orders sent to Chinese manufacturers have been booming to meet the global demand.

Managing such a surge in manufacturing is proving challenging for both buyers and manufacturers, as speed of delivery cannot come at the expense of quality and conformity for such vital equipment.

QIMA quality inspections are performed before shipment and consist of sending qualified inspectors to production sites to check workmanship quality, assess quantities, packaging, labeling and ensure factories have the required certificates and export licenses. 

“These are testing times. Our staff and customers in all continents are deeply affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and as citizens of the world we want to do our share, even modestly,” said QIMA founder and CEO Sebastien Breteau. “We've seen demand for sourcing masks and medical protective gear increase tremendously over the last few weeks. It’s critical that quality of these products be checked in a health crisis like this, and we believe offering our inspections services free of charge in China on PPE products is the right thing to do.”