Quality control and Third party inspections (TPI)
Second party, third party or fourth party?
Hey, let’s look at some basic definitions; a first party inspection is an inspection carried out by yourself; not very exciting, right? A second party inspection would be an inspection carried out by your supplier or by the person you’re buying something from...hmm, can that always be trusted, or correct?
This is where third-party inspections come in! A third-party inspection is carried out by an organization or an individual, who is ideally not linked to either other two parties, in order to perform an independent review of a product or a commodity.
A third-party inspection company (TPIA or TPI) is a business organization. Such organizations are third-party inspection agencies and ideally must not be involved in any activities other than inspection and testing. All companies and parties such as buyers, sellers, engineering companies, plant owners often use these agencies and their services. Confidentiality, independence, impartiality, and integrity are important conditions for being a third-party Inspection agency.
And at last, there’s the notion of a fourth party inspection...imagine your supplier uses a network of his own suppliers...did you even know that a bicycle manufacturer in Brazil, whom you buy a bicycle from, can have up to 70 or more suppliers in China? You may want to call upon a 4th party inspection in this instance. An end user may in fact become a fourth party inspector himself, when using the very same bicycle, and checking for quality and finish or defective parts!
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