How to Audit an Overseas Silicone Mold Manufacturer Remotely

A remote audit is a shot list plus documents. If you cannot name the shots, you are not auditing. You are watching a brochure.

Overseas silicone mold shops (LSR, HCR, RTV) can be audited without a plane ticket well enough to kill the worst mismatches: a trading desk with no press, a toolroom that only outsources EDM, a metrology corner with a rusty caliper, a “medical” line that shares a mill with sulfur rubber. You will not replace a full QMS audit. You will replace hope.

Run it as a script. Same order every shop, so you can compare.

Before the call: the document pile

Ask for these 72 hours ahead. If they cannot produce them, the video is a sales call.

• Business license and the *actual* factory address (match it on the live camera to a street sign or a locked-in map pin).
• Machine list: press brand/tonnage, LSR vs HCR vs compression, vacuum chambers, ovens, CNC/EDM. Ages optional; counts and process types are not.
• Tooling ownership statement: who cuts cavities, who designs cold runners.
• Material control: how LSR pails are identified, FIFO, leftover policy.
• A redacted FAI packet from a similar silicone job (balloons, cert, actuals).
• Calibration list for durometer, CMM/vision, thermocouples, vacuum gauge.
• If they claim ISO 13485 / IATF / ISO 9001: the certificate *and* the scope line. Scope that says “trading” is a warning.

NDA first if the part is sensitive. Watermark the CAD you send for the audit example.

Shot list (live, not a file)

Demand a handheld walk, not a tripoded highlight reel. Time-stamp. Ask them to show a phone clock and a unique token you sent that morning (a code on paper) in the first minute so the footage is today.

Shot A - Gate and floor plate. Entrance, then the production floor in a slow pan. You want to see whether LSR injection, HCR mills, and RTV vacuum tables coexist, and whether powder or millable sulfur stock sits next to platinum LSR. Cross-contamination is a process risk, not a vibe.

Shot B - The press they would use for you. Closed-loop controllers, mold heaters, cold-runner temperature display if claimed, vacuum pump, not a press under a tarp. Ask them to pull up the last recipe screen (they can blur customer names). A press with no heater zones is not an LSR cell.

Shot C - Toolroom. CNC, EDM, grinder, spotting press. If the “manufacturer” has a bench and a shipping crate, they are a broker. Brokers can be useful. They are not the mold shop. Price them as brokers.

Shot D - Material cage. Labeled LSR kits, lot cards, cold storage if the grade needs it, color pastes segregated. Open one pail label on camera (grade, lot). Match it to a cert they already sent.

Shot E - Secondary. Trim benches, cryo or tumble if claimed, post-cure ovens with a chart or controller showing a recipe, not a kitchen oven with a sticky note.

Shot F - Metrology. Durometer, hardness slabs, CMM or optical, pin gauges. Ask for a live measurement of a dummy part against a ballooned print you provided. Watch whether they fixture a soft part like a steel block.

Shot G - Tool storage. Oiled cavities, rust, wooden crates on wet floors, missing inserts. Ask them to open *a* production LSR tool (customer-blind) and show a shutoff land. You are looking for maintenance culture, not their other customer’s IP. If they refuse all tools, ask for a shop-owned sample tool.

Shot H - Document wall in real life. Traveler on a running job, first-off parts in a red box, scrap in a tagged bin. If there is no traveler, there is no traceability.

Keep the whole walk under 90 minutes. After that people perform.

Questions that belong on the live mic

Not “are you quality-focused.” These:

1. For my part, which press number, which process (LSR/HCR/RTV), which cavity count?
2. Who programs the cold runner? In-house or a manifold vendor?
3. What is the flash spec you will accept without a secondary, and where is trim done?
4. Show me last calibration dates on the durometer and the vacuum gauge.
5. How do you separate tin-cure / millable / LSR platinum?
6. If the tool is damaged in storage, who pays the recut? (Listen for hesitation.)
7. Can we video first shots at tryout with cavity thermocouple traces?

Write answers into a one-page record. A shop that answers in machines and lot numbers is a shop. A shop that answers in adjectives is a website.

What remote cannot see (and how to bound it)

You will not feel clamp deflection. You will not smell sulfur. You will not catch a night-shift subcontract. Bound it:

• Require tryout video with the same token method.
• Require serial photos of the *your* tool at steel-complete: shutoff, runner, heaters, nameplate.
• Split first article: they measure, you remeasure a tagged subset on arrival.
• For high IP or high medical risk, remote audit is a filter, then one short on-site or a third-party inspector with *your* shot list, not theirs.

Fail criteria (end the call)

• Address on camera ≠ address on documents
• No toolroom and no named tool partner in writing
• LSR claimed, no heated platens / no cold-runner language
• Certs that do not match the pail on camera
• Refusal to show metrology live
• “We can do any MOQ, any class, any ISO” with one press in the shot

Pass is not a gold star. Pass is “this cell could run our process.” Then you still do DFM, class, and FAI like an adult.

Put on the RFQ: “Remote audit required before tooling PO: live shot list A-H, token on camera, document pile as specified. Broker status must be declared.”

FAQ

Why is a remote audit a timed shot list instead of a factory video?

If you cannot name the shots, you are watching a brochure. You need a handheld walk of gate, the press they would use, toolroom, material cage, secondary, metrology, storage, and a live traveler. Keep it under about 90 minutes so people stop performing.

What must arrive before the call or the video is a sales meeting?

Business license matching a live address, machine list by process, who cuts cavities, material FIFO, a redacted silicone FAI, calibration list, and the ISO certificate plus scope line. Scope that says trading is a warning. NDA first if the part is sensitive.

How do I know the footage is from today at that address?

A phone clock and a unique token you sent that morning, on camera in the first minute, plus a street sign or map pin that matches documents. Open a pail label and match it to a cert already sent. Recipe screens can blur customer names.

What can remote not see, and how do I bound it?

You will not feel clamp deflection, smell sulfur, or catch a night-shift subcontract. Require tryout video with the same token, steel-complete photos of your tool, a tagged subset you remeasure, and for high IP or medical risk a short on-site or a third party using your shot list.

Which findings should end the call immediately?

End the call if the live address does not match the documents, or if there is no toolroom and no named cutting partner in writing. LSR claimed without heated platens or cold-runner language is a fail, as are certs that do not match the pail on camera. Refusal to measure live, or "any MOQ, any class, any ISO" with one press in the shot, ends it too.