Vetting of Factories

All global suppliers used by NP are carefully vetted by the company's management by a combination of personal visits, technical inspections and careful prior qualification processes.

The vetting criteria include:

• ISO approved
• Serious management
• Technical sophistication
• Export focus, Western experience and service orientation
• Long term thinking
• Expansion strategy
• Financially stable
• Product warranties (stand by their products)
• Commercial flexibility (not just "their" way)
• Good relations - the test is not in the soft markets
• Strengths - utilize them for what they do best
• Regular visits (both ways) - face to face business