Guides / Choosing a Factory

How to Check a Vietnamese Wood Factory Before You Order

September 7, 2026

Most sourcing failures in Vietnam are not quality failures. They are identity failures. The company you contracted with was not the company that made the goods, and nobody told you until something went wrong.

This is the sequence that catches that, in the order that costs you the least time.

Step 1: is this a factory at all

Start with paperwork that is cheap to check. Ask for the business registration number and the tax code, then look at the registered business activity. A manufacturer registers manufacturing. A trading company registers trade. Neither is disqualifying, but you should know which one you are talking to.

Then ask three questions that a trader cannot fake in a live conversation.

How large is your kiln, in cubic metres, and how many chambers? A producer says a number immediately because it limits their monthly output.

Which of your lines is running this week, and what is on it? A producer describes a schedule. A trader describes capability.

Who owns the finishing booth? This is the one that separates real producers most reliably, because finishing is the step most often outsourced.

None of this means you should refuse to work with a trading company. Some manage quality better than the factories they buy from. It means you should price and plan for the extra link in the chain rather than discover it in month three.

Step 2: capacity that matches your order, not their best month

Ask for capacity in containers per month for your product category, not in square metres of floor space. Floor space tells you nothing about throughput.

Then ask what is already booked for the window when your order would run. The furniture year has a shape: retail programs for the northern hemisphere autumn season book capacity through the middle of the year, and outdoor furniture books earlier still. A factory with real capacity will tell you when it is tight. A factory that says every month is open is either small, slow or telling you what you want to hear.

The mismatch to avoid is being the smallest customer in a plant built for retail programs. Your order becomes the one that gets moved when a large customer pushes a date.

Step 3: the kiln and the moisture story

Ask whether the kiln is owned or rented, how many cubic metres, and what the cycle time is for the species in your product.

Then ask for the target moisture content for your destination market and how it is measured. For a product going to a heated house in the US or northern Europe, 8 to 10 percent is the target. Outdoor furniture can sit higher. A factory that answers “dry” rather than a number is guessing, and your product will move after it lands.

One more question that separates good plants: where does the wood sit between the kiln and machining. Timber left in an open yard in a Vietnamese wet season regains moisture, which makes a correct kiln reading meaningless by the time it hits the moulder.

For the full picture on this, see the guide to moisture content in export furniture.

Step 4: finishing

Finishing decides more of the perceived quality of a wood product than the joinery does, and it is the step most often subcontracted.

Ask whether it is in house, which coating system is used, how many coats, and who signs the master colour sample. Ask to see the drying space and the dust control, because finish defects are almost always contamination rather than coating quality.

Then ask what happens to a piece that fails finish inspection. A factory that strips and recoats has a real process. A factory that says it never happens does not inspect.

Step 5: what gets subcontracted

Every furniture factory subcontracts something. The list usually includes metal parts, glass, stone tops, upholstery, hardware and sometimes cartons.

Ask for the list. A factory that gives it to you readily is telling you where its lead time risk sits, which is exactly what you want to know. A factory that claims to do everything in house is either unusual or not being straight with you.

If a subcontracted component is critical to your product, ask to have it inspected separately before assembly. Finding a bad metal frame after it is screwed into a finished cabinet is expensive.

Step 6: documents and references

Now ask for the document set: FSC scope if you need it, panel certificates if the product uses plywood or MDF, social audit reports if your customer requires them, and export history by market.

Export history matters more than certificates. A factory that has shipped to your market before has already learned that market’s packing, labelling and paperwork habits. One that has not will learn them on your order.

Ask for two references in your own market and contact them directly. Ask a narrow question: did the second order run as well as the first? Most factories perform on a first order. The second one is where process shows.

See the legality document guide for what to require and how to verify it.

Step 7: treat the sample round as the real audit

Everything above is preparation. The sample round is the test.

Watch what the factory does before it builds. A good one comes back with questions: which face is the show face, what tolerance on the panel thickness, is the colour matched wet or dry, what is the carton drop test requirement. Those questions mean somebody is thinking about production, not just about winning the order.

Watch the turnaround honestly. A sample that arrives very fast is often built by a skilled worker at a bench, not by the process that will build your order. Ask how it was made.

And keep the approved sample. Sign it, date it, photograph it and reference it in the purchase contract. Every argument you will have later about colour, finish or dimension resolves against that piece.

Once you know the factory is real and capable, the next questions are commercial: see MOQ and order economics and lead time and the production schedule.

Frequently asked questions

Keep reading

• CNC and 5-Axis Wood Machining in Vietnamese Furniture Plants
• Inspecting Furniture in Vietnam Before the Container Seals