The complaints we hear most often about PP bags and FIBCs from India are under-weight fabric, loop stitching failures, UV degradation, contamination in food grade bags, dimension variance, sifting of fine product through seams, poor printing and late delivery. Almost all of these trace back to one of three causes: a loose specification, a plant chosen on price alone, or no inspection before the container was sealed. Each is avoidable with a little discipline at the ordering stage.
Strength and safety complaints
- Under-weight fabric: the fabric is lighter than the GSM in the specification, which saves the plant resin and costs you strength. It is caught by weighing cut samples and by checking the top lift result.
- Loop stitching failures: loops pull away from the body under load because the stitch count, thread or stitch pattern is wrong. A witnessed top lift test and a check of stitch density on production bags prevent it.
- UV degradation: bags stored in sunlight turn brittle because the UV stabiliser was omitted or under-dosed. Specify the UV treatment and the expected outdoor exposure period.
- Dimension variance: bags are shorter, narrower or have the spout in the wrong place, which upsets filling lines and pallet patterns. Measure a sample from each batch against the drawing.
Product and appearance complaints
- Contamination in food grade: foreign matter, insects, hair or odour in bags meant for food or pharmaceutical use, caused by poor housekeeping, open windows or shared production lines. Buy only from a BRCGS or equivalent certified cleanroom and inspect before loading.
- Sifting through seams: fine powders leak through the needle holes because the seam type or the liner is wrong for the product. Specify a sift-proof seam or a liner from the start.
- Poor printing: faded, misaligned or smudged print, usually from the wrong ink, worn plates or printing on fabric that was not clean. Approve a printed sample and keep it as the reference.
- Late delivery: the ship date slips because resin was not bought in time or the plant took on too much work. Weekly production updates make slippage visible early.
Where the fault usually lies
Buyers sometimes assume that every complaint is the plant's fault. In practice a large share comes from specifications that never stated the GSM, the seam type or the UV requirement, so the plant made a reasonable assumption that happened to be wrong. The specification is the contract, and the time spent writing it well pays back many times over.
The other recurring cause is the absence of anyone on the ground. A plant that knows its goods will be inspected and tested before loading behaves differently from one that knows the container will be sealed unseen. Pre-shipment inspection is not a sign of distrust, it is simply part of the process.
What Creston & Co does
We write the specification with you, audit the plant, witness lift tests, send sealed samples to an NABL-accredited laboratory, inspect before shipment and supervise loading, and we send you a short weekly update throughout. Most of the complaints above never reach you because they are caught at the plant. If you have a recurring complaint with a current supplier, a free 20-minute sourcing review is a good way to work out what is going wrong.