Scoring methodology

Factory Score is a 0–100 transparency metric. It measures how much publicly verifiable information a company publishes — nothing else. Here is exactly how it is calculated, so you can decide how much weight to give it.

The principle in one paragraph

Every point in a Factory Score must be traceable to a public source. A field that cannot be sourced contributes zero — it is displayed as “Not publicly disclosed” rather than estimated. This is why scores here tend to be lower than on directories that infer or aggregate platform data: we are measuring evidence, not marketing.

The eight components

Manufacturing Evidence

25 pts

Whether the company demonstrably operates production facilities.

·Independent website rather than only a B2B platform storefront (8)
·Published factory address, or city-level location at minimum (5)
·Factory / production photographs with recorded license status (5)
·Sourced description of manufacturing capability (4)
·Published production capacity or production line information with a source (3)

Export Evidence

20 pts

Whether the company publishes verifiable international trade activity.

·Number of export markets explicitly listed (up to 10)
·Export claim with a traceable source and original wording (6)
·Recorded export evidence such as trade documentation references (4)

Product Fit

15 pts

How well the company's range matches the partition categories it is listed under.

·Number of partition product categories covered (up to 6)
·Specialisation weighting per category (up to 5)
·Clearly stated OEM / ODM support (4)

Certifications

10 pts

Whether certifications can be traced to a source rather than merely asserted.

·Certifications with a recorded source URL (up to 7)
·Certifications additionally verified by our team (3)

Project Evidence

10 pts

Whether overseas project cases exist with a public source.

·Number of overseas project cases with a public source (up to 7)
·Number of countries covered by sourced projects (3)
·Self-reported project counts without a source do not score

Website / Contact Quality

5 pts

Availability of an official web presence and business contact channels.

·Working official website (2)
·Published business email or contact form (2)
·Published business phone or WhatsApp (1)

Data Freshness

5 pts

How recently the profile was checked and how confident we are in the data.

·Verified within 90 days (3) / within 180 days (2)
·Data confidence level High (2) / Medium (1)

Editorial rules we apply

No invented facts. We never generate factory area, employee count, certifications, export markets, project counts or revenue.
Self-reported numbers are labelled as claims. A company stating “500 projects completed” is recorded as a claim; it does not score as verified project evidence.
Conflicts are surfaced. When sources disagree, both values and their sources are recorded and the field is flagged.
Status labels are earned. A profile can only be marked Verified when its key fields have a recorded source, and it can only be published after human review.
Commercial placement is separated. Sponsored listings are labelled and never affect scores or organic order.

How to use a score sensibly

Treat the score as a starting point for filtering, not as a verdict. A useful pattern for buyers:

Shortlist on the attributes that matter to your project — product category, certification type, export region.
Open the score breakdown on each profile and read the reasons. The reasons tell you more than the number.
Look at what is missing. A manufacturer missing certifications entirely may simply not publish them — ask directly.
Always request test reports, references and samples before contracting. No directory can substitute for that.

Frequently asked questions

Does a higher Factory Score mean a better manufacturer?+

No. Factory Score measures how much publicly verifiable information a company publishes. It is a transparency and data-completeness metric, not a quality, price or reliability rating. A company with a low score may simply disclose little publicly — which is common among capable Chinese manufacturers who do not maintain English-language websites.

Why are the scores on this site lower than on other directories?+

Because most fields we ask for simply are not published by most manufacturers. Employee counts, factory areas and sourced overseas project cases are rarely available. We deliberately do not fill these gaps with estimates, so scores stay low. A score of 45 in this directory can represent a well-documented company.

Can a manufacturer pay to increase its score?+

No. Sponsorship and paid memberships do not affect Factory Score in any way. Sponsored placements are labelled and appear separately from organic results.

How often is data re-checked?+

Profiles are re-checked on a 90 to 180 day cycle. When a company's website becomes unavailable or data changes, the confidence level is lowered and the profile is queued for review.

What happens when sources disagree?+

The field is flagged as conflicting rather than resolved by picking one value. We record both values and their sources so a reader can judge. We never silently choose the more flattering number.