Suppliers are a key piece in the smooth operation of a company. They are responsible for providing the components needed to carry out processes, as well as for the development of products and services.
Because they are so important, the coordinator needs to define and apply criteria for evaluating, selecting, and monitoring these external providers in order to ensure the company is supplied with quality resources.
According to the ISO 9001:2015 standard, supplier evaluation criteria begin with an initial selection and continue through to monitoring their performance.
Is supplier qualification being carried out at your company? How is all the information being documented? What evaluation criteria have been defined to assess your providers?
In this post, see what you need to know about supplier qualification and why qualifying your supplier is important. Also, learn what the types of evaluations are and how technology can help manage the information and calculate the Supply Quality Index (IQF).
Happy reading!
Supplier qualification according to ISO 9001:2015
Every day, more companies are outsourcing processes and services to gain more availability and time to focus on other operations. This practice can be interesting for the company to dedicate itself to customer service and relationships, and also to think about strategies to stand out and differentiate itself in the market.
However, the more processes, products, and services are outsourced, the less control the company has over its business. That is because more outside people are involved, and their behavior can either benefit or harm your business.
It is precisely because of the risk of the company being harmed that requirement 8.4 of ISO 9001:2015 exists. It deals with the control of externally provided processes, products, and services, and stresses the importance of the company evaluating suppliers to ensure that the delivered items comply with the specifications it has determined.
To evaluate external providers, it is necessary to apply evaluation, selection, and monitoring criteria and, based on the results, identify which suppliers are reliable.
The importance of qualifying your supplier
When a company has a good portfolio of providers, it does not need to worry about the quality of externally provided products and services. After all, it knows its suppliers are reliable and committed to its business.
However, if it does not have a team of qualified providers, it may feel insecure every time it enters a new negotiation.
Qualifying suppliers is a fundamental practice for a company to establish a solid structure. After all, by doing so, it can secure the components needed to carry out all of its processes, and also gain access to products and services that convey quality.
Types of supplier evaluation
Now that you know what requirement 8.4 says and why supplier qualification is important, you must be wondering: "How can I evaluate my external providers?"
Well, there are 3 types of evaluations that serve to qualify your suppliers: initial evaluation, monitoring, and re-evaluation. See below how each of them works:
Initial evaluation
In the initial evaluation, you can qualify your suppliers through a questionnaire. In the document, you can ask whether they hold ISO 9001 certification and follow all its recommendations, for example. Also, whether they provide any kind of warranty for manufacturing defects or whether they have experience.
The selection of questions is up to your company, and you can decide which answers are most relevant. What matters here is that you feel confident about the answers and can identify which providers convey credibility.
Don't have a defined process for supplier evaluation? Check out a template here!
Monitoring
Monitoring is used to track the operational performance of your suppliers. In other words, to find out through metrics and indicators whether they are fulfilling their obligations and whether their purposes are still aligned with the company's objectives.
At this stage, you should check whether your providers are delivering on time, for example. Also, whether they are helping clarify all your questions and whether the products and services delivered still offer quality.
Re-evaluation
At the beginning of a relationship, everything is wonderful and positive, isn't it? But that doesn't mean things will stay that way over time.
Re-evaluating your external providers from time to time is the best way to assess — a second time — whether they are the right suppliers to help grow your business.
How can technology help manage the evaluations?
Until recently, all supplier evaluation procedures were carried out manually. Today, however, with the support of technology, companies can already execute and manage this procedure in an automated way.
If qualifying external providers used to be a slow and bureaucratic procedure, it no longer has to be that way. Companies can make use of more modern tools to simplify and optimize the management of evaluations.
Originally published in Portuguese at useall.com.br.