What Is the Supplier Audit?
Where do you stand with your supplier? Maybe suppliers since it is possible to have more than one or many that provide you with parts, components, products, or services. All this depending on what you need in specific.
Now, going back to the question we just made, do you know why it is important for you and any company or business to answer it? Well, several replies or answers apply, but if we had to mention the main reason behind this it would be that your supplier is an important part of your company. Just imagine if you don’t get the parts for your final product on time, this means you will delay your production and miss the deadline of your own delivery.
There are several repercussions for a company when the supplier can meet the requirements and expectations, and you, as the company affected, need to decide if you can afford this or not. Essentially, you can’t, but that doesn’t mean you can’t give your supplier another opportunity but just ask yourself, is it worth it?
You need to make sure your business has potential and perfect suppliers in order to avoid issues and problems in the future. Otherwise, you will find yourself in trouble since you won’t be able to keep your production, performance, and competitive level at you want it to be, and even less improve it. Now, how can you know that the supplier you have is still the right one for you? Or maybe, you are trying to find new ones, how do you know they can meet your requirements and needs?
This is where Supplier Audits play an important role in your processes.
These audits consist of evaluating and determining the relationship between the customer and the supplier. In simpler words, between the company and the supplier providing all the parts, components, or services. What does it audit in specific? The quality and delivery of the products or services.
When you are about to employ a new supplier, you need to make sure that the quality of the parts or products it provides meets your standards or requirements. Otherwise, what is the point in going for this supplier in the first place? Also, you need to keep in mind the delivery fact since it isn’t only about the quality but also about how fast this supplier can provide you with everything you need.
Most companies that think about Supplier Audits think they are only conducted when they are trying to hire a new supplier and expand their supply chains. However, this audit gains even more relevance when it needs to be conducted to evaluate and assess the current suppliers of the company.
Do you need to conduct Supplier Audits?
If you have suppliers for your company, it has never hurt someone to conduct them.
At ISO Pros, we encourage you to conduct them if you want to make sure that all your needs and requirements are met.
Keep in mind that the main reason someone would also want to conduct this type of auditing is that it needs to make a decision.
Should I continue with this supplier or find a new one? Or should I consider another supplier that can provide better quality and delivery?
These two questions are the ones that companies—and of course, you—will answer through a Supply Audit. Now, this audit doesn’t have to be conducted for your company only. Most of the time, you have the chance to conduct it on behalf of someone else that needs to know the capabilities or abilities of the supplier in meeting the requirements.
This is why you will find yourself in the middle of several companies and their suppliers. But, why would someone hire an external auditor to conduct it?
Before moving onto this question, you must know that you are free to conduct Supply Audits when you are certified to do it and know how to plan and manage the program correctly. If you are not certified, it isn’t correct to do it nor are you prepared for it.
That being said, being able to conduct Supply Audits takes a lot of work, time, and resources. Starting with the need of training your auditors and making sure they are independent enough to make decisions and come to the conclusion, as well as collecting the required information.
Some companies and businesses can’t afford to go through all the trouble and have their own team of auditors to conduct them. Therefore, you can learn and get certified in Supplier Audits for your own sake, or to conduct someone else’s audits as well.
What is so important about conducting them?
If you can identify the problems and lack of quality and delivery in your supplier, you will be saving yourself a lot of time and money. After all, having a supplier that can’t meet your requirements only leads to serious issues you won’t be able to solve without sacrificing something in the future.
This means you want to know if your suppliers are the right ones or not before the poor quality, delivery and performance start to affect your company and even harm your customers. Besides, there are many benefits from conducting a Supplier Audit, you just need to be willing to conduct it and prepare yourself for it.
Otherwise, you will end up having to contact an external auditor to do it for you. It isn’t too difficult to get certified or to conduct one correctly. You only have to follow the requirements and guidelines in ISO 9001, which is a standard you will grow familiar with from now on.
And in our company, ISO Pros, we can help and support you to meet every single parameter in the normative. And even better, get you certified once you have met all of them. There is a lot involved in Supplier Audits and knowing what they are isn’t enough to make the decision and prepare yourself to conduct them.
Therefore, we invite you to read more information about it on our website.