Hello, I am new to the forums here and new to the quality assurance business as well. I have enjoyed perusing these threads and found a lot of very useful information already. Thank you to all who have participated.

I am a material inspector for a company that purchases a wide variety of materials which must hold up to very stringent reliability standards. I do not have any formal education and have been doing my best to learn what I can about the whole process by reading anything and everything I can find on the subject.

We have recently absorbed a sister company and we're trying to combine the supplier approval systems. I am looking for recommendations for related reading material and/or examples of approval systems that I can use to make this transition smoother and more effective.

We purchase captive and non-captive precision-machined metal and plastic piece parts, printed wire boards, large alloy castings, electronic components, adhesives, fasteners and raw materials, (plastics, copper, steel etc.).

I'm not sure if our AVL is considered large or not but we have approximately 100 suppliers between the two businesses that we are trying to integrate.

Any information you can provide will be appreciated.

Welcome to the Cove, Mgoul! :bigwave:

We have recently absorbed a sister company and we're trying to combine the supplier approval systems. I am looking for recommendations for related reading material and/or examples of approval systems that I can use to make this transition smoother and more effective.

I am bit confused here. You first mention combining and then it sounds as if you're looking for a new system. My own personal preference would be to benchmark between the two, select the best aspects from each process to create your ideal state. I don't know how receptive either organization would be to 100% change in the process and if they are against it, all hopes for a smooth transition will be crushed.

I'm not sure if our AVL is considered large or not but we have approximately 100 suppliers between the two businesses that we are trying to integrate.

Integration of the AVL aside, from a purchasing standpoint, I would look at the suppliers and see who is providing the better product/service (based upon your criteria) and make them the supplier of choice to both organizations (if possible). If they are supplying more to your larger organization, they may be willing to cut their price to you.

Thank you for your response RCBeyette.

I agree that my statement is not as clear as it should be. I would like the examples and research leads so that I can develop a conceptual understanding of how the process should be. I'm sure that most, if not all, of the questions I have regarding the supplier approval process have already been answered.

Hopefully, I can clarify the situation a little more. Neither program works as well as I believe it should. We are also implementing new software that may have made some of the old processes obselete. So my goal is actually to blend the two systems together while replacing those parts that no longer make sense with something closer to the industry standard.

I'd suggest blending them as you are doing and then see how things are doing.

Hi Mgoul,
You didn't ask this question, but I think you should begin the process by "grandfathering" each other's suppliers into the AVL. That will cover you while you develop a system you like better.

If both of you have acceptance records and delivery data, then you have starting point to determine which common suppliers you might prune.

If you don't have the data, I'd recommend getting some benchmark data first before you prune anyone.

Then you can begin the process of developing a common supplier approval process you can both agree to.

Hello, I am new to the forums here and new to the quality assurance business as well. I have enjoyed perusing these threads and found a lot of very useful information already. Thank you to all who have participated.

I am a material inspector for a company that purchases a wide variety of materials which must hold up to very stringent reliability standards. I do not have any formal education and have been doing my best to learn what I can about the whole process by reading anything and everything I can find on the subject.

We have recently absorbed a sister company and we're trying to combine the supplier approval systems. I am looking for recommendations for related reading material and/or examples of approval systems that I can use to make this transition smoother and more effective.

We purchase captive and non-captive precision-machined metal and plastic piece parts, printed wire boards, large alloy castings, electronic components, adhesives, fasteners and raw materials, (plastics, copper, steel etc.).

I'm not sure if our AVL is considered large or not but we have approximately 100 suppliers between the two businesses that we are trying to integrate.

Any information you can provide will be appreciated.

Hello Mgoul,

When two systems (organizations) merge (combine), there is a new system.
My recommendation would be to declare all previous supplier approvals null and void, extablish new fine-tuned supplier approval criteria based on previous lessons learned. You can classify potential suppliers based on the impact their product/service has on the final product that you produce. Three levels of suppliers would be appropriate. Start with a new supplier approval process. Great way to clean some house. There is a lot of good information here at The Cove Forums about suppliers and supplier development. Start fresh!

Stijloor.