FWIW:
Whether the customer provides a list of "approved" suppliers or a single "designated" supplier is immaterial in terms of whether the material from such supplier may be incorporated in a component, package or kit, or assembly your organization delivers to the customer. You need a written process or procedure to address this situation.
As a supplier, the situation should have been covered and signed off during Contract Review.
In terms of "approved" suppliers list provided by a customer, your organization may pick and choose which of them to approve and use yourself. The routine for your organization should include the same approval criteria you would use for any random supplier picked out of a telephone directory.
In terms of "designated" supplier dictated [mandated] by your customer, you should ask (during Contract Review) whether the customer guarantees the quality and service of such designated supplier. If not, why not? Despite the guarantee or lack thereof, you still need to assure the quality of the product or service BEFORE installing it in the product you deliver to your customer. This is accomplished in one of two ways:
- Through laborious incoming inspection before sending product to your production line.
- Through approving the supplier's internal methods in the same way you approve ANY supplier with whom you want or have a "dock-to-stock" agreement which bypasses your own costly incoming inspection.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
For "customer supplied" product, you definitely need to cover (in Contract Review)
- who pays for incoming inspection, if necessary?
- what criteria will be used to determine whether customer supplied product is conforming enough to be installed in the product you deliver?
- who pays for delays caused by nonconforming product supplied by customer?
- what are the repercussions if "hidden nonconformities" of customer supplied product are discovered AFTER the product is in the field? (This is occasioned by a case where a customer inadvertently supplied counterfeit bolts which had not been properly heat treated and subsequently broke in the field, causing consequential damages for the end users of the equipment. The supplier who installed the bolts was limited to a visual inspection of the "ID lugs" on the bolt [counterfeit], designating the hardness category.)
Had my 1st preliminary assessment last week and it went ok. Had a question about a finding in my Purchasing area,
What is the difference between a customer designated vs. customer approved supplier? Is it, for a customer designated supplier, if a a customer says to use a supplier but it is not on our approved supplier list, then it is ok to use the supplier the one time for the particular project? Then for a customer approved the customer wants us to use the supplier and we would put it on our approved supplier list, but still maintain the supplier as any other supplier (periodic on-site audits)?
Will probably have more questions in the future.
Here's my interpretation, although your customer/industry may vary:
Customer designated means you didn't have to go through a selection process. However, they should still be on your approved supplier list, and you should still review their performance (and report results to them as well as to customer)
Customer approved means you may have selected them, but customer maintained right to approve/deny.
Please let us see the finding issued as it is worded, if this concerns to customer approved supplier.
There is no difference as far as a QMS application goes. Some say designated and some other say approved. Perhaps you are holding to both and now confused, trying to find the difference.