How do you evaluate suppliers? Is it through past experience? A questionnaire? The company I am working for is a broker for computer parts and they work with many different suppliers and are continually adding new ones. There is no preferred list in place now...so I'm starting fresh.
So I need to know the most efficient way of evaluating suppliers and also what to do when new suppliers are continually being added. Obviously a large part of selection for suppliers for this company is being based on availablity and pricing.
I have seen supplier evaluation done differently for different customers in different industries. Most have had a grandfather clause. So as you are starting now, you can accept vendors you have had for a while on the list.
How you wish to evaluate them is up to you. You can use experience, or develop a questionnaire, if you really yield useful information out of it.
Let's run a scenario. Assume you have 60 suppliers on the current list. Must you have all 60? Or, can you eliminate some of the suppliers and buy from other ones? Let's say you need all 60. You claim given their experience, they are now considered approved vendors.
Now why are you adding new vendors? Do you need them, or can you buy from one of the existing vendors? If you need to add them, I would think you would need to justify somehow why they are now OK to use.
To me, there is a tradeoff. You don't want to make it so cumbersome and difficult to add a new vendor if you need one. However, just because you find another vendor that will save you a total of $3.00 does not mean you start buying from them.
They may have poor quality, and it will cost you a much larger amount at that point.
Determine what is important for your supplier, then evaluate that it is in place.
