Hi Everyone,
When dealing with foreign suppliers, it's common to deal with a "middle-man" company who, in turn, deals with an actual manufacturer.
(NOTE: this situation can apply to any supplier but, in my experience, is most common with foreign suppliers due to language barriers preventing direct dealings with manufacturing facilities).
For example:
So I'm curious how people deal with such situations from a quality-system/documentation perspective.
...hope this makes sense. :
If you can make sense of what I'm talking about, any feedback or advice is much appreciated.
MM
When dealing with foreign suppliers, it's common to deal with a "middle-man" company who, in turn, deals with an actual manufacturer.
(NOTE: this situation can apply to any supplier but, in my experience, is most common with foreign suppliers due to language barriers preventing direct dealings with manufacturing facilities).
For example:
- Company A is the manufacturing facility that manufactures widgets
- Company B is a middle-man who brokers orders with Company A.
- Company A has a certified quality system, but Company B does not.
- Supplier agreements are with Company B.
- All orders go through Company B (i.e. the name on all purchase orders is Company B), but all received items are from Company A.
So I'm curious how people deal with such situations from a quality-system/documentation perspective.
- Is Company A necessary to include in supplier records?
- Is it sufficient that the supplier agreement with Company B require that they notify us of any change to manufacturer, and we also verify this by confirming that shipments always come from Company A?
- Would a Notified Body inspect the facilities of Company A, or Company B?
...hope this makes sense. :
If you can make sense of what I'm talking about, any feedback or advice is much appreciated.
MM