Question and advice for a supplier self audit questionnaire

duff999

Quite Involved in Discussions
Hi Folks

I am working through my supplier quality SOP and I am looking for advice on our supplier self audit questionnaire. We generally work with ISO certified suppliers and I feel I would not get response back from them to fill out the questionnaire. Would it be safe to state something to the affect - suppliers who are current on their ISO certifications are not required to complete the form, and we can accept their site quality review?

Any help would be appreciated.
 

Mike S.

Happy to be Alive
Trusted Information Resource
Generally speaking....I hate getting those damn surveys to complete, most especially the ones that ask if I'm ISO9001 or AS9100 certified, then if I answer "yes" they ask for copies of my certs, and then proceed to ask me a bunch of stupid questions like "do you have a system for performing internal audits?"

Supplier surveys have gotten out of hand, IMO. If your suppliers are certified to the standards you care about, don't waste their time asking questions covered by the standards. Only ask any additional questions that you truly are going to use in determining if you are going to approve them or not.
 

RoxaneB

Change Agent and Data Storyteller
Super Moderator
Full disclosure - I am more familiar with ISO 9001 than ISO 13485, so my response is based on that familiarity.

If a supplier is certified to the standard(s) your organization wants, then a copy of their valid and current certificate should be sufficient for your process.

That said, there is so much more to include in supplier quality including supplier performance. How wonderful it would be to show the supplier how well they're performing for you. How potentially valuable it would be to ask an under-performing supplier to provide a response to the the data you've shared, regardless of their certification status. How eye-opening it could be to ask them what your organization can do to help them to meet your requirements.

The focus is heavy on the customer experience...wouldn't supplier experience be an interesting path to explore...
 

Sidney Vianna

Post Responsibly
Leader
Admin
I am looking for advice on our supplier self audit questionnaire.
Have you ever received a questionnaire from a supplier that confirmed they not doing or not having something you expect them to? In my experience, such questionnaires are useless and, from a risk management perspective, not value added.
 

duff999

Quite Involved in Discussions
Have you ever received a questionnaire from a supplier that confirmed they not doing or not having something you expect them to? In my experience, such questionnaires are useless and, from a risk management perspective, not value added.
Very good point, we receive back very few. I wanted to write some justification into the process to accept the supplier based on what ISO cert they are able to provide or for me to search, along with other due diligence.
 

John C. Abnet

Teacher, sensei, kennari
Leader
Super Moderator
Any help would be appreciated.
Good day @duff999 ;
May I inquire as to ...
- IS there a close relationship with your suppliers?
- What proximity is your organization to (the majority) of your suppliers?
- If reasonable proximity, when was the last time your organization performed an audit (or simply visited...had coffee with ) your supplier(s)?
- Has your organization ever worked with your supplier(s) to help them develop their qms?...work through a corrective action?....
- Does your organization provide a scorecard or other consistent feedback to your suppliers? If "yes", does your organization Pareto that information and focus specifically on the "poor" suppliers?

From my experience, the greatest effort an organization can put forth to assure supplier performance, is relationship building/maintaining. As @Sidney Vianna stated, rarely will a responded to self audit actually 'tell" you anything. As @Mike S. stated, suppliers are buried with and often frustrated with this requests (which are often disjointed at best).

My thoughts.
Hope this helps.
Be well.
 

John Broomfield

Leader
Super Moderator
duff999,

Having verified the status of your suppliers’ management systems:

A. Accredited certification
B. Certification (by certified lead auditors)
C. Self-declared conformity (by certified lead auditors)

You then need to consider the scopes of certification and if the scope includes the services and products you purchase with due regard for outsourcing.

Finally, you need to be able to show that your supplier selection criteria are effective.

You and your colleagues may prefer to stick to a process they can show is effective.

Good luck!
 
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