Sourcing Audit Schedule for Supplier Audits

L

LesPiles

Dear Covers!

Question: we have approached an automotive manufacturer and it came to audit us. The bar is high but oh how interesting !

In its list of blames, the automotive manufacturer is criticizing us for not having a sourcing audit schedule to audit our suppliers. In fact, even to conduct our internal audits is a challenge ... but that?s another issue!

So, in order to build a supplier audit schedule, I?ve looked at our suppliers list, and sorted the suppliers that :
1) we have an influence over them,
2) we have a significant amount of orders (in $ terms), and
3) we have experienced a number of problems with them.

From this list, I made a template where appears in x-axis the time (months) and in y-axis suppliers. I think it is good but however, this does not satisfy me ... at least not yet.

I have some fears:
? That we cannot fulfill the objectives of audits in view of our current resources ? in both departments involved (Quality Assurance + Purchasing Dept) ;
? That the exercise would not be fully understood by suppliers (we?ve never been subjected to automotive standards ? this also applies to them);
? That resources will not be allocated by our management (audit external suppliers involves travel and therefore costs).

I would like your feedback on these points. Also, any help would be appreciated by someone who has already had to build such a program - and if the documentation could also be shared it would be great!

LesPiles
 
L

lk2012

Hi,
just to clarify: does the OEM expect you to audit all your suppliers regularly?
Would they be satisfied with regular performance reviews instead perhaps?

Good luck,
Lil
 

AndyN

Moved On
Great answer/questions from LK! I'd add, do you require or select suppliers who are certified to ISO 9001 as a minimum? One of the reasons for doing this is to help STOP the need for supplier audits (especially if you don't have much spend with them!)

Of course, there are some OE supplier people who just don't know enough and think everyone should do things the way they do! Audit, audit, audit. Maybe they don't like being at home?
 

pkost

Trusted Information Resource
If your customer has made it clear that they require supplier audits and your management will not resource that, then it needs to be made clear to mangament that you are not meeting your customer requirements and are at risk of losing their business

We use the following method (I work in medical devices, it may or may not be appropriate for you):

We risk assess each supplier consdiering product, product type, quality of technical documentation provided, supplier relationship, product importance and value, non conformance history. this is revisited on an annual/as and when needed basis

We rank each supplier dependent on their risk score. We then assign a number of bands of surveillance...e.g no site audit required, annual audit or 3yr.



The banding can then be discussed with management and can be adjusted depending on the level of resource avaliable and the business appetite for risk at that moment in time
 
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