Suppliers play a critical role in the production process. Whether they are a CMO who produces the finished product for the product owner, or a supplier of a material used in the final product, proper supplier management is important. Thankfully there are a few tools that can help monitor a supplier’s performance and reduce the risk associated with them.
- Supplier Scorecard
A supplier scorecard is a tool utilized to keep track of how a supplier is doing. The supplier is given an initial score of 100 and points are deducted for poor performance. Points may be deducted for several reasons. If the supplier is audited and there are findings points may be deducted or if a delivery from the supplier is late points may also be deducted. Regardless of the reason why points are deducted, the score of the suppliers lets an organization know how they are doing and if risk mitigation needs to be conducted for the supplier.
- Supplier Corrective Action Request
A Supplier Corrective Action Request, or SCAR for short, is a formal request issued to the supplier to correct a systemic issue. The supplier will send a response to the request with an action plan of how they intended to correct the issue. The plan may be accepted or rejected by the customer. In the case of rejection, the request is sent back to the supplier, and they are asked to rework their plan to a more acceptable version. The plan should include what actions the supplier intends to take, when those actions will be implemented, and when effectiveness would be determined.
- Approved Supplier List
The Approved Supplier List, ASL, is a powerful tool that lets an organization monitor the status of all their suppliers in one place. The list contains the name of the supplier, the supplier’s contact information, the standing of the supplier with the organization if the supplier needs to be audited, and more. Not every supplier will necessarily need to be on the list, for example, the supplier of paper clips will likely not be included on the list. Critical suppliers, however, are essential to include on the list.
There are many more tools that can be used for supplier management. EMMA International can help provide an organization with these tools and help integrate the tools as part of the organization’s overall Quality System. EMMA International provides Full Circle Consulting services, give us a call at 248-987-4497 or email us at info@emmainternational.com to get in touch with our team of experts today.
