Supplier Evaluation: just a pain in the ass?

Welcome to our BLOG!

This week we will be telling you all about supplier evaluation. We strongly suggest for you to go check out our last series on supplier’s delivery-times to further understand the connection between these two topics and keep optimizing your processes!

Let 's start!

So … why would anyone want to do a supplier evaluation? How do you even do it? Do you need to? Does it have to be a pain in the ass if you do it? ...

First of all, nobody has to perform a supplier evaluation. At least not by law. However, if you are not certified, you will not be listed as a possible supplier for any OEM in most of the industries. At the end, having an established quality management system with a well oiled supplier management is crucial for success and constant improvement. And, of course, just as in high school, popularity is key. You will not want to be the only kid quietly sitting in the corner with a smelly egg-tuna sandwich while everyone else eats their fancy sushi ... which in this case would be a certification...

Are you still with us? Let us be more clear if that allusion to your childhood did not ring any bells. Reputation is essential in the business world, and nowadays, having a certification like the ISO 9001, is almost a necessity, having it is standard, but not having it could be a disadvantage.

Side note: hereinafter we will refer mainly to EN ISO or DIN EN ISO. When a standard by the ISO (International Standards organization) is adopted by the European Union it becomes an EN-ISO standard. And the DIN is added when the German version is mentioned, since DIN is the German standardization institute (Deutsches Institut für Normung). There are also the IATF (International Automotive Task Force) which sets specific standards for the automotive industry), the IRIS International Railway Industry Standard, as well as the EN 9100 or QSF (A,B,C,D: Qualitätssicherungsanforderungen für Luft- und Raumfahrt) among others.

Goal and advantages:

How about we start with the benefits your company will enjoy in return for the supplier assessment before scaring you off with methods and assessment criteria?

Obviously the goal here is to - assess - your suppliers and their performance, but the point in doing that is to recognize opportunities for the enterprise to be further optimized. It allows you to gain insights that help you decide which supplier could fit different projects better, which ones to keep around and which relationships should be improved or even reduced.

By developing a process-oriented quality management system that provides continuous improvement, you could prevent defects and reduce variation and waste in the supply chain.

EN - ISO 9001

This is the world’s most recognized standard when it comes to quality management systems QMS. This standard sets the lowest baseline (i.e. the minimum Requirements) needed to make sure that you are able to fulfil customers requirements. Supply evaluation is just one tiny part of a QMS, but it is, as important as any other for your company to be efficient and off course, to get certified.

According to the “new” ISO 9001:2015 the supplier evaluation can be issued to the supplier semi-annually or annually.

The ISO’s main goal is to certify that all products and services provided by external suppliers fulfil all the previously established requisites by an enterprise.
The receiving company must therefore be the one that chooses and determines the type and reach of the assessment and the information that must be communicated to the suppliers to ensure that all deliveries match their needs.

Does this sound like a lot already? it probably does, and it is. But it does not have to be a pain in the ass. Do you want to learn the keys to get it done as smoothly as possible? Visit us next week to learn how it is done, the methods and criteria you need to use, and how the fourth industrial revolution can help your company in this case! We hope you enjoyed this article, stay tuned for and let us know via the contact form if you have specific questions regarding your supplier evaluation.

Until the next time,
your Statistance- team.