Last Updated on October 24, 2022 by Ossian Muscad
Quality management of suppliers is essential for any business. Suppliers are the backbone of a company, and their compliance with quality standards is crucial to the success of the business. That’s why it’s important to have a supplier quality management system in place.
Any small shop or large corporation must have a system to manage the suppliers that provide them with quality goods and services. This article will serve as a guide to quality management of suppliers and how to manage suppliers for your business.
What is Supplier Quality Management?
Supplier quality management, or SQM, is a process that helps businesses to ensure that their suppliers are compliant with quality standards. It’s important to have SQM in place because suppliers can impact the quality of a product or service. Businesses can reduce the risk of poor-quality products or services by managing suppliers.
Several different factors need to be considered when managing suppliers. These include supplier selection, quality assurance, quality control, and supplier performance measurement.
What is the Supplier Management Process?
The supplier management process (SMP) is a series of steps businesses take to manage suppliers. The SMP helps businesses to select suppliers, assess supplier performance, and ensure suppliers comply with quality standards and regulations.
SMP is an important component of suppliers quality management systems. Without an SMP system, companies would have difficulty managing suppliers and risk damaging their reputations through potentially poor-quality products.
The SMP consists of four main components:
- Supplier selection: this component involves selecting the right suppliers based on predetermined criteria such as pricing, delivery speed, reliability, availability, and product quality.
- Contract negotiation: this component involves negotiating the terms of the contract with suppliers. It’s important to have a contract that outlines both parties’ expectations.
- Monitoring and reporting: your company will need to monitor supplier performance and report any issues to the suppliers. This helps ensure that suppliers meet your company’s standards and requirements.
- Compliance: your company will need to comply with applicable laws and regulations, including those related to quality standards governing food safety, environment, labor, and health.
Keep in mind that different companies often use different methods for implementing SMP. For example, some may use a manual approach while managers review each step of the process, while others may use software to automate the process.
How to Choose Suppliers
Never take shortcuts when it comes to supplier quality management. Choosing the wrong suppliers can put your business at risk and damage your reputation. That’s why you should emphasize supplier selection.
There are several factors that you’ll need to consider when selecting suppliers. These include:
- Pricing: you’ll need to compare the prices of different suppliers and choose one that offers a competitive price.
- Delivery speed: you’ll need to consider how quickly the supplier can deliver the goods or services.
- Reliability: you’ll need to consider how reliable the supplier is. Do they have a good track record? Are they able to meet deadlines?
- Availability: you’ll need to consider the supplier’s availability. Do they have the goods or services that you need in stock?
- Product quality: you should only work with suppliers that offer high-quality products.
To make the best decision, it’s important to compare different suppliers. Then, choose the one that offers the best combination of price, delivery speed, reliability, availability, and product quality. Once you’ve chosen a supplier, establish a relationship with them and work to build trust.
How to Measure Supplier Quality Management
You can measure supplier quality by using Quality Management Systems (QMS). They’re made to help businesses improve their processes to produce consistent, high-quality products. There are two types of QMS: internal QMS and external QMS.
Internal QMS
Internal QMS measures the quality of products produced within the company. It typically includes quality control and quality assurance procedures.
External QMS
External QMS measures the quality of products produced by suppliers. It typically includes supplier audits and inspections.
Both QMS types use certain metrics to measure supplier quality. These metrics include defect rates, cycle times, lead times, and inspection results. Using these metrics, companies can determine whether a supplier is meeting expectations and identify areas for improvement.
When evaluating supplier performance metrics, always consider the following factors:
- The number of defects per million units: this metric shows the number of defects in the previous 12 months.
- The percentage of defective parts: This metric shows the percentage of defective parts
- Lead times: this metric shows how long it takes suppliers to deliver products
- Cycle times: this metric shows how long it takes suppliers to complete an order
- Inspection results: this metric shows the results of quality inspections
How to Implement Supplier Quality Management
The first step in implementing SMP is to develop a quality management plan. This plan should identify the suppliers you’ll be working with and establish quality objectives.
Once you have a quality management plan, you’ll need to implement quality control procedures. These procedures should be designed to ensure that suppliers meet your quality standards.
There are several ways to do this, but some common methods include the following:
- Supplier audits: these are conducted to assess whether suppliers meet your quality standards.
- Inspections: these are conducted to assess the quality of products produced by suppliers.
- Supplier performance reviews: these are conducted to assess supplier performance and identify areas for improvement.
- Supplier quality agreements: these are contracts that suppliers must sign that outline your quality expectations.
- Supplier management systems can help you track suppliers, quality metrics, and performance data. It can also help you automate quality control procedures.
Once you’ve implemented quality control procedures, you’ll need to monitor suppliers continuously. This ensures that suppliers continue to meet your quality standards and helps you identify any potential problems early on.
How To Manage Supplier Quality Issues
If you’re having issues with suppliers, there are a few things you can do to try to resolve the issue.
- Talk to the supplier: If you’re having issues with a supplier, the first step is to talk to them. This gives them a chance to explain their side of the story and allows you to discuss your concerns.
- Conduct an audit: If you’re still unsatisfied after talking to the supplier, you can conduct an audit. This will help you better understand the problem and identify potential solutions.
- Make a change: If suppliers are not meeting your quality standards, you may need to make a change. This could involve switching to a new supplier or implementing new quality control procedures.
When managing supplier quality issues, it’s important to be clear, concise, and professional. This will help you deal with issue quickly and efficiently.
Conduct Supplier Quality Management with DATAMYTE
DATAMYTE’s Digital Clipboard is a powerful workflow automation software that lets you get real-time supplier performance visibility. With this software, you can create workflows that monitor compliance issues, noncompliance, and other key SQM metrics that help you improve supplier performance.
The DataMyte Digital Clipboard includes numerous features that make supplier auditing quick and easy, such as:
- Create SQM system workflows that you and your team can follow to ensure compliance
- Create digital checklists that can help you assess supplier performance.
- Monitor and track suppliers with ease using a supplier management system workflow.
- Conduct supplier audits with ease using checklists and other useful forms.
- Generate reports that help you understand supplier performance and identify areas for improvement.
The DataMyte Digital Clipboard is an all-in-one solution for supplier quality management. It’s easy to use and can help you improve supplier performance quickly and efficiently. Book an online demo today to see how DATAMYTE can help you streamline your SQM process.
Conclusion
Supplier quality management is a critical part of ensuring high-quality products. By implementing quality control procedures and monitoring suppliers on an ongoing basis, you can ensure that suppliers meet your quality standards. If you’re having issues with suppliers, there are a few things you can do to try to resolve the issue. When managing supplier quality issues, it’s important to be clear, concise, and professional.
