What is supplier audit checklist?
Supplier auditing is a standardized system to evaluate the reliability and competence of suppliers and vendors. This is intended to ensure a high-quality service. It is very important to build a strong relationship between customers and suppliers.
To use a supplier audit checklist aims to evaluate and improve smooth operations in key business areas such as manufacturing, quality assurance, engineering, invoicing and shipping.
This article deals with the topics:
1. The focus of a supplier audit checklist
2. The content of a supplier audit checklist
3. Advantages of conducting a supplier audit with checklist
4. Digitalization and supplier audit checklists
The focus of a supplier audit checklist
Depending on the audit objective, different priorities are set for the review. The focus is then no longer on the entire management system and company performance (ISO 9001), but on individual technical and organizational areas such as:
- Ethics & Social Compliance
- Traceability
- Raw material purchasing
- Logistics
- Hygiene
- Information security (ISO/IEC 27001)
- Environmental management (ISO 14001)
- Occupational health and safety (OHSAS 18001, ISO 45001)
As a rule, it makes sense to develop a supplier audit checklist tailored to the respective industry. In the automotive industry, for example, different aspects are audited than in the food industry.
The content of a supplier audit checklist
The contents of a checklist for a supplier audit depend on the type of audit, the selected focal points and the industry. Nevertheless, most of the criteria catalogues contain similar audit questions, resulting in the following topic groups:
- Delivery reliability (FMEA, traceability system, emergency supply plans, monitoring)
- Overall impression of the supplier’s company (production area, transport facilities, storage, handling of the goods)
- Machinery equipment and production (machinery, maintenance schedules)
- Alignment of R&D
- Qualification of employees
- Internal and external communication (complaints processing, distribution service, data management, information security)
- Tests (suitability of measuring instruments, testing equipment, test facilities and inspectors, documentation of quality tests)
- Authority requirements (test regulations, permits, safety regulations and standards for environmental management)
- Design of company organization and processes (company philosophy, handling of defective products, control lists)
- Quality management (quality management system e.g. Six Sigma, auditing of raw material suppliers, various controls, continuous improvement process)
Advantages of a supplier audit with checklist
To carry out a supplier audit with checklist helps companies to determine whether the current performance of their supplier meets the operational standards. Below are 4 advantages for a supplier audit that result from a digital template:
1. Manage Production Downtimes
Manage reallocation of resources more effectively and track how suppliers perform against the SLA (Service Level Agreement).
2. Increase Profitability
Manage supplier risks and quality-related costs with the help of the data from the checklists.
3. Ensure Quality and Compliance
Determine whether the supplier meets the required standards by regularly reviewing his performance. Identify recurring errors and potential risks in the process, and develop contingency plans to address these issues.
4. Constantly Improve Quality
To constantly monitor and evaluate the quality of the services and products offered by suppliers. Gain a comprehensive overview of how suppliers develop over time.
Digitalization and supplier audit checklists
A paper-based template for a supplier audit means an enormous amount of effort to be put into ensuring that quality standards are met. A lot of time is spent on paperwork and data collection instead of focusing on resolving delivery issues and manufacturer problems.
With Lumiform’s mobile app, any type of supplier audit checklist can be easily accessed via tablet or smartphone by – online or offline. The desktop software is used to create checklists and the data collected on site is later evaluated. This significantly reduces the risk of quality losses, industrial accidents, documentation errors and damage to reputation.
Lumiform enables supplier audits to be carried out easily with different focuses, problems are reported in no time at all and corrective actions are quickly assigned to responsible colleagues. Easy communication with all team members and third parties enables you to improve internal processes and resolve incidents up to four times faster. Ntzte also offers the other benefits of digital technology for your supplier audits:
- With the flexible form construction kit, every individual paper list is converted into a digital checklist within minutes.
- Via the super intuitive mobile application, employees and suppliers can carry out every inspection on site with ease and save time.
- Generate real-time data via internal processes: This makes quality and safety measurable and processes are continuously optimized on the basis of data.
- A summary of everything that happens on-site.
- Reports are created automatically – this saves all the follow-up work.
