Weather and Mood
Today, the weather is clear. The sun shines generously, and the sky is as blue as a gemstone, with a few white clouds floating like cotton wool. Such wonderful weather really makes people feel happy and delighted. In such a mood, it seems especially easy and efficient to sort out the relevant matters regarding the supplier audit.
The overall operation mode of supplier audit
The steps for auditing suppliers can completely follow the P, D, C, A approach. This model is like a precise gear system, where each link is closely connected and interacts with each other, ensuring that the auditing work progresses in an orderly manner and providing strong support for the enterprise's management of suppliers.
P - Planning stage
1. Be familiar with ISO standard provisions: ISO standard provisions are the cornerstone and guidelines for supplier audits. They cover regulatory requirements in multiple aspects such as quality management and environmental management. As an auditor, one must be as familiar with these provisions as with one's own palm prints. Only by thoroughly understanding each and every clause can one accurately determine whether a supplier meets the standards and identify potential problems and risks during the audit. For example, in the quality management system, there are clear regulations on product inspection processes, document control, etc. Only by being familiar with these provisions can one conduct the audit purposefully.
2. Understand the situation of suppliers: It is necessary to comprehensively understand the situation of the suppliers you are responsible for. First is the organizational chart, which is like a skeleton diagram of the supplier, clearly showing its internal department settings, personnel structure, and division of responsibilities. By analyzing the organizational chart, you can understand whether the management levels and communication channels of the supplier are smooth. The lists of QP (Quality Manual), COP (Procedure Document), WI (Work Instruction), and FM (Form Record) are the muscles and blood of the supplier's operation. The quality manual reflects the supplier's quality policy and objectives, the procedure documents stipulate the processes of various businesses, the work instructions guide employees' specific operations, and the form records record the actual situation of business activities. In addition, it is also necessary to understand the company's special requirements for this supplier. These special requirements may be formulated based on the company's own product characteristics, market demand and other factors, and are additional conditions that the supplier must meet.
3. Determine the audit plan and notify the supplier: The company's annual supplier audit plan is the schedule for the auditing work. Check which month the suppliers you are responsible for are scheduled to be audited, and then confirm the audit time arrangement with the suppliers one month in advance. This step is like making an important appointment with a partner in advance to ensure that both parties have enough time to make preparations. After confirming the time, notify the suppliers of your itinerary and the audit plan half a month in advance. If the situation is urgent, at least inform them by email or other means one week in advance. Doing so not only demonstrates our professionalism and respect but also allows the suppliers enough time to prepare relevant materials and arrange personnel to cooperate with the audit.
4. Organize the audit thinking: It is crucial to organize the audit thinking before the audit. If the company has outlines used by predecessors, they are very valuable resources and can be borrowed for organization. Most common audit methods are carried out in accordance with standard terms, which can ensure the standardization and consistency of the audit. However, whether to send the outline to the suppliers in advance needs to be treated differently. For suppliers under initial review, it is not suitable to send the outline in advance because the purpose of the initial review is to comprehensively understand the actual situation of the suppliers. Sending the outline in advance may enable the suppliers to prepare in a targeted manner and cover up some real problems. For qualified suppliers, the outline can be sent in advance to allow them time for self - inspection and self - correction, thus improving the audit efficiency.
D - Implementation stage
2. Judgment of audit results: After the audit is completed, it takes 1 - 2 hours to sort out the audit results. This is like the process of teachers grading and scoring papers after an exam. After sorting out the results, a closing meeting should be held to announce the audit results at the meeting. The audit results are a comprehensive evaluation of the supplier's performance in this audit and will serve as an important basis for subsequent handling.
C - Check phase
1. Set an improvement deadline and require rectification: Based on the audit results, set an improvement deadline for the suppliers and require them to improve the non - conformities within the specified period. Communicating with the system department of the suppliers is a direct and effective way. However, before that, send the audit results and improvement requirements to the senior leaders who received us. Since senior leaders have greater decision - making power and influence within the suppliers, only when they approve and promote the improvement work can it be carried out smoothly.
2. Determine subsequent measures based on the non - conformity situation: If the audit results show that there are more than 2 - 3 major non - conformities or too many non - conformities, it is necessary to consider whether to re - audit the supplier. This indicates that the supplier has significant problems in some key aspects and may not be able to meet our requirements. Further in - depth understanding of the situation is needed. For general non - conformities and minor non - conformities, it can be decided whether to conduct on - site verification at the supplier's place according to the actual situation. If the situation permits, the supplier can be required to provide a report on the results of continuous improvement to understand their rectification situation through the report.
A - Processing stage
The supplier is required to make continuous improvements, and these improvement projects can serve as verification inputs for the next audit. Continuous improvement is one of the core principles of quality management. For suppliers, only by continuously improving their management and production levels can they better meet our requirements and enhance product quality and service levels. As an SQE (Supplier Quality Engineer), through such continuous monitoring, the quality of suppliers can be kept under control at all times. Meanwhile, it also ensures the uninterrupted operation of the quality management system, providing a solid guarantee for the stability of the enterprise's supply chain and product quality.