The Supplier Qualification Process delivers an assessment of suppliers’ quality management, environmental and social system capabilities to ensure alignment with the buyer’s supply chain management strategies.

Supplier Qualification ultimately leads to a more competitive supply chain that benefits the buyer and his final customers. The methodology includes quantitative as well as qualitative criteria:

• Technical Audits: these provide a review of transactions, projects or processes
  • condition and layout of the factory
  • details of the production process
  • quality control systems
  • suitability of labour, skills
  • continuity of material supplies
  • capacity to meet demand over the contract period
  • how financially sound the business is
• Social Audits: these offer a way of measuring and reporting an organisation's social and ethical performance. Organisations that undertake audits render themselves accountable to stakeholders.
• Environmental Audits: these increase efficiency and reduce cost; improve environmental performance, prevent  pollution, conserve resources, enhance image in the eyes of the public, regulators, lenders and investors

Supplier Development

Closing gaps that have been identified during assessment stages, developing supplier capabilities to the next level, monitoring quality performance and managing quality crisis requires long term sustained efforts. Cotecna can set-up and operate a Supplier Development Program that covers:

• New product introduction: following, on site, the product introduction for the customer, with audit of the pilot runs, process and tooling capability reports, first samples validation
• Supplier quality improvement: set-up and follow-up of improvement plans, target setting, quality training, re-engineering, development of supplier autonomy in quality management
• Monitoring and reporting: daily monitoring to consolidate inspection and audit reports with trend analysis to prepare for supplier reviews.
• Crisis management: assisting the customer to solve a quality crisis discovered during the inspection or audit stage. Our local teams will react quickly and facilitate communication between the manufacturer and the customer, using problem solving techniques.

Read about Cotecna’s Certification Services for audits and other areas.