Evaluation of External Providers
External providers shall be approved on the basis of their abilities to deliver products or services in accordance with predefined requirements. The approval will be given upon an evaluation. An effective and objective evaluation considers the significant parameters regarding the purchased product.
The evaluation is to be conducted on a periodic basis, and the frequency of the evaluation must be determined. The objective is to establish an ongoing control process over the external provider in order to foresee events that might become nonconformities or quality problems. This is done normally once a year, but there are cases of purchased products that require a more frequent control, depending on the risk and effect that the purchased product has on the product.
The parameters for the evaluation should represent the ability of the supplier to deliver products or services that meet the requirements:
- Quality of goods or services
- Credibility and reliability of delivery
- Quantities
- Commitment to prices
- Maintaining conditions such as QMS (ISO 9001, ISO 14001)
- Parameters like willingness to solve quality problems or the ability to train personnel
These parameters will constitute the criteria for the evaluation. The criteria will situate the supplier or subcontractor with regard to their performance.
The controls that are applied to the external providers must deliver results and indicate whether a supplier or a subcontractor met its requirements while participating in the realization of the product.
The evaluation shall cover the following parameters related to the relationship with the external provider:
- Evaluation of realization processes
- Evaluation of quality processes
- Evaluation of delivered products or services
- Review of risks related to the supplier or subcontractor
In order to determine which parameters the criteria shall cover for an external provider, I suggest the next approach—ask relevant questions regarding the conduct of the external provider:
- Does the supplier maintain stable realization processes?
- Does the supplier comply with regulatory requirements?
- Does the supplier maintain supporting documentation?
- Does the supplier maintain appropriate controls over its processes?
- How does the supplier handle nonconformities?
Answering these types of questions will create a status report regarding the supplier and its performance. I recommend evaluating each supplier on its merits; each case or supplied product or services has its significant characteristics and therefore may require different parameters for evaluation, although it is very demanding.
The controls applied on external providers like delivery records, quality control reports, agreements, complaints, and nonconformities will provide objective evidences, information, and data regarding their performances. These results will be reviewed and compared to the criteria, and conclusions will be drawn.
Ranking External Providers and Setting the List for Approved Suppliers
How to grade? Well, it is quite simple. Let’s assume that your evaluation draws, at the end, a simple grade from 1 to 100. You may determine the next grading:
|
Final Grade |
Classification |
|
80 – 100 |
A |
|
60 -80 |
B |
|
50 – 60 |
C |
|
1 – 50 |
D |
You may determine that your organization is allowed to order only from suppliers with B classification and above. Now, a supplier who received 61 on the last evaluation would start to sweat a bit and start making some inquiries about your last complaints. Can you see where it leads? Before you know it, you will receive and invitation for a weekend in the Bahamas… In order to close the loop a re-evaluation is needed. After you evaluated your supplier and let him know what is on your heart, you should check after a defined period of time whether the supplier has improved his manners by re-evaluation. This is an ISO 9001 Standard requirement. And so without even noticing you created another improvement processes in you quality management system.
This webpage contains only a fragment of the chapter 8 – Operation from the book: ISO 9001: 2015 – A Complete Guide to Quality Management Systems published by:
Why choose the book ISO 9001: 2015?
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