Hi All,
I have been asked to make an Standard Operating Procedure to document my company's New Supplier Approval Process. I was hoping to find guidance as to how exactly to go about doing this. Is there a standard template to follow? If so, where can i find it!
I had a look on the web and mostly found Supplier Quality Expectations Manuals, which are extremely detailed and customer-focused.
Could someone please help me with this!
Thanks,
Luella
Hi Luella,
Customers typically attach fundamental importance to Control of Raw Materials (ie Risk Assessment) and Supplier Approval.
There are many "Standard" Templates.
IMEX the requirements for Supplier Approval -
(a) can vary enormously with Customer/their Location plus the raw material/finished product/process.
(b) are typically not few and are often complex in scope.
For example the BRC Standard has for Supplier Approval -
The company shall have a documented supplier approval and ongoing monitoring procedure to ensure that all suppliers of raw materials, including packaging, effectively manage risks to raw material quality and safety and are operating effective traceability processes.
The approval and monitoring procedure shall be based on risk and include one or a combination of:
• certification (e.g. to BRC Global Standards or other GFSI-recognised scheme)
• supplier audits, with a scope to include product safety, traceability, HACCP review and good manufacturing practices, undertaken by an experienced and demonstrably competent product safety auditor or, for suppliers assessed as low risk only, supplier questionnaires.
Where approval is based on questionnaires, these shall be reissued at least every 3 years and suppliers will be required to notify the site of any significant changes in the interim
The above requirements are combined with a detailed risk assessment (with respect to safety/quality/legality/BCPA characteristics) of the relevant raw material whose result "shall form the basis for the raw material acceptance and testing procedure and for the processes adopted for supplier approval and monitoring".
So the details may depend on what type of raw material/finished product/process you are talking about.