Who should validate suppliers or vendors?

Hi all, 

I have this question about who in the company should qualify or verify that a vendor/supplier is qualified to supply a product? I mean is it the QA department or R&D department? I'm asking this because in my company R&D personnel will get in contact with the supplier for ingredients and documentation.

Thank you

Depends on the size of your company. I've been places where the procurement department said R&D could only source from existing suppliers unless it couldn't be sourced from them.

Ultimately, try to break apart your supplier approvals by company goals. Food safety is obviously a priority goal, but so is shipping, sourcing locally, and other contract terms.

In QA vs. R&D, let R&D do their thing, just ask to be involved. They can source what they want, and if they keep you in the loop, you can head off quality concerns in process rather than throw on the brakes at the end "okay, eggs are fine, but if you're not going to cook them you need a supplier who will pasteurize". You're ultimately going to be responsible for ongoing supplier approval for the life of the product, so make sure you involve yourself early even if you don't want to take on an R&D task.

Hello,

In our case, Procurement dept has to source out raw material equipped with field qc personnel. Suppliers can't be approved without our Head QC/QA approval.

regards,

rdfox

I would support the two posts above. I am responsible for approving suppliers in our company. I work with our R&D, factory and purchasing teams to identify approvable suppliers, so when the crunch comes, I'm ready. We have 4 basic categories; raw materials, logistics, packaging and maintenance with defined requirements. That way no-one is surprised when I say no.

Thank you for all your comments, I'm actually in R&D, so now I know different perspectives and I feel R&D and QA both should be involved.

It's a variation of the age-old question which re-surfaces after every customer complaint - "Who is responsible for the Quality of the Finished Product ?" Usually a contest between Production and QA. One textbook answer is "Quality is Everybody's Business" . So a claim should be shared equally ?

In the present case it might also hv been interesting to know the answers to questions like (a) what criteria are used to "Approve a Supplier" ? eg Capability to supply X tons per Month ? (b) Who signs off for the Approved Suppliers List in the FS  Standard ? (assuming such certification exists).

Having just witnessed a roaring fight between a Director of Procurement and a QA department over who should be responsible for vetting and re-vetting suppliers it all came down to responsibility, as it is at all of our clients - QA won out because procurement didn't want the end responsibility. That doesn't mean that Procurement doesn't a role in qualifying a supplier, they are just not the one that does the final QA checks. Most companies we know have three departments involved in vetting/approval process and two in re-vetting.  Works out well.

Hello,

Procurement Dept is more on suppliers relationship, pricing and competitors activities monitoring. Though it also oversees the quality of the raw materials being purchased, still QA/QC will check the quality of raw materials the PD delivered to the site.

regards,

redfox

I am responsible for validating the vendors.  I work in regulatory compliance and am the SQF Practitioner.  All new vendor requests come through the regulatory department.  We review all their documentation, conduct audits based on risk, and approve.  Documentation and samples do go through R&D and QC, but we have the final say.

That's just what we do here :)