How to achieve Supplier Approval for ingredients purchased through brokers/distributors?
To be in compliance with the BRC, for raw materials sourced through brokers/distributors, the receiving facility must approve the manufacturers of the materials, unless the broker/distributor is itself a GFSI certified site. There are certain items that we purchase in very small quantities through different distributors, and I am having trouble getting the documentation needed from the suppliers. Has anyone else dealt with this issue?
We touched on some of that here:
https://www.ifsqn.co...-questionnaire/
I only remember because I had a visceral reaction to some opinions that as a supplier I 'must' acquiesce to my customers (even small ones) demands when it comes to their questionnaires/form requests.
That topic wasn't specific for BRC, but might be worth a perusal.
Yes, this is common.
Just tell them your company is in the process of working towards certification and you need such and such and as one of our clients said - I just told them if they didn;t give it to me that we would find another supplier - works every time.
We're getting our ingredients mostly from distributors, and I request from them specs, GFSI, Kosher, Halal, Organic info, etc. always, worked well so far. Letter of Guarantee may come either from distributor or manufacturer, doesn't really matter.
Yes, this is common.
Just tell them your company is in the process of working towards certification and you need such and such and as one of our clients said - I just told them if they didn;t give it to me that we would find another supplier - works every time.
The risk with this is that they may call your bluff - they may simply turn around and say "ok, bye" ;)
This may not be a problem, but if it's an ingredient that is generally traded by brokers in large quantities and you're only trying to purchase a small amount then it's possible to find oneself in a situation where pretty much all of the potential suppliers adopt the same attitude.
Having spent time looking at the cost of providing this type of support I do have some sympathy with the approach, as we've genuinely had customers ask for information that would cost more to provide than we'll make from the sale.
@maryaparks - what is it that you're asking for?
Glenn's suggestions could be worth a try as I've had success with it too, but you'll need to collaborate with your colleagues in purchasing to make a call on whether to give it a go.
Failing that, I'd look at the scope of what your asking vs what you actually need as an absolute minimum to cover your BRC (and any legal) requirements. Your standard procedure may well state that you expect more than BRC does, but if you are satisfying the standard and your regulatory obligations then IMO it's entirely reasonable either to write this up as a concession for a one-off, or add an amendment to your procedure to cover this type of situation for a defined set of products (or risk grouping, possibly).
Yes, this is common.
Just tell them your company is in the process of working towards certification and you need such and such and as one of our clients said - I just told them if they didn;t give it to me that we would find another supplier - works every time.
It does not work on me, especially when the ones with the most disproportionately large questionnaires and requests buy the laughably least amount of product.
They are all still buying.
Please note: Simple doc requests, not a problem no matter how little they purchase from us.
15 tab EXCEL questionnaires with 30-60 questions on each tab and customer buys a few pallets of product annually, that's not going to happen.
It does not work on me, especially when the ones with the most disproportionately large questionnaires and requests buy the laughably least amount of product.
They are all still buying.
Please note: Simple doc requests, not a problem no matter how little they purchase from us.
15 tab EXCEL questionnaires with 30-60 questions on each tab and customer buys a few pallets of product annually, that's not going to happen.
That's interesting and I used to think that way too, but I found when I treat everyone the same, there are most certainly side benefits directly and in-directly to treating the small just like the large. We missed those things when we got too puffed up in the past. But when we self-corrected and changed way we looked at things lots of good came from it.
Many thanks to all of you! I did read the posts from the former thread link sent by Tim G. - thank you as well! We are currently looking at a new distributor, and I have met with their rep one-on-one to discuss what we'll need for supplier approval. She seemed to feel that it would be possible to get the needed docs from most of the manufacturers, so we'll see!
I find it easier to do your own risk assessment and determine which documents you truly need for your FS plan. Then request from distributor or broker.
You should also be treating these folks as suppliers and assessing them as such. I have found many brokers and distributors do not have formal supplier approval programs.
I find it easier to do your own risk assessment and determine which documents you truly need for your FS plan. Then request from distributor or broker.
You should also be treating these folks as suppliers and assessing them as such. I have found many brokers and distributors do not have formal supplier approval programs.
That's so true: one of my companies buys the ingredient from Chinese retail, and when I requested GFSI or 3rd party audit cert. I was ignored for a year or so, and finally they sent me a document in Chinese (not sure, Mandarin or Cantonese:))