How to Conduct Successful Supplier Audits

This training program will provide participants with a working knowledge of supplier audits. The why, when, who, how, and what of conducting a supplier audit will be reviewed to ensure that your supplier can meet all your expectations.

Why Should You Attend:

When contemplating the use of a supplier you would normally have many requirements and expectations that must be met. These include technical, regulatory, quality, responsiveness, location, readiness, and those less defined but critical. One of the tools at your disposal to verify the supplier’s acceptability is to audit the operation.

Many organizations conduct supplier audits because they are required to do so by their customers or a regulatory agency. Others conduct the audits because they have been led to believe that it's a good tool for comparing various suppliers against an arbitrary list of criteria.

While all of these reasons have varying degrees of validity, none of them articulate the best reason for having a robust supplier audit program. A good supplier audit program should allow an organization to assess and periodically re-affirm the ability of key suppliers to provide conforming product consistently, reliably and on-time. It should be one of the most important initiatives toward fulfilling the goal of having a sustainable supply chain.

Areas Covered in the Webinar:

• Why audit your supplier?
• Who will audit your supplier?
• When will you audit your supplier?
• What will you audit?
• How will you conduct the audit?
• How to prepare a pre-audit questionnaire
• Areas to be audited and using check lists
• How to conduct effective close out meetings
• The advantages and disadvantages of using numerical audit scores
• Issuing observation reports and recommendations to your management and to your potential suppliers

Who Will Benefit:

• QA staff and management
• Supply chain representatives
• Regulatory affairs staff and management
• Compliance auditors