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The topic of supplier evaluation is regulated in the new ISO 9001:2015 standard, which has been in effect since September 2015, in chapter 8.4 "Control of externally provided products and services." Overall, there are no exact specifications for how supplier evaluation should look. Therefore, a simple classification of suppliers may suffice for smaller companies. However, for companies that need to manage and assess a large number of suppliers, the process of supplier evaluation can often be time-consuming.
To make supplier evaluation as simple yet as efficient as possible, here are some helpful tips on the best approach:
Since the standard does not clearly define the extent to which you must evaluate your suppliers, you should make a selection. The ISO 9001 standard only stipulates that suppliers critical to the production process must be evaluated. If there is already a grouping or classification of your suppliers, you can use this as a decision-making aid.
Additionally, you should internally clarify who should carry out the supplier evaluation and how often the evaluation takes place. Typically, this concerns the purchasing and quality management departments. Often, the evaluation is done annually.
The standard does not provide guidelines or details on which criteria the evaluation should be based. However, the following criteria can be used as an evaluation matrix:
Information and documents such as contracts, delivery specifications, documentation on scrap and complaints, or work instructions form the data basis for the supplier evaluation. You should have already requested and filed these documents as part of your supplier documentation.
From this, the weighting of the criteria according to which you evaluate your suppliers is derived. The weighting can vary greatly depending on the product. However, the criteria of quality and price are usually decisive. Points are given for the individual criteria during the evaluation, which are then summed according to the weighting that has been determined.
The classification of suppliers is based on the total points achieved within the evaluation. Depending on the importance of the supplier's performance within the commodity group, actions for supplier selection and development are derived from the classification. A typical classification looks like this:
A-supplier: 100 -80%
C-supplier: 59 - 40%
B-supplier: 79 - 60%
D-supplier: 39 - 0%
In particular, communicating the evaluation or the supplier's performance is an important process conclusion for both parties. It is crucial to present the results of the evaluation comprehensibly to the supplier and
As a purchasing company, you gain an overview of where potential additional costs or risks may be hidden within your production chain. For the evaluated supplier, it is an opportunity to improve the quality of their products/services. Overall, this promotes cooperation and leads to a long-term strengthened business relationship.
Best practice: A supplier relationship management system that integrates supplier documentation, product documentation, and supplier evaluation, creating a data and information interface. An electronic system for documenting supplier evaluation can be particularly useful for companies that need to evaluate a large number of suppliers. This has the following advantages:
Christian Alsen was an IT consultant in the mid 2000's in manufacturing when he discovered that all companies do the same things with their suppliers but don’t do it as a team effort. Also, management didn't think about Supplier Relationships as a whole. Christian saw highly skilled people doing routine stuff and suffering. That's when he decided to do something about it. He started to build the ecratum SRM collaboration platforms. Now, 15 years and 100.000 companies later plus having gained a lot of experience, he is happy to work with his team on relatico.next the Simple Supply Chain Collaboration Platform
