Ten Key Points of Purchaser Inspection(3)

3. Organization of quality management system

This requirement is essential to understand whether the supplier can meet the buyer's quality standards. An effective audit should cover the supplier's quality management system (QMS).

Quality management is a broad topic, but the field audit process should usually include the following inspections:

Whether it is equipped with senior management personnel responsible for QMS development;

The familiarity of production personnel with relevant quality policy documents and requirements;

Whether it has ISO9001 certification;

Whether the quality control team is independent of production management.

ISO9001, created by the International Organization for Standardization, is a globally recognized quality management system standard. Suppliers must prove the following to legally obtain ISO9001 certification:

The ability to provide products and services that consistently meet customer and regulatory requirements;

Have procedures and policies that can identify and implement quality improvements.

The core requirement of a strong quality management system is that the manufacturer has the ability to actively identify and correct quality problems without the prior intervention of the buyer or third-party inspector.

Verify that the supplier has an independent QC team as part of the field audit. Suppliers without a sound quality management system usually lack an independent quality control team. They may wish to rely on the consciousness of production personnel to control quality. This brings up a problem. Production personnel usually favor themselves when evaluating their work.