What steps can you take to reduce quality risks in your supply chain?

1 Assess your suppliers

Before you engage with any supplier, you should conduct a thorough assessment of their quality standards, capabilities, and performance. You can use various methods, such as audits, certifications, references, and samples, to evaluate their compliance with your quality requirements and expectations. You should also monitor their performance regularly and provide feedback and support to help them improve their quality outcomes.

2 Define your specifications

One of the main causes of quality issues in the supply chain is the lack of clear and consistent specifications for the products or services you procure. You should define your specifications in detail and communicate them to your suppliers in a written and formal document, such as a contract, a purchase order, or a quality manual. You should also ensure that your specifications are aligned with your customer needs and expectations, as well as with the regulatory and industry standards.

3 Implement quality controls

Quality controls are the activities and procedures that you use to check and verify the quality of the products or services you receive from your suppliers or deliver to your customers. You should implement quality controls at every stage of your supply chain, such as incoming inspection, in-process inspection, and final inspection. You should also use appropriate tools and techniques, such as checklists, testing, sampling, and statistical process control (SPC), to measure and analyze the quality performance and identify any defects or deviations.

4 Manage quality incidents

Despite your best efforts, quality incidents may still occur in your supply chain, such as non-conformities, complaints, or recalls. You should have a system in place to manage these incidents effectively and efficiently, such as a corrective and preventive action (CAPA) process. You should also document and report the incidents, investigate the root causes, implement corrective and preventive actions, and evaluate the effectiveness of the actions. You should also learn from the incidents and share the lessons and best practices with your suppliers and customers.

5 Foster quality culture

Quality is not only a technical or operational issue, but also a cultural and strategic one. You should foster a quality culture in your supply chain, where everyone is committed to delivering high-quality products or services and continuously improving their quality performance. You can foster a quality culture by setting clear and measurable quality objectives and indicators, providing adequate training and resources, rewarding and recognizing quality achievements, and involving and empowering your suppliers and customers in your quality improvement initiatives.