7.4.1 Supplier evaluation

Evaluate and select suppliers based on their ability to meet your requirements.

Decide what is important to you; e.g. do suppliers delivery on time, in full, etc.?

Supplier evaluation and approval may be based on previous performance. Supplier audits or questionnaires are not mandatory.

There is an urban myth that you can only deal with other ISO 9001 approved companies. This is NOT an ISO 9001 requirement. You decide the selection criteria. Perhaps the simplest way is to place a few trial orders and approve new suppliers on their performance. The questionnaire route is more-or-less meaningless, in the long run it only benefits the post office.

Approve existing suppliers on the basis of their previous performance.

Limit the term "supplier" to those suppliers whose product or service has direct impact on the quality of your own product or service.

Maintain Quality records of suppliers you approve (approved supplier list).

Supplier performance must re-evaluated periodically (Data analysis 8.4).