Managing Organizational Risk Using the Supplier Audit Program – Virtual September 16-19, 2025

Course Outline

Day One
The first day of this workshop will review how quality supports supply chain management processes at strategic, tactical, and operational levels.

Strategic

• Help determine approach to supplier selection – Will it be based on strategic partnership, low risk, cutting edge technology or a combination of those and other factors?
• Help determine supplier selection criteria – Which criteria? What is the weight for the different criteria? How is risk calculated?
• Help determine supplier selection process – How does the process work? Who are the approvers? What is the process cycle time? What are the process risks?

Tactical

• Assess supplier and organizational risk – What is the level of risk for a given supplier and/or the product that they provide?
• Participate in supplier selection process – Evaluate information submitted based on established process, discuss and then vote on supplier acceptability.
• Determine the level of supplier control required, based on the risks of doing business with them – on site audits, remote audits, increased AQL at incoming inspection, skip lot inspections and so forth.

Operational

• Generate supplier performance reports – either generate the report or provide information for supply chain to generate report
• Schedule and conduct supplier audits – take the lead with input from supply chain and site management
• Assess performance in conjunction with other supply chain imperatives, such as cost. – contribute to assessment along with supply chain, engineering and other appropriate functions within the organization

Day Two

The second day  of the workshop will focus on how to optimize your supplier audit program.

Supplier Audit Program

• What elements make up a robust supplier auditing program will be discussed.
• How do you evaluate your own supplier audit program?
• What are pitfalls to avoid when developing your supplier audit program?
• When to conduct remote vs. onsite audit?
• Who should conduct audits and how are those auditors trained.

Successful Supplier Audits

• How do you conduct a successful supplier audit?
• Tools, tips and techniques for conducting supplier audits.
• Differences between internal and supplier audits?
• How might supplier audits be used to examine a supplier beyond just conformance with requirements?
• How do you make a desk audit more than just a paperwork exercise?
• What are practices to avoid in conducting supplier audits?

Case studies from real life examples will be used to illustrate key points. This original content does align with related aspects of the CSQP and CQA bodies of knowledge. Attendance will provide knowledge of how to conduct a successful supplier audit as well as a practical understanding of supply chain management principles from the quality perspective.