Supplier quality and certificates of analysis
Print a certificate of analysis for any lot from the checks it passed, with each test, its limits and the measured result. See which suppliers pass and fail your incoming checks, item by item.
PLANSFrom Growth
The problem it solves
- A buyer asks for a test certificate with every dispatch, and someone types it in a word processor from the inspection register.
- The certificate says one thing and the inspection sheet says another.
- You suspect one supplier of sending more rejects than the rest, but the receipts do not add up to an answer.
- When you change suppliers, nobody can show the numbers behind the decision.
How it works
- Set up the checks once in the Quality app. Use Finished Product or Goods Sent Out points for what you dispatch, and Goods Received points for what you buy. Each has its test lines, limits and units.
- Checks are done as goods are made, received and sent. Each passed check stays with the lot, with the values measured, who checked and when.
- To send a buyer a certificate, open the lot and print Certificate of Analysis. It lists every passed check of that lot: each test, the limits, the result and the unit, and who checked it.
- To judge suppliers, the quality manager opens Quality > Reports > Supplier Quality: finished checks on goods received, grouped by supplier, item and result.
- A supplier who keeps failing can be taken up with a non-conformance, a return, or (in Scale) a CAPA with the supplier named.
Everything it does
Certificate of Analysis
- A PDF printed from the lot or serial, on your Entity's letterhead layout; file name Certificate - lot number
- Item, lot or batch, and the lot's reference if it has one
- Each passed check of the lot: control point, check number and date
- Each line: the test, the limits (min to max) for measurements, the result (the value, Pass or Fail, or the note) and the unit
- Checked by: the inspectors of those checks
- Failed and open checks are left out; a lot with no passed check says so
Where the lot's results come from
- Finished Product and During Production checks of an order get the produced lot when the production order is closed
- Goods Received and Goods Sent Out checks carry the lot chosen on the check
- The same checks also show on the lot's as-built record (Scale)
Supplier Quality
- Every finished check on goods received (passed or failed)
- As a pivot or a list: by supplier (party), item, control point, result and date
- Shown to quality managers (Quality > Reports)
What it does not do
- The certificate is printed from your own checks; a supplier's certificate is kept as a file on the receipt, not read into fields
- A check on a receipt or delivery reaches a lot's certificate only when the inspector picks the lot on the check
- No supplier rating or score: the report counts checks by result
- The certificate is not sent from the system by itself: print it or attach it to your email or the delivery
Who uses it
Quality ManagerSets up the test lines and limits, prints certificates and reads Supplier Quality.
Quality InspectorDoes the checks whose results go on the certificate.
Sales or dispatch staffPrint the certificate from the lot to send with the goods.
Purchase staffUse Supplier Quality to talk to suppliers who fail.
Where you use it
- Web: the lot or serial: Print > Certificate of Analysis
- Web: Quality > Reports > Supplier Quality (quality managers)
- Not in the app: certificates and the report are on the web
What you control
Settings
- The test lines, limits and units come from the control points' check sheets
- The certificate uses the Entity's document layout
Questions
Does the certificate show failed results?
No. It lists only the checks the lot passed. A lot that failed goes on hold and its non-conformance decides what happens to it.Can one certificate cover a lot checked at several stages?
Yes. Every passed check of that lot is listed in turn, for example a finished product check and a dispatch check, each with its own tests.Can we keep the certificate our supplier sends?
Attach it as a file to the goods receipt. Its values are not read into the system; your own incoming check records what you measured.How do we compare suppliers?
Open Supplier Quality and group by supplier and result. You see how many incoming checks each supplier passed and failed, item by item.Which plan has it?
Growth and Scale, with quality control.Related features
PLANNING, QUALITY AND COSTQuality checks with sampling (AQL), held lots and non-conformanceCheck material as it comes in, each step on the floor, the finished product and goods going out. Each check has a sheet and a sample worked out from the lot. A failed check holds the lot, raises a non-conformance whose decision is approved, and a Rework decision makes the rework order.PLANNING, QUALITY AND COSTAs-built record of a lotPrint a record of exactly how a lot or serial number was made. It has the order and bill of materials, each component with its lot, and each step with its machine and time. It also has the operators, the rejects and the quality checks with their values.PLANNING, QUALITY AND COSTRecall list: forward to customers, back to suppliersPick a lot or serial number and see, in one list, every lot made from it and every customer who received them. Or go backwards: every component lot and supplier that went into it. Export the list and call the right customers.PRODUCTION AND JOB WORKSales, purchase and CRM: from lead to goods receivedFollow enquiries through your pipeline, send quotations, take sales orders and invoice them, raise purchase orders and receive the goods into your plant. Every invoice and bill names its plant.PLANNING, QUALITY AND COSTCAPA: corrective and preventive actions with five whysWhen a problem keeps coming back, raise a CAPA. Ask why five times, write the root cause, and plan corrective and preventive actions with owners and dates. Have the plan approved, and close it only when you have checked that it worked.
See your shop floor on it.
Tell us what you make, how many machines and people you run, and how production is recorded today. We will set up a line with you and run a job on the terminal.