Supplier Audit Checklist Template

What the Supplier Audit Checklist Covers

1. 1
   Phase 1

   Phase 1: Audit Type, Scope & Team

   6 tasks

   The lead auditor named on the first task is assigned the audit tasks that follow. The answers there also decide which tasks appear: a for-cause audit adds a review of the problem behind it, and the audit method adds the site visit or the remote set-up task in Phase 2.

   • Record the supplier, the audit date and the audit method — what they supply, the site to be audited, whether the audit is on site or remote, and who leads it and who decides the outcome
   • Rate the supplier’s risk — how critical the parts are to your product, any safety or regulatory impact, the spend, and whether you have another source
   • Review the supplier’s recent performance — rejections, deliveries, complaints and open corrective action requests since the last audit
   • Review the problem that triggered the audit — the complaint, rejection, field failure or late corrective action behind a for-cause audit, and what the audit must establish
   • Set the audit scope and criteria — the processes, part numbers, shifts and buildings in scope, and the requirements you will audit against
   • Choose the audit team — a lead auditor who is independent of the purchasing decision, plus a technical expert for special processes such as heat treatment, plating or welding
2. 2
   Phase 2

   Phase 2: Notify the Supplier & Plan the Audit

   6 tasks

   Only one of the site visit and remote set-up tasks appears, depending on the audit method chosen on the first task.

   • Notify the supplier of the audit in writing — the dates, scope, criteria, method and team, with enough notice for the right people to be there
   • Agree the agenda with the supplier — the opening meeting, the areas in the order you will visit them, the people you need to interview and the time of the closing meeting
   • Request the documents you will review before the audit — certificates, the quality manual or system overview, the process flow and control plan for your parts, and the status of earlier findings
   • Arrange the site visit — travel, the site’s safety induction and PPE, photography and confidentiality rules, and who will escort the team
   • Set up the remote audit — test the video platform, screen sharing and file transfer with the supplier, and agree how they will show the work areas live by camera
   • Prepare the audit questions and the sampling plan — the questions for each area, the part numbers, batches and records you will sample, and the time allowed per area
3. 3
   Phase 3

   Phase 3: Document Review Before the Audit

   5 tasks

   Done at your desk in the week before the audit. What you find here decides where the audit spends its time.

   • Check the supplier’s certificates — the issuing body, the scope, the sites covered and the expiry date, and that they cover the site and processes you buy from
   • Review the quality manual or system overview — how the supplier controls documents, records, changes, inspection and its own suppliers
   • Review the process flow and control plan for your parts — the process steps, the inspection points, the characteristics checked and what happens when a check fails
   • Review the findings of the previous audit — check each corrective action was closed, and plan to confirm on the day that the fix is still in place
   • List the areas to probe during the audit — gaps from the document review, recent quality problems, special processes and changes since the last audit
4. 4
   Phase 4 — Audit day

   Phase 4: Opening Meeting & Quality System Checks

   5 tasks

   Ask to see the record, not a description of it. Note the document, record or observation behind every answer, and where you saw it.

   • Hold the opening meeting — introduce the team, confirm the scope, agenda and finding grades, agree the confidentiality rules and name the supplier’s guides
   • Check the quality management system — document control, records, internal audits, management review and how the supplier’s own corrective actions are run
   • Check contract review and change control — how your drawings, revisions and special requirements reach the shop floor, and that the supplier tells you before it changes a process, material or site
   • Check training and competence — sample the operators and inspectors who work on your parts: training records, the skills matrix and qualifications for special processes
   • Check how the supplier controls its own suppliers — approval, monitoring and incoming checks for sub-tier suppliers of raw material and outsourced processes
5. 5
   Phase 5 — Audit day

   Phase 5: Process & Product Checks

   8 tasks

   Follow your own parts through the supplier’s process. On a remote audit, ask for a live camera walk-through rather than photographs taken earlier.

   • Walk the process for your parts from goods-in to dispatch — observe the work and talk to the people doing it, on site or by live camera, against the process flow you reviewed
   • Check incoming inspection — how material is received, identified, checked against its certificates and held until it is released
   • Check process control — set-up approval, first-off checks, current work instructions at the machine, in-process checks and the reaction when a result is out of limits
   • Check in-process and final inspection — the inspection plan against the control plan, sample sizes, signed and dated records and who authorises release for dispatch
   • Check calibration of measuring equipment — sample the gauges used on your parts for a current calibration status and certificate, and ask what happens when one is found out of tolerance
   • Check control of nonconforming product — identification, segregation, the disposition record, rework approval and when the supplier must tell you before shipping
   • Check traceability with one shipped batch — trace it back to the material certificate, the machines, the operators and the inspection records
   • Check packaging, labelling and storage — part identification, protection in transit, shelf life where it applies and stock rotation
6. 6
   Phase 6 — Audit day

   Phase 6: Findings & Closing Meeting

   5 tasks

   Answering Yes to a major nonconformity adds the containment and escalation tasks here and a follow-up audit in Phase 7.

   • Record every finding with its objective evidence — the requirement, what was seen and where, so the supplier can check each one against its own records
   • Grade each finding as a major nonconformity, minor nonconformity or observation — using the definitions agreed at the opening meeting or set in your quality agreement
   • Agree containment for each major finding — parts at the supplier, in transit and in your stores checked, sorted or held until the risk is understood
   • Hold the closing meeting — present each finding, agree the facts, set the supplier’s response dates and record who attended
   • Escalate the major finding inside your organisation — tell your quality manager and the buyer, and decide whether to stop shipments, add inspection at goods-in or look for another source
7. 7
   Phase 7

   Phase 7: Report & Supplier Corrective Actions

   5 tasks

   • Write and issue the audit report — the scope, team, dates, method, each finding with its evidence and grade, good practice seen and the overall conclusion
   • Raise a supplier corrective action request for each nonconformity — the requirement, the evidence and the dates for containment, root cause and the corrective action plan
   • Schedule a follow-up audit for the major finding — on site or remote, to see the corrective action in place before the supplier’s status is restored
   • Review the supplier’s root cause and action plan — send it back if the cause is operator error or the action is retraining with nothing else
   • Verify each corrective action and close the requests — evidence of the change, then later batches or a follow-up check that show the problem has not come back
8. 8
   Phase 8

   Phase 8: Approval Status Decision

   5 tasks

   The supplier quality manager named on the first task records the decision. The checklist halts there, so the approved supplier list is not changed before the decision is made.

   • Summarise the audit result for the decision — the findings by grade, what is closed and still open, the risk rating and how the supplier responded
   • Decide the supplier’s approval status — approved, conditionally approved or not approved, with any conditions and the date they will be reviewed
   • Update the approved supplier list and the purchasing system — the status, the parts or processes it covers, any conditions and any block on new orders
   • Tell the supplier the outcome in writing — the status, any conditions and when the next audit or review is due
   • Set the date of the next audit — from the risk rating and this result, and add the findings to the supplier’s performance record