Hey quality control freaks, and girls especially!
Today I will tell you about Supplier Capability Assessment, aka SCA. This is an audit that we recommend you to purchase at the least when assessing whether your potential supplier meets your requirements.
Like talking about SOS (Supplier On-Site Survey) last month, this time I will open you up a little bit what an SCA report consists of. Last week our quality control engineer went to a factory that produces cosmetic brushes. So girls, if by today you haven’t thought about where your blush or powder brushes come from, here’s a glimpse to your interest 🙂
What does a SCA report include?
SCA includes 9 sections, to all of which our audit engineer gives an individual scoring from 0-5. In addition, all sections include findings and comments about the specified information. Here are the nine sections and some (not all) specifics included in each of them.
- General Infrastructure Overview
– Conditions and equipment of telecommunications, IT processing, energy infrastructure and logistics.
- Administration Building Assessment
– Identifying the area, checking cleanliness, environmental conditions and the general layout of the organization and distribution.
- Operations Building Assessment
– See administration building assessment – Identifying the department structure (f. ex. The manager and no. of employees in each department.)
- Organizational Structure Assessment
– Checking that the organization chart and operations work flow are updated, authorized and available – Identifying the company’s mission, vision and values and their quality policy – The general attitude of management and staff.
- Material Management and Control Assessment
– Main raw materials and subcontracting – Purchasing assessment: checking whether the raw material bought only from audited and approved suppliers and are audit carried regularly – The environmental conditions and layout of the raw material warehouse – Assessing whether the raw material and outsourced parts are controlled and inspected prior production – Hazardous material segregation
- Production Flow
– Identifying the production stage name, machines used on each stage and production lead times.
- Production Capability Assessment
– See administration building assessment – Checking that instructions and scheduling programs are available.
- Quality Assurance and Quality Control Assessment
– See administration building assessment – Identifying quality control inspection checkpoints, inspection tools and personnel.
- Warehouse and Shipping Assesment
– See administration building assessment – Checking the loading and transportation areas – Identifying the incoming and outcoming goods register.
Documentation
And, remember that like in every report, we provide loads of pictures in this one as well. I picked some examples that were included in this report – especially about the production stage as I think they were the most interesting ones:
Final Result
After every audit, our engineer gives his/her grade to it. Remember still that you as a customer are the one who evaluates the supplier according to the audit, and finally decide whether or not the supplier matches your requirements.
Why to get SCA?
SCA and SOS are very similar audits, as they both are audits where to start from. These both are done at the early stage of finding suppliers to see that they are legal and existent. A Supplier Capability Assessment is a very affordable report to help you filter your potential suppliers. SCA is like a mini factory audit, where we check the supplier’s basic capabilities and quality system. For example after an SCA you can continue to a more detailed factory audit (FDA), which is a more complete report.
Contact us right away to hear what is the best audit to suit your needs! Also, you can check out the Supplier Audits Quick Quide to learn more about the differences between each audit.