Supplier onboarding checklist

What onboarding is for

Selecting a supplier and approving its parts are not the same as the supplier understanding what you expect. Onboarding is the structured orientation in between. The supplier learns who you are, what your product does and why their part matters to it, which requirements apply, how performance will be measured and who to call. Many first-year supplier problems trace back to expectations that were never explained: a packaging requirement nobody sent, a change made without notice because nobody said notice was needed, or a scorecard the supplier first saw when it was red.

The phases

• Orientation: company overview, vision, mission and guiding principles, how the part is used and what happens if it fails, the supplier quality manual and code of conduct.
• Access and systems: portal access, ordering and forecasts, advance shipping notices. The supplier sets up its own sign-in; never share accounts.
• Requirements: the quality agreement, drawings and specifications with their revisions, special characteristics, packaging and labeling, regulatory declarations. Confirm the requirements were received and understood, not just sent.
• Qualification: what the first article or PPAP submission must contain, how changes are notified, and how nonconforming material and corrective action requests are handled.
• Performance and communication: the KPIs and how the scorecard is calculated, the meeting cadence, and the escalation path.
• Training: on customer-specific requirements, with a check that it worked.

Gate items and readiness

Some items can be finished during launch. Others must be done before the first production shipment: typically the signed quality agreement, the requirements flowdown, the special characteristics and the first article or PPAP expectations. Mark those as gates. The supplier is ready when every required gate item is done. The chart shows progress by phase, and the checks list blocked items, items past due and open items with no owner.

Contacts and communication

Name a contact on each side for quality, purchasing, engineering and escalation. The escalation contact should be someone who can commit resources. Then agree the cadence: during launch, a weekly call is common for a critical or major supplier; once lots are stable, a monthly scorecard and a quarterly business review are usual. For a full stakeholder communication plan, use the communication plan tool. To lay out who is responsible for what, use a RACI matrix.

After onboarding

A new supplier usually starts as conditionally approved and moves up as it proves itself; see the supplier classification and lifecycle tool. Training effectiveness can be planned with the Kirkpatrick training plan.

On the exam

Supplier onboarding is CSQP VI.A: understand and apply orientation processes, including an overview of the company, its vision, mission and guiding principles, overall requirements, expectations, and the criticality of product, service and delivery requirements. It connects to communicating expectations to suppliers (I.E), roles and responsibilities and RACI (VI.C), supplier metrics (IV.A.1) and evaluating training (V.B.3). Expect questions on what belongs in an orientation and which items must come before the first shipment.

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