Supplier quality
The supplier fills in their own IATF status
Approving an automotive supplier means collecting things only they know — certificate numbers, expiry dates, which special processes they run to CQI, whether their PFMEAs follow AIAG-VDA. This asks them directly, keeps your assessment and your decision to yourself, and reopens itself when the approval runs out.
What happens to a request
- You
Scope it
Which parts and commodities, which programmes, what it is worth, and why you are evaluating them. Spend and reason stay yours.
- Supplier
Answers for themselves
IATF status, certificate number, body and expiry; ISO 14001 and 45001; TISAX level; processes run; CQI special processes; PPAP level; whether PFMEAs and control plans follow AIAG-VDA.
- You
Assess it
VDA 6.3 score and classification, key findings, financial risk. The score and the findings go back to them; who assessed and what you concluded about risk do not.
- Supplier
Commits to the gaps
Their action plan against the actions you required, with a date they are signing up to rather than one you set.
- You
Decide, and set the next date
Two people — Category Manager and Category Director — and a risk classification, a rationale and the date this is looked at again.
Their certificate, in their words
The whole certification and capability section is answered by the supplier and is not private, so what you hold is what they told you rather than what somebody transcribed off a PDF. One renewal updates it wherever it is asked for.
A conditional approval knows when it lapses
Approve outright and it reopens on the re-evaluation date. Approve with conditions and it reopens on the date the conditions were due — which is the difference between a conditional approval and an approval with a note on it.
Their corrective actions are on the same page
Every supplier corrective action and delivery incident raised against this organisation in the last twelve months, counted on the evaluation itself: parts affected, fixes that did not hold, days late, premium freight. It covers the areas you can open and says how many it cannot.
PPM you did not type in
Give it the parts and deliveries you received in the period and it works quality and delivery performance out from those incidents. Leave them blank and it shows the counts and says plainly why there is no rate — the totals live in your ERP and nowhere else.
The decision is two people
Approval needs a Category Manager and a Category Director, and the product counts them rather than trusting a signature block.
It is an evaluation, not a certificate
This records what a supplier told you, what you found, what you decided and when it is due again. It does not audit anybody and does not make anybody approved — a VDA 6.3 score comes from an assessor and an IATF certificate from a certification body, and both are answers this area holds rather than produces. What it is for is the part that usually goes wrong: an approval nobody revisited, a certificate that expired quietly, and a scorecard typed from figures somebody gathered by hand.
Start with it