Effective supplier audits are a core component of maintaining a robust, compliant supply chain. With the right audit strategy, you can free up your valuable resources, focus on strategic supplier relationships, and ensure consistent quality from every source.
What Are Supplier Audits?
A supplier audit is a structured assessment of a supplier’s quality systems, processes, products and documentation to ensure alignment with your business goals, regulatory requirements, and industry standards. At SQA Services, we design audit programs to support both flexibility and consistency — so your supplier network delivers results in line with your expectations.
Why Are Supplier Audits Critical?
- They allow you to identify risk and uncover actionable insights before issues escalate.
- They reinforce compliance with standards such as ISO 9001, AS9100 or cGMP — aligned to your business and quality objectives.
- They help you reduce overhead costs by leveraging qualified auditors and remote/managed audit solutions.
- They build confidence with your customers and within your supply chain, showing that every link adheres to rigorous audits and controls.
Three Core Types of Supplier Audits
When planning your supplier audit program, consider structuring your audits across these three dimensions:
- Product Audits – Assess the supplier’s finished goods and any accompanying services. Ensure the output meets your specifications and consistently deliver quality.
- System Audits – Review the supplier’s quality management system (QMS), processes, documentation, and how they align with industry standards and your specific audit criteria.
- Process Audits – Validate the actual manufacturing or service delivery processes: raw materials, equipment maintenance/calibration, workforce competence, and working conditions.
SQA Services’ audit programs cover scheduling through CAPA (corrective and preventive action) closure — providing full audit-lifecycle management that keeps your supplier program aligned and cost-efficient.
How to Prepare for a Supplier Audit
Preparation is critical. To set your audit up for success:
- Communicate your audit scope and requirements clearly. Provide the supplier with an audit checklist and list of documents they should have available.
- Select auditors with the right subject-matter expertise and regional/local reach so cultural or geographic barriers don’t distract from the focus on your priority: the systems that create high quality products.
- Plan the opening meeting: have key supplier personnel present, align on objectives, and establish a cooperative tone rather than an adversarial one.
The Supplier Audit Process Walk-Through
- Opening Meeting – Brief the supplier on the audit’s scope, objectives and timeline.
- Audit Execution – Review products, systems and processes. Use qualified auditors whose work is tracked and managed through a secure cloud-based solution to ensure consistency and quality.
- Close-Out Meeting & Report – Share findings, allow supplier input, and deliver formal documented audit results with improvement recommendations.
- Follow-Up Audit – After a defined interval, return to verify CAPA implementation and confirm continuous improvement.
What Good Supplier Audits Achieve
When done properly, supplier audits deliver measurable outcomes:
- Reduced risk of non-compliance, product defects and supply chain disruptions
- Lowered audit overhead and travel cost thanks to locally based, vetted auditors.
- Stronger supplier partnerships built on transparency, shared goals and aligned systems
- Meaningful improvement to your operational efficiency and product quality
Partner with SQA Services for Reliable Supplier Audits
With over 31,000+ audits conducted in 90+ countries, SQA Services offers the experience, global reach and specialist auditors to support your supplier audit program.
Whether you’re planning your first full-scale audit process, need managed services from scheduling to CAPA closure, or want to optimize for cost-efficient oversight — we’re positioned to help.
Contact us to discover how a tailored, expert-driven supplier audit program can elevate your supply chain performance and compliance.
