Practical Supplier Control Practices

Why Should You Attend:

As regulatory bodies focus more and more on manufacturers’ supply chains, more thought needs to be put into more effective methods of managing supplier performance. The danger becomes that compliance burden gets passed onto supplier who may not have the resources, knowledge, or desire to meet regulatory requirements like their medical device customers must. The key to success is in being able to scale supplier management requirements relative to the supplier’s capabilities and the risks associated with what they supply. A one-size fits all approach can overburden small or less critical suppliers and fail to effectively drive performance in critical or more challenging suppliers. It isn’t uncommon to find suppliers opting out of the relationship (usually at inopportune times) or increasing purchase prices. Manufacturers also often overburden themselves by establishing unnecessary requirements for acceptance of supplied materials. This webinar offers ideas and suggestions for more practical methods that can improve consistency, efficiency, and effectiveness.

• Does your supplier classification scheme seem too subjective to be consistent?
• Is it unclear in your supplier management process when to take action on supplier performance?
• Is your supplier management process exceeding your level of resources?
• Besides purchase order details, how do you convey more general requirements to suppliers?
• Has your need to comply with regulations strained relations with your suppliers?

Areas Covered in the Webinar:

• What are the requirements and their true intents?
• Establishing a PDCA-based supplier management process
• Using a more consistent approach to classifying suppliers
• What does “risk-based thinking” mean within the context of supplier management?
• Avoiding overwhelming small suppliers
• Rethinking how much incoming inspection is really needed
• Avoiding meaningless certificates of conformance/analysis
• Supplier Development vs. Supplier Management

Who Will Benefit:

• Quality Manager
• Quality Director
• Quality Systems Specialist
• Quality Engineer
• Supplier Quality Manager
• Supplier Quality Engineer
• Supply Chain Manager

Steve Gompertz
President, Quality Management Systems Potential LLC

Steve Gompertz is a leader in Quality Systems management with over 25 years' experience in the life-science industry. His career includes roles in quality systems development and implementation, project management, engineering automation, configuration management, audit, and software development for companies including Pelican BioThermal, St. Jude Medical, Boston Scientific, Medtronic, Vital Images, and Control Data. He is currently President of Quality Management Systems Potential LLC, a consulting firm focusing on medical device quality. Steve also helped develop and is an Adjunct Instructor in St. Cloud State University's Master of Science in Medical Technology Quality program. He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Lehigh University, and certifications in quality management, biomedical auditing, regulatory affairs, project management, and configuration management.

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