What a good supplier audit day actually looks like

The best audits spend less time in the meeting room and more time on the floor, following one real order from goods-in to the packing bench.

A supplier audit can be theatre: a presentation, a walk past a clean aisle, a folder of certificates. It can also be one of the most efficient hours a sourcing team spends. The difference is almost entirely in the method.

The method that works is tracing. Pick a real order — ideally something similar to your product — and follow it. Goods-in record, storage and lot identity, kitting list, build sheet, work instructions at the bench, test record, inspection sign-off, packing. Ask to see the document at each step rather than the answer.

Then look for the awkward corners. Where is nonconforming material kept, and is it actually segregated? What happens when a deviation is needed? Show me the last one. Where are calibration records, and is anything overdue? These are not gotchas; they are the places where a quality system either exists or does not.

Finally, talk to an operator. Not a manager — an operator, at a bench, mid-build. Ask what they do when something does not fit. The answer tells you more about a supplier's real quality culture than any certificate, and it takes ninety seconds.

— GANI Contract Manufacturing engineering team