{"id":3222,"date":"2012-10-29T17:30:00","date_gmt":"2012-10-29T17:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/2012\/10\/29\/surprise-supplier-audits-good-or-bad\/"},"modified":"2023-06-06T08:17:19","modified_gmt":"2023-06-06T12:17:19","slug":"surprise-supplier-audits-good-or-bad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/surprise-supplier-audits-good-or-bad\/","title":{"rendered":"Surprise Supplier Audits:  Good or Bad?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"clear: both;text-align: center\"><\/div>\n<p>One of the students of a Next Level Purchasing online course asked me, as the instructor, whether I thought that \u201csurprise\u201d supplier audits were a good idea.\u00a0 The goal of such surprise audits would be to confirm that the supplier is truly meeting its obligations, whether those obligations are things like maintaining the agreed-upon stock levels, keeping up with production schedules, complying with child labor laws, or the like.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t miss updates on Procurement &amp; Supply Chain, Subscribe here!<\/p>\n<p>So, how did I answer?<\/p>\n<p><!-- &gt; &lt;![endif]--><!-- &gt; Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE &lt;![endif]--><!-- &gt; &lt;![endif]--><!-- &gt;&lt;![endif]--><\/p>\n<div>I said that conducting surprise supplier audits are definitely a worthy idea.\u00a0 Too many times, we hear about manufacturers getting bad publicity because of problems in their overseas suppliers\u2019 factories and those problems would have been avoided if only there was a little physical oversight by the manufacturers\u2019 supply chain teams.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>That being said, I consider it best when you specify in the contract that you have the right to conduct surprise supplier audits without notice. You actually want the supplier to <i>expect<\/i> to be surprised.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Why?<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Because the ultimate goal is not to catch your supplier doing something wrong, but to persuade your supplier to do the right things\u2026even when you\u2019re not watching!<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><strong>Recommended Reading<\/strong><\/div>\n<div><a class=\"row-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/lots-of-meetings-no-action-here-are\/\" aria-label=\"\u201cLots of Meetings, No Action? Here Are Solutions!\u201d (Edit)\">Lots of Meetings, No Action? Here Are Solutions!<\/a><br \/>\n<a class=\"row-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/free-negotiation-webinar-this-thursday-2\/\" aria-label=\"\u201cFree Negotiation Webinar This Thursday!\u201d (Edit)\">Free Negotiation Webinar This Thursday!<\/a><\/div>\n<div><a class=\"row-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/the-nlpa-dedicated-member-of-month-for\/\" aria-label=\"\u201cThe NLPA Dedicated Member of the Month for August 2012 Is\u2026\u201d (Edit)\">The NLPA Dedicated Member of the Month for August 2012 Is\u2026<\/a><\/div>\n<div><a class=\"row-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/how-suppliers-negotiate-price\/\" aria-label=\"\u201cHow Suppliers Negotiate Price\u201d (Edit)\">How Suppliers Negotiate Price<\/a><\/div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/free-it-purchasing-webinar-this-tuesday\/\">Free IT Purchasing Webinar This Tuesday!<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the students of a Next Level Purchasing online [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":4009,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-procurement"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.13 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Surprise Supplier Audits: Good or Bad? 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