Utilizing an auditor to remotely audit a shortlist of potential suppliers’ documents helps you to quickly whittle down the list to just one or two great options…

Here’s how the process would work:

1. The sourcing team identifies 10 potential suppliers.
2. A legal records check shows red flags with 2 of the suppliers, who are screened out.
3. An initial request for documents, followed by a 20-min review, allows an auditor to classify each potential supplier into a ‘stereotype’ which is compared with the buyer’s ‘ideal factory profile’, and based on that information 3 suppliers are eliminated.
4. The screening continues with a more in-depth document request & review (2 hours each), to give an initial score to each candidate.
5. An on-site audit is finally performed on the 1 or 2 suppliers with the highest score, if that’s allowed. Otherwise, a remote auditor links with the factory and requests a very specific sequence of live video shots.

(Note: assessing a potential new supplier only from a remote location is risky, as they have more ways to misrepresent reality, hence why on-site audits are still recommended when possible.)

Some importers run an annual re-assessment program that all suppliers of a certain type of product have to go through. It will include the two audit types:

• A remote audit that reviews their corrective actions, the changes in their organization and environment, how their system & processes adapted… with a short interview of a representative from the quality department.
• An on-site audit* that focuses on actual practices and on the observation of key process steps, with some time reserved for going over the root causes of past issues that impacted the buyer and the countermeasures that were implemented.
  *(This may be waived if the supplier’s quality and on-time shipping performance has been satisfactory.)

This is usually a part of the supplier ongoing management, but it may be spun off in its own program for suppliers with the highest number of serious problems.

A remote audit can help you in the following ways.

An initial document review, as a whole, can show some patterns or some trends. Some of the same issues may keep recurring, which indicates a serious lapse in the management system. Or many issues may have started to pop up around a certain period, and they might come from the same underlying changes at the factory (or one of their key suppliers).

Then, an interview can focus on some of the corrective actions, to dig a bit deeper and confirm understanding of the root cause(s) as well as the choice of appropriate countermeasures. Involving the process owners, rather than a quality manager, is key.

And, finally, if there is a doubt about the continued follow up of some countermeasures, or if the supplier needs some pressure to get their act together, an on-site audit can be planned.

Remote audits may offer the following benefits:

• Time and money are saved as the auditor doesn’t need to travel to the factory.
• Carbon emissions are reduced (good for companies who’re conscious of their carbon footprint).
• Certain staff may be more honest with an auditor if they’re chatting via phone away from supervisors.
• The auditor can often review documents more quickly with fewer distractions if they’re in their own office rather than in a factory.