Qualification is for a product, not a company
A supplier is never qualified in general. A factory that builds excellent Bluetooth speakers may not be able to make a sealed wearable or a medical sensor. Qualification should state what the supplier is approved for: which product, which processes, which site and under what conditions. A group with several factories is qualified site by site, because processes, people and equipment differ between them.
That is also why a certificate, a well-known customer or a good sample is not qualification on its own. Each is one piece of evidence.
The stages
| Stage | Question it answers | Typical evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Screening | Is this a real, suitable manufacturer? | Business license and scope, control of the site, export history, certificates verified with the issuer |
| Capability assessment | Can it make this kind of product? | Comparable products, in-house processes, engineering team, test capability |
| Factory audit | Do its processes and records match its claims? | Graded findings, closed on evidence |
| Commercial evaluation | Is the offer complete and competitive? | Itemized RFQ response, landed cost, terms |
| Product qualification | Can it make your product correctly? | Engineering samples, golden sample, first article inspection |
| Process qualification | Can it make your product repeatably at volume? | Pilot run yields, capability on critical features |
| Approval | Is everything agreed and on file? | Quality agreement, confidentiality agreement, supply agreement, approved supplier list entry |
In automotive, the later stages are formalized as PPAP, the production part approval process. Most consumer and industrial electronics programs use a lighter version of the same idea.
What to weigh
A useful qualification weighs evidence across several dimensions rather than averaging them into one score:
- Technical fit: experience with the processes your product needs
- Quality system: how problems are found, fixed and kept fixed
- Capacity: real available capacity at your volumes, and how a ramp would be handled
- Cost: full program cost, not only unit price
- Risk: financial stability, dependence on one customer, subcontracting, location and communication
Set the must-pass criteria before looking at candidates. A supplier that fails one, such as having no in-house SMT for a board that needs tight process control, should not be rescued by a low price.
Conditional approval
Approval does not have to be all or nothing. A supplier can be approved for prototypes only, for one product family, or for production pending closure of named audit findings by a set date. Conditions written into the approval record are easier to follow up than verbal promises made during a visit.
Shortcuts that fail
- Qualifying on a sample built by the factory’s best engineers rather than by the production line
- Accepting photos of certificates without checking them with the issuer
- Qualifying a trading company’s showroom instead of the factory that will build the product
- Approving one site and then producing at another
- Keeping no written record of why the supplier was approved, so nobody can check the decision later
Requalification
Qualification is not permanent. Plan a review when:
- The supplier changes site, line, key equipment or critical sub-suppliers
- Your product changes significantly through an engineering change
- Quality or delivery performance falls below agreed levels
- Production restarts after a long gap
Between those events, a simple scorecard of on-time delivery, defect rates and responsiveness keeps the approval current and gives both sides the same picture.
Tools for the job
The supplier qualification checklist lists questions for each stage. The guide on turning supplier claims into an evidence record explains how to document what you find so the decision can be checked later.
Where Zefinity helps
OEM/ODM identification, factory audits and supplier qualification, and cost, capacity, quality and capability assessments are the core of Zefinity’s Connect service.
Frequently asked questions
How long does supplier qualification take?
It depends on the product and how many candidates you assess. Desk screening and an on-site audit can often be completed in weeks. Product and process qualification run through samples, first article inspection and a pilot run, so they follow the product's development schedule rather than a fixed period. Plan qualification as part of the launch timeline, not as a step before it.
What is an approved supplier list?
An approved supplier list (ASL), sometimes called an approved vendor list, records which suppliers are approved, for which parts or products, at which sites and with what conditions. It is how a qualification decision is kept on file and enforced, for example by stopping purchases from suppliers who are not on it.
Is supplier qualification the same as a factory audit?
No. A factory audit is one step in qualification. Qualification also covers screening, capability, the commercial offer, samples, first article inspection, a pilot run and the agreements that follow. A factory can pass an audit and still fail qualification, for example if its samples or pilot yields fall short.