Supplier qualification is the formal process a manufacturer uses to approve a new supplier, material or piece of equipment before ordering it for production. It usually runs through several gates — sample evaluation, a production-line trial, quality and reliability sign-off, and finally listing on the approved vendor list (AVL) — each owned by a different part of the customer.
In semiconductor and electronics manufacturing, the process is often simply called “qualification”. Its purpose is to make sure a new material or tool does not hurt yield, quality or delivery once it enters production.
What It Is Often Confused With
Qualification is not a trial. A trial or proof of concept usually answers one question: does this work? Qualification is a series of formal gates, each with its own owner and criteria. Passing a sample test only moves the deal to the next gate; it is still some way from an order.
Qualification is not ISO or other third-party certification. An ISO certificate shows that a supplier’s management system meets a standard. Qualification is a specific customer approving a specific material or tool. A supplier with ISO certification still has to pass each customer’s own qualification.
Being on the approved vendor list is not an order. An AVL listing means the supplier is eligible to be bought from. How much is ordered, and when, still depends on procurement and production planning.
An Example
A wafer fab is evaluating a new process chemical. After the supplier sends samples, the process engineering lab’s results look good, and the rep expects an order soon. But several gates remain:
- Process engineering runs a small production-line trial to confirm there is no effect on yield.
- Quality assurance carries out reliability testing and audits the supplier’s quality system.
- Procurement adds the supplier to the approved vendor list.
- Production planning schedules the quantity and timing of the first order.
Each gate has a different owner, and a delay at any one of them delays the order. A rep who keeps following up only with the engineer who received the samples will not see that the deal is actually waiting on quality assurance or procurement.
Read Next
A successful trial that never becomes a purchase is a problem across many industries; see from pilot to purchase: why successful trials do not close. Each qualification gate usually belongs to a different decision-making unit inside the customer. For how long-cycle deals move forward, see complex B2B sales: how long-cycle deals actually progress.
VINEQRA records the status of each decision unit, so you can see which part of the customer the qualification is waiting on, and flags opportunities that appear stuck. Download VINEQRA on the App Store