Supply chain threats and supplier problems are unavoidable risks of doing business in the food, beverage, and dietary supplements industries, especially with an increasingly extensive and complex supply chain. For many companies, supply chain hazards represent the most significant safety and regulatory vulnerability. Trying to identify and control these risks lingers as a never-ending battle. Even the most efficient quality and regulatory teams can come up short, exposing the business to safety issues, brand risks, and expensive product recalls. With so much at stake, it’s more important than ever for companies to get it right. But we can help by preparing you for your next audit.
Using tech to improve audits and supply chain controls
While the number and frequency of outbreaks have increased in recent years, the rate and range of audits have climbed dramatically as well, in part due to more stringent standards and better technology solutions. Experts blame most of these incidents on the breakdown of basic good manufacturing practices (GMPs).
Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be that way. Especially if your company has a world-class audit program powered by data that quickly and accurately identifies the most pressing risks.
Prepare an audit plan
So, if you’re struggling to develop a comprehensive audit plan, this ebook goes behind the scenes of top concerns, costs, and more. Read on to learn how you prepare for an audit at any time.
A Sneak Preview: How Technology Can Improve Audits and Supply Chain Controls
Data-driven auditing decisions
Manufacturers simply can’t audit every supplier, facility, or warehouse every year, so management needs to prioritize which internal and external sites to audit based on risk. Understanding and tracking how facilities and their items are performing is essential to audit planning. Most companies think they’re strategically selecting the facilities they’ll audit, but without data to back up those choices, they can still overlook critical threats.
TraceGains Supplier Management offers automated trend analysis, reporting, and risk scoring that can help customers scorecard their suppliers, showing them which suppliers might require frequent, or aggressive auditing. Leveraging supply chain information already collected in TraceGains Network from 7,000 suppliers in 17,000 locations, auditors can quickly identify and prioritize suppliers, facilities, or warehouses with the highest risk and preview key documents such as previous audits and corrective actions. With all information centralized on a single platform, manufacturers have a 360-degree view of their supply chain.
Connected network data helps highlight risk by supplier, item, and geography, identifying the most critical threats. Scores might be higher for a foreign supplier or an ingredient known to be at risk for economically motivated adulteration. TraceGains proprietary algorithms can be used to assess risk or it can be customized to match the manufacturer’s unique requirements. The scores measure inherent risk as well as a facility’s performance. These scorecards are updated nightly, so users have a real-time view of supply chain risk.
Supplier Management, along with Audit Management, offers customers easy access to a wealth of information that provides deep data insights and analysis to inform the audit planning process. Data helps substantiate audit plan development and why certain audit cites were chosen.
Learn more from this resource:
Including important key points like:
- The most persistent supply chain threats.
- The anatomy of an effective audit plan.
- Why so many companies can’t navigate an audit successfully.
- How Audit Management can make the fears of an audit a thing of the past.
