How to Control Externally Provided Processes, Products and Services

With the publication of ISO 9001:2015, we saw a change in heading from the ISO 9001:2008 version “Purchasing” (7.4) to “Control of externally provided processes, products and services” (8.4). Within IATF 16949:2016, the automotive industry has added much more stringent requirements against this requirement, including supplier selection, supplier quality management system development, supplier monitoring, second party audits and supplier development.

This has led to questions on what the scope of these requirements is and which suppliers have to be included/managed to meet the requirements.

In this article, Paul Hardiman details each type of external provider, namely processes, products and services, and how they should be selected and managed taking into account performance and risk-based thinking.