Some supplier quality assurance assessment issues

An investigation has been carried out in thirteen suppliers of plant systems and equipment for one‐off construction projects, to determine the benefits and problems of applying quality assurance. This paper reports the findings of the investigation. These suppliers and the major purchasing agents are confronted with special quality assurance problems such as multiple auditing and inspection which are allied to the one‐off nature of the items supplied. It is pointed out that this sample of suppliers is commonly encountering four to five external audits each year and that there is some dissatisfaction with the professional competence of some auditors and many inspectors employed on non‐nuclear contracts.