ASQ has recently offered a new certification, Certified Supplier Quality Professional, specifically for those quality professionals dealing with suppliers. Who are these professionals? Most often the “who” depends on the size of the company.

Sometimes, in a smaller company, it’s the quality manager who likely handles all of the quality processes. Sometimes it might be “the” (as in one and only) quality engineer, and sometimes, in larger companies, it may be a department of quality engineers that are dedicated to dealing with supply chain issues.

The contents of the body of knowledge can and should be used by everyone in the organization who is tasked with dealing with suppliers. The body of knowledge identifies the things any of these individuals need to know in order to have a successful supplier management program.

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