Do you have closet, box, or storage room filled with a mess of supplier documentation? It can feel like a hidden secret for the companies dealing with this issue, but disorganized supplier certifications are something all too many brands deal with. From enterprise to SMB, no organization is immune to a hidden stash of audits, certificates of insurance, and guarantees.
Enterprise brands are easily trying to manage thousands of documents a month, but even smaller organizations are collecting hundreds, all too often without a plan to keep them organized and up to date.
As David Black, RizePoint’s senior project manager, likes to say, “If you’re not monitoring your program, you’re managing it.”
Collecting and managing these documents becomes a full-time job, even for smaller organizations, and it leaves little room to monitor suppliers for any potential compliance issues or follow up when certifications expire. It also becomes difficult to act quickly when contamination is found in the food supply chain.
Because this can be so onerous, many organizations put off properly managing these programs. But the good news is this can be the New Year’s resolution that gets checked off the list first, or the spring-cleaning project completed before spring ever rolls around.
The Risk
Ultimately having disorganized documentation leaves your organization open to potential problems if it leads to doing business with poor suppliers who are lax about safety in the supply chain.“You need to look at the risk to your organization. I feel organizations that don’t allow enough time and resources to build and manage a meaningful supplier program put your organization at a huge risk,” said Kari Neubauer, lead program manager at Ceres Certification International. “You’re not able to identify inefficient, unreliable suppliers, and in the end that becomes costly in terms of revenue, time, and your organization’s reputation.”
The Solution
Karl Kolb, chief science officer at The High Sierra Group, described the process of working with RizePoint as a timely, organized solution that has dramatically reduced the amount of follow up needed to get the proper documentation. By setting deadlines in the system, suppliers then receive emails on a set cadence requesting the necessary documentation. It’s also much simpler to onboard new suppliers with a system that walks them through what the organization needs without confusion or misplaced information. He added that, in the current labor crunch, having an affordable system that manages supplier documentation frees up staff to work on other important tasks. Neubauer described one of their clients who had 300 direct suppliers, and about 1200 suppliers across the supply chain, who needed help organizing their existing documentation and putting a system in place to manage it moving forward. With RizePoint’s help, it only took a month.Why Now
When you’ve been making it work with the closet or box for years, it can be hard to take that first step forward and find a new way of managing this documentation. So why should you look at making a change now? Not only is the new year the perfect time for a making a resolution you know you can keep, but the regulations coming from the Food and Drug Administration and other regulatory or certifying bodies are moving increasingly to requiring management with digital tools. They’re spending more time looking into suppliers and the level of depth necessary is increasing. You can no longer skate by with just stating you have certifications without being able to produce them and show a strong record of compliance.Kolb said, “This is the time to get on board and do it because the FDA is knocking on the door. And it’s just good, ethical management anyway whether the FDA is out there or not. You need to know where your food is coming from and if it’s in good shape.”Want to learn more about how other organizations are using RizePoint to manage their supplier certifications? Check out the on-demand webinar with Kolb, Neubauer, and Black as guests, hosted by RizePoint President and CEO Kari Hensien. or