Supplier Selection
Ask Who Owns a Supplier’s Tooling Before Paying the Setup Charge
Clarify tooling ownership, identification, maintenance and transfer arrangements before treating a supplier’s setup charge as a complete agreement.
THE SMALL BUSINESS SOURCING DESK
Supplier Selection
Turn a promising supplier sample into a clear approval record: reference version, agreed checks, exceptions and the limits of what was tested.
Supplier Selection
An Alternative Material Needs a Decision, Even When the Supplier Calls It Equivalent
A supplier reports that the specified material is unavailable and offers an equivalent. That may be a workable proposal, but the word equivalent does not…
Supplier Selection
A Supplier Question Log Keeps Unanswered Details from Becoming Assumptions
A quotation discussion can produce several emails, each answering only part of the previous message. Without a simple question log, an unanswered detail may…
Supplier Selection
Approve the Sample, Not the Assumptions: A Small Buyer’s Sign-off Sheet
Turn a promising supplier sample into a clear approval record: reference version, agreed checks, exceptions and the limits of what was tested.