Nonprofit Groups Work To Bring Device Companies Together For Supplier Accreditation
This article was originally published in The Silver Sheet
Executive Summary
As the device industry looks to beef up supply chain quality, a pair of nonprofit organizations – Rx-360 and the Performance Review Institute – is offering manufacturers a chance to take part in programs that would allow for greater control over vendors. PRI’s initiative would focus its audits on vendors that provide manufacturers with five critical process-specific activities, while Rx-360’s program will dispatch auditors to review a supplier’s overall quality management system. In theory, firms that use either program will save resources because they could spend less time and money overseeing suppliers. In turn, vendors would welcome fewer manufacturer audits. But there is one lingering question: Should PRI and Rx-360 join forces? Former FDAer Steven Niedelman believes it could happen. “If a manufacturer participates in both programs, then they’ll have supplier control completely locked down,” he says.