Procurement Questions to Ask Suppliers
Twenty-two questions for evaluating a supplier before you award the business: what they make themselves versus subcontract, real lead times and on-time figures, the last three quality problems that reached a customer, how the price is built up, who owns tooling and designs, and what the exit looks like. Written for buyers running a sourcing decision rather than for a first introductory call.
The questions
Open any question for the note
Who else in our industry are you supplying now, and at what volumes?
Why ask it
Named accounts and rough volumes tell you whether you would be a large customer or a rounding error, which determines how much attention you get in a shortage. Vague answers about serving many blue-chip clients usually mean the relevant experience is thinner than the sales deck implies.
Can I speak to two customers who stayed and one who left?
Why ask it
Every supplier can produce a happy reference. The customer who left is the informative call, and a supplier willing to hand over that name is telling you something about their confidence and their honesty.
Which parts of this do you make yourselves, and which are subcontracted?
Why ask it
Suppliers routinely present subcontracted work as in-house capability. Knowing the split tells you where your real risk sits, because a problem two tiers down is one you will hear about late and can do least about.
Where do the critical inputs come from, and how many qualified sources do you have for each?
Why ask it
Single-sourced inputs are the usual cause of a supplier failing you without warning. Ask how long qualifying an alternative takes, since the honest number is often months, and that is your actual exposure.
What is your lead time today, and what was the worst it got in the last two years?
Why ask it
The current quote is a marketing number. The peak tells you what the system does under stress, and a supplier who claims lead times never moved through recent years is either not tracking it or not telling you.
What is your on-time in-full rate for the last twelve months, and how do you calculate it?
Why ask it
The calculation matters as much as the figure: measured against the original promised date or a revised one, and whether partial shipments count as on time. Suppliers reporting high nineties usually revise dates and measure against the revision.
Tell me about the last three quality problems that reached a customer. What was the cause, and what changed?
Why ask it
This is the highest-value question in a supplier assessment, because it tests whether they have a functioning corrective process. A claim that nothing has escaped is either untrue or means they have no detection worth relying on.
What is the defect rate on this line, who measures it, and how often?
Why ask it
You are checking whether quality data exists independently of the people producing the parts. If inspection reports to production rather than to quality, expect the numbers to be optimistic when it matters.
Which certifications do you hold, when were you last audited, and may I see the findings?
Why ask it
Certificates are easy to display and say little on their own. The audit findings and the non-conformances raised, plus how quickly they were closed, tell you what the certificate is actually worth here.
How much of your total capacity would our volume be, and what headroom exists if we doubled?
Why ask it
Both extremes are risks. Too small and you get deprioritised; too large and you become a concentration risk to them and end up carrying their business problems. Ask what doubling would require: a shift, a machine, a new site.
What is this price built up from, and which components move with commodity or currency rates?
Why ask it
A broken-down price is the only basis for a sensible conversation later when they ask for an increase. Suppliers who refuse any breakdown are usually protecting either a large margin or the fact that they do not know their own costs.
How long is this price firm, and how much notice do we get before an increase?
Why ask it
Written notice periods and an agreed index are worth more than a promise of stability. Also ask what happens if their input costs fall, since most price mechanisms in practice only travel one way.
What are your payment terms, and what changes if we pay earlier or in a different currency?
Why ask it
Terms are frequently more negotiable than unit price, and a discount for faster payment can be worth more than the haggling. If a supplier pushes hard for prepayment, ask why, because it can indicate a cash problem.
What tooling, setup or onboarding costs apply, and who owns the tooling once we stop buying?
Why ask it
Unclear tooling ownership is one of the most common ways buyers get locked in. Get ownership, location, and the right to collect it written down before the first invoice, not during a dispute.
Who owns the designs, and who owns improvements developed while working with us?
Why ask it
Suppliers often assume process improvements they devise are theirs to sell on to your competitors. Whether that is acceptable is a business decision, but it should be a decision rather than a discovery.
How is our data handled, who at your end can see it, and have you had a security incident?
Why ask it
Ask about subcontractor and offshore access specifically, since that is where most surprises live. A supplier who has handled an incident and can describe what they told customers is generally safer than one claiming a spotless record.
What does the contract actually give us if you miss a date or ship defective product?
Why ask it
Move the conversation from intentions to remedies: credits, expedited replacement, cost of a line stoppage, right to source elsewhere at their expense. Suppliers who resist any remedy are telling you how confident they are.
What is your financial position, and will you share statements or a credit reference?
Why ask it
Supplier insolvency is the failure mode that takes the longest to recover from, and warning signs usually show in the accounts a year ahead. Reluctance to share anything at all is itself worth weighing.
Who is our day-to-day contact, and who do we reach on a Friday night when a line is down?
Why ask it
You want names, coverage hours, and an escalation path that reaches someone with authority to spend money. A single overloaded account manager with no backup is a common and predictable point of failure.
Tell me about the last time a customer came to you with an emergency. What did you do?
Why ask it
The story reveals whether flexibility is real or aspirational, and what it cost the customer. Listen for who made the call and how fast, because that is what your own emergency will depend on.
If this arrangement ends, what does the exit look like?
Why ask it
Cover notice period, a final buy of parts, return of tooling and data, and support during transition. Negotiating the exit while both sides are keen is far easier than negotiating it when one side is angry.
What do you need from us to do this well, and where do buyers like us make your job harder?
Why ask it
Asked last, once some rapport exists, this often produces the most candid answer of the meeting: late forecasts, rush changes, drawings that never get updated. It also tells you whether they will raise problems early or absorb them silently until something breaks.
Running the supplier assessment
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before you meet
- 1Decide what you are actually buying and write down the few requirements a supplier must meet. Scoring becomes arbitrary when the criteria are agreed after the presentations.
- 2Send the hard questions in advance. Answers about defect rates and on-time performance are only useful if someone had time to look them up rather than estimate on the spot.
- 3Ask the same questions of every bidder in the same order, and keep the answers side by side. Comparisons made from memory reliably favour whoever presented most confidently.
- 4Pull what you can independently first: filed accounts, court records, recall notices, news. It changes which questions are worth the meeting.
- 5Work out your total cost, not the unit price: freight, duty, payment terms, inspection, rework, and the inventory you will hold to cover their lead time.
On the site visit
- Ask to see the line that would run your product, not the showcase area, and go on a normal production day.
- Talk to a supervisor or an operator rather than only the sales team. Ask what usually goes wrong and how a problem gets reported upward.
- Look for the quarantine area for rejected material. If there is no obvious one, or it is empty, ask where non-conforming parts actually go.
- Check whether the paperwork on the floor matches the current revision. Old drawings in use is a stronger signal than any certificate on the wall.
- Ask an operator how long they have worked there. High turnover on the line shows up in your product months before it shows up in a report.
Turning answers into a contract
- Write the numbers they quoted into the agreement: lead time, on-time target, defect rate, notice period. Verbal assurances do not survive a change of account manager.
- Name the site and the subcontractors, and require notice before either changes. Production quietly moving to another plant is a frequent cause of quality shifts.
- Agree how performance will be reviewed and who attends. A quarterly meeting with the same figures each time is what keeps small problems from accumulating.
- Keep a second qualified source, even at low volume. Qualification takes months and cannot be started on the day you need it.
- Pilot before you commit fully. A short run at real volume tells you more than any amount of documentation, and it is much cheaper to walk away at that point.