VENDOR ASSESSMENT - A COMPUTERIZED APPROACH

The purchasing function is of vital importance in manufacturing becaus e materials and components form a significant part of product costs. V endor assessment provides management with a powerful control tool. The gleaned information is both useful in negotiations with suppliers and in contributing towards the establishment of closer links. This artic le discusses the state of the art of vendor rating and gives details o f a flexible programme designed to make the assessment system more rel evant and effective. The programme can also be employed to assist in t he supplier evaluation and qualification processes.