Restricted supplier review cadence
Use this cadence when a supplier has been placed on watch, cap, conditional order, hold, or recovery status. It prevents restrictions from becoming vague memory and forces a dated decision: continue restriction, run a controlled test, restore ordinary ordering, or exit.
When to use it
- A supplier recently failed delivery, quality, documentation, payment-account, communication, or claim-settlement expectations.
- The business still needs a controlled path for pending orders, warranty support, spare parts, or possible requalification.
- Owners need a fixed rhythm so the next PO is not approved from memory or sales pressure alone.
Default cadence
Weekly until stable, monthly until closed. Weekly reviews focus on evidence movement and urgent exposure. Monthly reviews decide whether the supplier remains restricted, enters a capped test order, moves to normal approval, or exits the vendor base.
Review checkpoints
| Checkpoint | Evidence to collect | Decision rule |
|---|---|---|
| Open exposure | Open PO value, unfinished production, shipped but unreconciled goods, unpaid balance, claim value, and customer-impact risk. | Do not loosen restriction while exposure is growing or unresolved claims lack owners. |
| Recovery behavior | Dated replies, corrective actions, replacement/refund progress, document corrections, and whether the supplier reports bad news early. | Only move forward when evidence is proactive and repeatable, not one-off rescue behavior. |
| Operating controls | Inspection gate, shipment release rule, payment reserve, SKU/quantity cap, backup supplier status, and escalation owner. | Any new order must fit inside written controls before PO release. |
| Exit readiness | Tooling, drawings, samples, account reconciliation, warranty obligations, and replacement capacity. | If recovery stalls for two review cycles, prepare exit or volume transfer instead of indefinite watch. |
Decision labels
- Watch: no new concern, but retain review until the next milestone.
- Cap: allow only limited quantity, SKU, value, or shipment exposure.
- Controlled test: approve a small monitored repeat order with pass/fail evidence.
- Hold: block new PO until a specific obligation closes.
- Exit: move volume, claims, documents, and warranty handling to an exit plan.
Copy-ready review line
“Supplier [name] remains under [watch/cap/hold/recovery]. Current exposure: [value/orders]. Evidence reviewed: [items]. This cycle decision: [decision]. Required before next review: [actions]. Next review date: [date]. Owner: [name].”
Connected workflow
Recommended sequence: set the next-order restriction register, track recovery status weekly, apply this review cadence, then decide whether to run a controlled repeat-order test or start exit/volume-transfer work.
Connected tools: supplier next-order restriction register, supplier recovery status dashboard, controlled repeat-order test log, and supplier exit transition plan.