Supplier corrective action tracker
Use this tracker after a defect escalation email has been sent. It converts the supplier reply into a practical follow-up table: owner, root cause, containment, corrective action, evidence, deadline and final closure decision.
Copy-ready tracker columns
Paste these columns into a spreadsheet, project board or shared document.
Issue ID | Product / PO | Defect summary | Severity | Supplier owner | Buyer owner | Immediate containment | Suspected root cause | Corrective action | Evidence required | Due date | Status | Closure decision Q-001 | [SKU / PO] | [Short factual defect] | Critical / Major / Minor | [Name] | [Name] | [Stop ship / rework / sort] | [Supplier explanation] | [Process change] | [Photos, report, sample, revised SOP] | [YYYY-MM-DD] | Open / Waiting / Verified | Close / Extend / Escalate
Severity guide
- Critical: safety, legal, unusable product, wrong material, wrong certification or high-volume failure risk.
- Major: visible quality issue, functional problem, packaging failure, quantity mismatch or repeated sample deviation.
- Minor: cosmetic deviation that does not block use, but still needs documented correction before the next batch.
If severity is unclear, treat it as Major until evidence proves otherwise.
Weekly follow-up script
- List every open issue and confirm whether containment is complete.
- Ask for evidence, not promises: photos, inspection records, revised process steps or replacement schedule.
- Compare supplier evidence against the closure criteria agreed in the escalation email.
- Mark each issue as closed only after evidence is verified or a replacement / credit action is executed.
Closure decision rules
- Close: evidence matches the requirement and the next shipment control is clear.
- Extend: supplier is acting, but evidence is incomplete; set a new dated checkpoint.
- Escalate: supplier misses deadlines, denies evidence, repeats defects or requests payment release before correction.
Minimum evidence pack
For most sourcing teams, a corrective action is not complete until it includes: defect photos, affected quantity, temporary containment method, root-cause explanation, final corrective action, inspection proof after rework, and a named person responsible for preventing recurrence.