title: Avoiding unreasonable reliance on subcontractor certification.
abstract: Increasingly, subcontractors who provide products and services to device manufacturers are obtaining quality system certification. This is a laudable activity and should lead to improvements in the products and services being provided. However, some manufacturers place far too much reliance on this certification in their subcontractor assessment programmes. This article will discuss some of the dangers of this practice.
authors.affiliation: Donawa and Associates Ltd, Rome, Italy. donawa@srd.it
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Donawa
mesh_terms: D000068:Accreditation; D003284:Contract Services / Q000592:standards*; D003659:Decision Making, Organizational; D004864:Equipment and Supplies / Q000191:economics* / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D011786:Quality Control