A comprehensive guide to navigating OpsNinja-managed supplier onboarding versus self-onboarding, including pros and cons and suggested talking points if you choose to onboard suppliers yourself.
What does onboarding my supplier mean?
Onboarding your supplier means letting them know that:
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You plan to implement routine quality control (QC) for orders placed with them.
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OpsNinja is your quality control provider, and they’ll need to cooperate with our processes.
OpsNinja-Managed Onboarding vs. Self-Onboarding
When adding a new supplier to the platform, you can choose between:
- OpsNinja-Managed Onboarding: Letting our team handle communication.
- Self-Onboarding: Taking the lead yourself.
OpsNinja Managed Onboarding
If you choose our team:
- We reach out to your supplier on your behalf, introducing ourselves and explaining the implementation of quality control measures.
- We open a direct communication channel between the supplier and OpsNinja.
- Our approach focuses on making inspections appealing, positioning them as beneficial to their operations.
The Benefit: You don’t have to handle the communication—we take care of everything for you.
Self-Onboarding Your Supplier
If you prefer to onboard suppliers yourself:
- You’ll communicate directly with your supplier contact, informing them about your decision to implement quality control through OpsNinja.
- Specify that the OpsNinja team will follow up separately to finalize the inspection process.
How to Make Your Suppliers WANT Inspections
Why Inspections Matter and How They Benefit Everyone
Inspections are more than just a quality check—they are essential for protecting your business and ensuring smooth operations. They help you meet requirements from:
- Product liability insurance providers
- Financial partners such as banks and investors
- Freight insurers and 3PLs to validate claims and verify shipments
- They are also a common requirement for platforms like Amazon to ensure compliance and reduce risks.
Established brands inspect every batch of products, and implementing quality control puts you in the same category as these industry leaders. Routine inspections signal to suppliers that you are a professional, serious buyer who is committed to building a successful business.
Suppliers are more likely to respect and prioritize buyers who demonstrate sophistication. These buyers are seen as reliable long-term partners, often placing consistent orders. This perception strengthens the supplier relationship, builds mutual respect, and positions you as a valued customer. This often means you will get better service & attention, fewer delays, and improved pricing as a result.
Setting the Right Tone with Suppliers
How you communicate inspections to your suppliers can make all the difference. Here’s how to approach it effectively:
- New Suppliers: Set clear expectations upfront, framing inspections as a standard part of your process with no exceptions being made.
We conduct pre-shipment inspections on all orders as part of our quality control procedures. This is standard practice for all our suppliers to ensure consistent quality and smooth operations.”
- Existing Suppliers: Introduce inspections as part of a company-wide policy change, using external factors as justification to avoid singling them out. For example:
“As our business has grown, we’ve updated our policies to meet the requirements of our partners, including insurance providers, 3PLs, and financing institutions. Starting now, pre-shipment inspections will be implemented for all batches. This policy applies to all our suppliers, not just your company. We greatly value our partnership and appreciate your ongoing commitment to quality"
One email to each supplier is all that's needed to establish clear expectations. This communication emphasizes that inspections are a standard legal requirement and applies uniformly to all suppliers, thereby eliminating any room for negotiation.
Dealing with Resistance: Addressing Common Objections
Although very uncommon, sometimes suppliers may resist implementing quality control. Here’s how to address the most common objections effectively:
“We already do inspections internally.”
- Internal inspections are not a substitute for third-party quality control. Suppliers often lack the objectivity needed to identify and address issues that could affect your business, and the documentation is usually not sufficient. Additionally, most vendors (e.g. insurance providers, banks, Amazon, etc.) would not not accept internal reports from your supplier. Third-party inspections are independent and unbiased, ensuring compliance with your quality standards and protecting your interests.
- Respond with: “While internal inspections are helpful, our partners would not accept an internal report over an independent third-party inspection."
“We need to do inspections earlier in the batch.”
- This can be a valid request, especially if the final product is packaged in single-use or sealed packaging. Opening such units for inspection would require the factory to repackage them, potentially increasing costs or delays. In such cases, conducting inspections earlier in production, before packaging, may still meet your quality goals. Be flexible and work with your supplier to identify a reasonable solution.
- Respond with: “We understand that inspecting final packaging can pose challenges. We’re happy to work with you to arrange inspections earlier in production, as long as the timing aligns with our quality requirements.”
“We don’t allow third-party inspections.”
- An outright refusal to permit third-party inspections is a major red flag. This usually signals hidden quality issues, a lack of transparency, or inflexibility to collaborate which leads to future issues. A supplier unwilling to cooperate with standard, independent inspections is unlikely to be a long-term partner for your business. In this case, it’s critical to reassess the relationship:
- Consider whether this supplier is a long-term partner you'd want to work with
- Discuss alternatives, such as an earlier-stage inspection (if acceptable).
- If they remain unwilling to cooperate, it may be time to look for a more reliable partner.
- Consider responding with: “Third-party inspections are a standard practice across the industry to ensure quality and compliance. If a supplier cannot accommodate this, it raises concerns about their transparency and commitment to collaboration. This could lead us to reevaluate the relationship.”
Protecting Your Legal Rights
To ensure your right to inspect products before accepting them, it’s important to address contract terms upfront:
- Avoid Restrictive Terms: Don’t agree to clauses that limit inspections to a specific percentage of goods (e.g., inspecting only 10%).
- Use Flexible Language: Include terms like “We reserve the right to inspect goods at our discretion.”
By default, you have the right to inspect goods at your discretion if not stated in the contract. You also have final payment leverage as you can demand an inspection before you send the final balance.