A Tool for Assessing Product Non-Compliance Risks in Supply Chains

• Alex Martin
• Kieren Mayers
• Chris France

Products for consumer and industrial use within Europe must comply with national safety and environmental regulations. Assuring their products comply with these regulations poses management challenges for producers, which become greater when the regulations apply at the material level and the risks of product non-compliance occurring are spread into their supply chains. This paper discusses the use of a tool to help producers identify and prioritise product non-compliance risks to which their businesses have been, or could be, exposed. The tool is failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA). The paper describes how FMEA was adapted and used for assessing the risks of product non-compliance with substance use restrictions in the case of a European electronics producer. This was a novel application of the tool since it involved assessing the non-compliance risks associated with management system failings within the producer’s supply chain. It is suggested that the worksheet, terms of reference and rating scales developed in adapting FMEA provide a basis for the tool being widely used to assess product non-compliance risks.

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