Supplier Flowdown

Supplier flowdown is the process of passing applicable customer, technical, quality, regulatory, and program requirements to suppliers and sub-tier suppliers. In manufacturing, it commonly appears in purchase orders, supplier quality clauses, contracts, specifications, drawings, work instructions, and other controlled documents.

Supplier flowdown helps ensure that external providers understand the requirements that apply to the parts, materials, services, or processes they deliver. These requirements may include traceability, inspection records, certificate expectations, configuration control, counterfeit part prevention, special process controls, record retention, or notification rules for changes and nonconformances.

In aerospace and other regulated supply chains, supplier flowdown is often discussed in relation to AS9100-style quality management expectations, where requirements may need to move from a customer or prime contractor through multiple supplier tiers. The exact content depends on the product, program, customer requirements, and the supplier’s scope of work.

Supplier flowdown should not be confused with supplier qualification or supplier evaluation. Qualification assesses whether a supplier is suitable for certain work. Flowdown communicates the applicable requirements and evidence expectations for that work.