About Customer Certificates

This topic describes why a Customer Certificate is so important and the best way to manage them within your company.

What makes up a Customer Certificate document?

For instance, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lists specific requirements for each Customer Certificate document your company produces, including:

• Supplier Information: This section contains data regarding the material supplier, including their name, address, and other contact information.
• Materials Identification: The content in this section identifies the material being verified by this Customer Certificate. It usually contains common terms such as lot numbers, product codes, and descriptions.
• Transportation Data: This area generally includes the customer's name and address, original purchase order, or other details such as the item’s destination. This content is provided to meet shipping requirements and to help the receiver in confirming the material is authorized and its delivery is anticipated.
• Evidence of Conformance: This section holds the most important information in the Customer Certificate. It states the specific characteristics, test results, or other evidence in terms of industry standards, regulatory requirements, or customer-specific request. In some cases, the performance standards expected will also be noted for reference.
• Signature Data: This last section of the Customer Certificate includes a signature indicating that the evidence presented was reviewed by a qualified and authorized product inspector.

Without each of these sections and data, your Customer Certificate will not count as a legitimate inspection of your product and you may run into legal or business ramifications.

What are Customer Certificates used for?

As mentioned, Customer Certificates are documents meant to prove the products you are manufacturing meet your customers’ expectations. With countless items being produced by manufacturers, it is often difficult for a company to seamlessly track materials from the very beginning to the end of the final product process. This means that companies rely more and more on their suppliers to provide quality materials for finished products.

A Customer Certificate goes beyond just acting as a product inspection. With materials rapidly moving to and from different locations, it is necessary to have the shipped material clearly and correctly identified and clarified. In addition to material and container labels, the Customer Certificate serves as an identification document for the status of each product. These documents provide more detailed information than a label generally provides. The Customer Certificate conveys information from a material supplier to a material user about the identity, quality, and purity of that specific material. It is very important for a material supplier to show its customer a trustworthy Customer Certificate so that the customer can understand exactly what type of product they receive. The receiver can also compare the information provided on the vendor’s Customer Certificate against its specifications to see whether the material meets the required criteria.

Why does your company need to produce Customer Certificates?

Many manufacturers know there are advantages to creating Customer Certificates but consider them too costly and time-consuming. However, without producing a trustworthy and accurate Customer Certificate, your company could face both business and legal consequences.

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