Supplier

  A supplier is any party that provides or supplies goods or services.  Suppliers can be both internal, meaning that the supplier is upstream of your process step or external like in the case of a contractor, subcontractor or vendor.  Suppliers provide specialized inputs or deliverables to downstream process steps.

Example:

Question:

  John makes valve covers and passes them onto Bill who then polishes the valve covers.  Bill then sends the valve covers to Martha who packages the valve covers and ships them from Valves Made Easy to Valve's R' Us.  Who are the Internal Suppliers in this process and who is the External Supplier in the Process?

**Place answers in the Comments Box Below**

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