| Quality Management System |
Whether the manufacturing and quality processes are controlled, documented, and regularly audited. |
Current ISO 13485 certificate, certification scope, issuing body, audit status, quality manual, and corrective-action records. |
ISO 13485:2016 |
Certificate scope should cover the relevant surgical or implant-instrument activities and manufacturing sites. |
15% |
| Material Traceability |
Ability to identify the material grade and production history of every instrument batch. |
Material certificates, heat numbers, batch records, supplier approvals, and traceability procedure. |
ASTM F899 or applicable material specification; ISO 7153-1 may be relevant to surgical instrument materials. |
Each production batch should be traceable from incoming material through final inspection and shipment. |
12% |
| Design and Dimensional Control |
Accuracy of critical dimensions, working ends, interfaces, surface geometry, and compatibility with the intended implant system. |
Approved drawings, tolerances, inspection plans, calibrated measuring equipment, first-article reports, and change-control records. |
Applicable product specifications and validated engineering drawings. |
Critical dimensions should have documented tolerances, inspection frequency, and acceptance criteria. |
12% |
| Surface Finish and Corrosion Resistance |
Resistance to staining, pitting, corrosion, and surface damage during cleaning, disinfection, and sterilization. |
Surface-finish specifications, passivation or electropolishing records, corrosion-test reports, and visual inspection criteria. |
Applicable stainless-steel specification and validated cleaning or passivation process. |
Surfaces should be free from burrs, cracks, visible rust, sharp unintended edges, and contamination. |
10% |
| Functional Performance |
Whether instruments maintain grip, cutting, holding, alignment, actuation, and fit under intended use conditions. |
Functional test methods, test fixtures, cycle testing, performance records, and sample evaluation by qualified users. |
Product-specific requirements and applicable surgical-instrument standards. |
Acceptance criteria should be measurable and linked to the intended surgical procedure and implant interface. |
12% |
| Cleaning and Reprocessing Information |
Whether the instrument can be safely cleaned, disinfected, inspected, packaged, and sterilized according to validated instructions. |
Instructions for use, reprocessing instructions, cleaning validation, maximum reuse-cycle information, and compatibility data. |
ISO 17664-1 for processing information provided by medical-device manufacturers. |
Instructions should specify disassembly, cleaning agents, water quality, temperature limits, drying, inspection, and sterilization parameters where applicable. |
10% |
| Sterilization and Packaging |
Suitability of sterile packaging and validation of the selected sterilization process when sterile supply is required. |
Packaging specifications, seal-integrity tests, aging studies, sterilization validation, and sterility-related records. |
ISO 11607 for terminally sterilized medical-device packaging; ISO 11135 for ethylene oxide or ISO 11137 for radiation sterilization, when applicable. |
Packaging and sterilization claims should be supported by documented validation rather than supplier declarations alone. |
8% |
| Regulatory Documentation |
Readiness to support registration, importation, labeling, and post-market obligations in the destination market. |
Device classification information, declaration of conformity, technical documentation, labels, certificates, and regulatory history. |
Destination-market regulations; NMPA requirements apply to products placed on the Chinese market. |
Documentation should clearly identify the legal manufacturer, device intended use, model numbers, and applicable conformity route. |
10% |
| Production Capacity and Delivery Control |
Ability to maintain consistent output, lead times, tooling availability, and continuity of supply. |
Capacity plan, production schedule, lead-time history, inventory policy, business-continuity plan, and on-time-delivery records. |
Purchasing agreement and agreed service-level requirements. |
Supplier should provide realistic lead times, defined minimum order quantities, escalation contacts, and contingency arrangements. |
6% |
| Inspection and Complaint Handling |
How nonconforming products, complaints, returns, recalls, and corrective actions are managed. |
Incoming, in-process, and final inspection records; complaint procedure; CAPA examples; nonconformance reports; and response-time targets. |
ISO 13485 quality-system controls and applicable post-market requirements. |
A documented root-cause process should define containment, corrective action, effectiveness verification, and communication timelines. |
5% |