NetSuite Quality Management: Features & Setup (2026)

Quality management in an ERP context

Manufacturers know the pain: quality data lives in spreadsheets, paper inspection forms, and tribal knowledge while the ERP handles everything else. When a quality issue surfaces — a customer complaint, a failed lot, a supplier defect — someone has to connect the quality data to the ERP data manually. Which purchase order? Which production run? Which lot? The investigation happens across multiple systems.

TL;DR: NetSuite's Quality Management module integrates inspection plans, non-conformance tracking, and corrective actions (CAPA) directly inside the ERP. Combined with lot and serial tracking, it provides full forward and backward traceability for recall management and audit readiness -- especially valuable for regulated industries like medical devices, aerospace, and food manufacturing.

NetSuite's Quality Management module brings quality processes inside the ERP. Inspection plans, test results, non-conformance records, and corrective actions all live alongside the production, inventory, and sales data they relate to. When a quality issue hits, the traceability is built in.

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Core capabilities

Inspection plans

Inspection plans define what gets tested, when, and how. You create plans that specify the quality checks required at different stages of your process: incoming materials inspection, in-process production checks, and final product inspection before shipment.

Each plan contains inspection criteria — the specific measurements, visual checks, or functional tests that determine pass/fail. For a machined component, this might be dimensional tolerances. For food products, it might be temperature, pH, and visual appearance. For electronics, it might be functional test results.

Plans attach to items, vendors, or production stages. When an item receipt arrives for a vendor with an inspection requirement, NetSuite prompts the quality team to perform the inspection. When a work order reaches a specific stage, the associated quality checks trigger.

Quality inspections

When an inspection triggers, the quality team records results against the plan criteria. Each criterion gets a measured value and a pass/fail determination. The inspection record captures who performed the test, when, what equipment was used, and the actual measurements.

Sampling is configurable. Not every unit needs inspection — you can define sampling rates based on AQL (Acceptable Quality Level) tables. Inspect 5 out of every 100 units received, or inspect the first 3 production runs from a new setup. The sampling logic determines which items get flagged for inspection.

Disposition determines what happens after inspection. Passed items continue through the normal process. Failed items can be quarantined, returned to vendor, reworked, or scrapped. The disposition decision creates the appropriate downstream transactions in NetSuite — a return authorization for vendor returns, a work order for rework, or an inventory adjustment for scrap.

Non-conformance tracking

When something doesn't meet specification, a non-conformance record documents the deviation. Non-conformances can originate from inspection failures, customer complaints, production observations, or audit findings.

The non-conformance record captures what went wrong, the affected lot or serial numbers, the quantity impacted, and the immediate containment action taken. It links to the originating transaction — the item receipt, work order, or sales order — so the full context is traceable.

Non-conformance tracking is where quality management connects to continuous improvement. Patterns in non-conformances reveal systemic issues: a vendor consistently delivering out-of-spec material, a production step with high defect rates, or a packaging problem causing shipping damage.

Corrective and preventive actions (CAPA)

When a non-conformance requires more than immediate disposition, a corrective action record tracks the root cause investigation and remediation steps.

The CAPA workflow typically follows: problem identification, root cause analysis, corrective action plan, implementation, and effectiveness verification. NetSuite tracks each stage with assignments, due dates, and completion status.

For companies in regulated industries (medical devices, aerospace, food), CAPA processes are audit requirements. Having them in the ERP alongside the quality data they reference makes audit preparation significantly easier than maintaining separate CAPA systems.

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Lot and serial tracking integration

Quality management becomes significantly more powerful when combined with NetSuite's lot and serial tracking capabilities.

Lot traceability connects quality data to specific production lots. When a quality issue is identified in lot ABC-123, you can trace forward (which customers received products from that lot?) and backward (which raw material lots were used in production?). This forward and backward traceability is essential for recall management.

Serial tracking provides unit-level traceability. Each serialized item has its own quality history: inspection results, warranty claims, service records. For high-value products or regulated items, serial-level quality tracking is a requirement.

The integration means that quality holds on a specific lot prevent that inventory from being shipped or consumed in production. Only after the quality team releases the lot does it become available — a physical and system control that prevents defective material from reaching customers.

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Configuration approach

Start with your quality policy

Before configuring the module, document what you need to control. What items require inspection? At what process stages? What are the acceptance criteria? What happens when something fails?

Most manufacturers have these policies documented (or at least known informally). The configuration translates them into system rules.

Build inspection plans iteratively

Don't try to digitize every quality check on day one. Start with the highest-impact inspections — incoming material from your top vendors, final inspection before shipment to your most important customers, and the production steps with the highest historical defect rates.

Once those are working smoothly, expand to lower-priority inspections. This iterative approach lets you learn the system's capabilities and constraints with manageable scope.

Train the quality team

The people performing inspections need to understand the system workflow: how to record results, how to dispositon failures, and how to create non-conformance records. This is hands-on training, not a PowerPoint presentation. Walk through real inspection scenarios on the production floor.

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Who needs this

Strong fit:

• Manufacturers with incoming, in-process, and outgoing quality requirements
• Companies in regulated industries (FDA, ISO 13485, AS9100)
• Businesses experiencing quality-related chargebacks or customer complaints
• Organizations that need lot traceability for recall readiness

Probably not needed:

• Distribution companies with minimal quality requirements
• Service companies
• Companies where quality is limited to simple visual inspection that doesn't need systematic tracking

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The bottom line

NetSuite's Quality Management module isn't a standalone QMS replacement for companies with deeply complex quality requirements (think pharmaceutical validation). But for manufacturers who need quality processes integrated with their ERP — inspections tied to inventory, non-conformances linked to production, and traceability that connects quality to every transaction — it closes a gap that spreadsheets and standalone systems can't match.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does NetSuite have a quality management module?expand_more

How does NetSuite handle quality inspections?expand_more

Can NetSuite track lot traceability for recalls?expand_more

Is NetSuite Quality Management suitable for FDA or ISO 13485 compliance?expand_more

What is the difference between non-conformance and CAPA in NetSuite?expand_more