Electronic Signatures for Manufacturing

Supplier agreements: onboard vendors without a paper chase

Bringing a new supplier on board usually means a bundle of documents: a non-disclosure agreement before drawings are shared, a master supply agreement, a quality agreement, and often a code-of-conduct acknowledgement. When each one has to be printed, signed, scanned and emailed back, a new source of supply can take weeks to approve.

• NDAs before drawings go out. Send the confidentiality agreement first and see the moment it is signed, so engineering knows when it can share specifications. Our guide to signing an NDA online covers it from the signer’s side.
• Both companies, in order. Use Set signer order so the supplier’s authorised signatory signs first and your procurement head countersigns. The next signer is emailed automatically when it is their turn.
• Initials on the terms that matter. Place Initials on pages carrying pricing, liability or warranty terms, and Checkmark fields beside conditions the supplier must accept.
• Who signed, and as what. Company, Designation and Full Name fields record each signatory’s capacity, and your company stamp can be applied from your saved library where your agreements carry one.

Suppliers without a SignPe account sign as guests after accepting an electronic-records consent screen, so even a small workshop that will never need an account can return an agreement in minutes. For a step-by-step walkthrough, see how to sign vendor agreements online.

Purchase orders and quotations: approve spend before the price moves

Raw-material prices and lead times change quickly. A purchase order or supplier quotation that waits days for an approving signature can mean a missed delivery slot or a higher price. SignPe gets the approval in writing while the quote is still valid.

• Internal approval chain. Add the buyer, the plant manager and finance as signers, and use Set signer order so each approves in turn before the order goes to the supplier.
• Details on the page. Use Text fields for quantities, delivery dates or reference numbers, and a Date field in the format your paperwork uses — DD/MM/YYYY, MM/DD/YYYY, YYYY-MM-DD, DD-MM-YYYY or “MMMM DD, YYYY”.
• Keep finance informed. Copy accounts payable as an observer so they see the approved order without being asked to sign.
• Import the supplier’s quote. Pull a quotation straight from Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive or Box instead of downloading and re-uploading it — see cloud storage integration.

Quality and production sign-offs: capture approvals where the work happens

Inspection reports, first-article and sample approvals, deviation and concession requests, and line clearance checklists all need a signature to show who checked what and when. On the shop floor those usually live on clipboards, where they get smudged, misfiled or signed illegibly.

• In person Signing on a tablet. Open the inspection record, hand the tablet to the inspector or operator, and capture their signature on the screen. In the mobile app the option is In-Person Signing.
• Scan the paper ones. If a checklist was completed on paper, the SignPe app’s Scan option captures up to 20 pages with automatic edge detection and turns it into a PDF ready to send on for approval.
• Mark up the drawing. Shape fields — Circle, Square, Rounded, Star, Pentagon or Hexagon — let you highlight the feature or dimension a deviation affects. See add text and shapes.
• Customer sample approval. Send the sample approval report to the customer’s quality contact and watch it move from Sent to Opened to Signed.

The drawing pad is speed-sensitive, so a signature drawn with a finger still looks like a signature rather than a jagged line. Each one is recorded with its date and time in the document’s audit trail.

Distributor and customer contracts: close sales agreements faster

On the sales side, distributor and dealer agreements, customer supply contracts and price agreements often need several signatures at each company. A contract that sits in someone’s inbox delays the first order.

• No limit on signers. Add every signatory from both companies to one document, with fields assigned so each person completes only their own part. See multiple signers.
• Reminders do the chasing. Automated reminders nudge signers so agreements do not stall, and the Remind button emails everyone who has not signed yet.
• See what is outstanding. The Waiting for Others filter in your Documents list shows every contract still waiting on a customer or distributor.
• Delegation when the signatory travels. A user can delegate their signing to a colleague in the same organisation, who can sign on their behalf; the delegate is notified.

If a counterparty disagrees with a term, they can choose Decline to sign? and you are notified straight away, so the conversation happens now rather than after weeks of silence.

A typical manufacturing signing workflow

1. 1

   Capture the document

   Upload the agreement or purchase order, import it from cloud storage, or scan a paper checklist with the SignPe app. Save it as a draft if you need to check details first — drafts do not use a document credit.

2. 2

   Place and assign fields

   Drag Signature, Initials, Date, Text and Checkmark fields onto the page and assign each one to the supplier, approver or customer who should complete it.

3. 3

   Choose how it is signed

   Use Set signer order to send it for remote signing, or In person Signing to collect a signature on your device right now. Add observers for anyone who only needs updates.

4. 4

   Track progress

   Follow each signer’s status in the Activity timeline on the web or the Document History page on mobile, and use Remind if someone stalls.

5. 5

   Keep the record

   When everyone has signed, all parties receive the signed copy. Download the audit trail PDF for the supplier, order or batch file.

Compliance considerations for manufacturing documents

Electronic signatures are recognised for most commercial contracts under laws such as the US ESIGN Act and UETA, the EU’s eIDAS regulation and India’s Information Technology Act 2000. Some manufacturing records are governed by sector rules — quality-system standards, customer-specific requirements, or regulations covering medical devices, pharmaceuticals, food or aerospace parts — which may set their own expectations for electronic records and signatures. Confirm with your quality team or legal adviser which documents can be signed this way. The legality guide covers India in detail.

• An audit trail per document. The audit trail PDF shows the document ID, sent and completed dates, and when each signer was emailed, viewed and signed.
• Only participants can open a document. Pricing, drawings and supplier terms are visible only to the sender, signers and observers on that document.
• Encryption in transit and at rest. Documents travel over HTTPS/TLS and are stored in encrypted cloud storage — see eSignature security.
• Aadhaar eSign in India. For Indian suppliers and customers, Aadhaar eSign adds OTP verification through eMudhra and a PKI-signed PDF with an evidence certificate.

A signed inspection record shows that someone signed it; it does not replace the testing, calibration and records your quality system requires.

How to send a supplier agreement for signature

1. 1

   Upload the agreement

   Upload the supply agreement as a PDF or Word file, or import it from Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive or Box.

2. 2

   Add the signers

   Choose Set signer order, add the supplier’s signatory first and your procurement head second, and add the quality lead as an observer.

3. 3

   Place the fields

   Add Signature, Date, Company and Designation fields for each signer, and Initials on the pricing and liability pages.

4. 4

   Send and track

   The supplier is emailed a Review & Sign Document link. Watch for the Opened status and use Remind if it stalls.

5. 5

   Receive the signed copy

   Once both sides have signed, everyone receives the signed PDF and the audit trail is ready to download.