Custom hardware product - What acceptable quality level (AQL) is expected in the US?

[apestate]

for custom hardware product made in the US, what sort of acceptable quality levels might be expected?

for instance, if your company purchased 100,000 fasteners, how many would you expect to find nonconforming? what would your organization do to respond to the nonconformity?

[apestate]

I guess I'm angry with a customer who expects zero defects in screw machine product.

if you are familiar with screw machine product, you know there are many many opportunities for nonconformity.

I guess it depends on the culture of the organization, but the fact remains that screw machine product is ALMOST BULK. zero defect product is not valuable, or so it would seem, in orders of 10,000 40 cent pieces, or 1,000,000 12 cent pieces, cost of material contributing 20-40% to that cost just to get into the base steel.

if I bought 10,000 hex head socket bolts from Unbrako or Holokrome and 15 were nonconforming, would I really think that is unreasonable?

Why come back to your supplier with ZERO DEFECT. You might as well have asked for the moon or went to a different supplier immediately, asking for something altogether unreasonable and impossible for a small organization to do. Why not ask about the culture, the procedures, the process of this supplier? Why would you immediately move to **** them and their activities by asking them for something they cannot do? (poka-yoke a screw machine)

What would be a reasonable expectation of nonconformity in screw machine hardware product, bolts from fastenal, fittings from ingersol, rubber seals from someone else... in 10,000 pieces would your company really expect zero defects, in 100,000? in 1,000,000?

how would you respond to defect found in such product? if you wanted to work with the supplier, what would you be looking for?

[CarolX]

I work for a sheet metal fabricator, and we us a lot of threaded fastners, mostly PEM brand. These threaded fastners allow for such things as mounting pc boards, attaching covers to computer chassis, etc.
If I had to guestimate the ppm from PEM Manufacturing, I would say it is on the level of 10ppm.
Sheet metal is a VERY competative business. We can not afford a) intensive inspection of hardware and b)rejects from the customer because of a $.02USD part.
I guess my thought is....what can you do to improve your system? I am sure there are opportunities for improvement.
And as a customer, if I paid for 10,000 hex head socket bolts, I want 10,000 I can use, not 9,985.

Just my nickel's worth.

CarolX

[Govind]

atetsade,
Looking at the huge volume and low unit cost of the product, I can see that even inspection cost can be considerable portion of the overall cost.
I would focus more on supplier quality management rather than worrying about our AQL. Capability of the supplier being an important criterion in this situation.

AQL can vary depending on Cost impact, functional impact on the product, risk customer can accept, existing capability of the supplier,etc. I am not sure if anyone can offer a straight AQL % as an answer based on the information provided.

Govind.

[Sam]

Originally Posted by atetsade

for custom hardware product made in the US, what sort of acceptable quality levels might be expected?

for instance, if your company purchased 100,000 fasteners, how many would you expect to find nonconforming? what would your organization do to respond to the nonconformity?

My first thought would be . . . NONE. However we know that is not possible (everytime). My next thought would be . . .depends on the defect. If it was something I could determine and correct at assembly; bad threads, to long, to short,etc, then I would just document and go on. What concerns me with fasteners is that they may be made from the wrong material or there may be inclusions or cracks in the material.