Supplier Management - Unable to visit the suppliers

J

jkittle

Recently our Director of Quality criticized our SQA group for not being pro-active with our supply base. He said we were to re-active only responding when supplier issues arose.

Our travel budget has slashed and we can no longer go visit the suppliers and do proactive thing like process audits.

How are you supposed to be proactive when you can’t visit the supply base? Any ideas?
 
B

Boscoeee

Re: Supplier Management

Without know size, content, or manufacture...... my comments are the following;

Given your travel constraint consider the following action;

Request internal performance metrics in scrap and rework from the Supplier in hours and dollars.
Request Process data such as First Time Yield, Rolled Throughput Yield, Aged MRB Reports
Develop a monthly teleconference and review the data with them, assign action items, and follow up.
Develop a partnering relationship with the supplier, try to get to the manufacturing guys as part of this process.

Companies are taking this approach with us and I find it pretty easy to work together with the customer to meet his and our needs. One of the key things is that work with the supplier and not "beating them up" will get you the biggest bang for the buck. Also, armed with data you can have intelligent dialogue with your Director and show him that you are proactive in addition to be reactive when problems arise.:agree1:
 

Sidney Vianna

Post Responsibly
Leader
Admin
Re: Supplier Management

Any ideas?
Suggestion. Analyze some recent problems you had with suppliers and think of what could had been done from both ends to prevent those problems. It should give you some insight on how you can partner with the suppliers, even remotely, and prevent future problems.

And even provide you with preventive action trigger points.
 
R

rclanzillotto

One idea is to take advantage of webex type software (such as GoTo) to conduct a documentation review; relevant procedures, QC reports etc. That said if you are having supplier issues the first place to look is in your own customer requirments or specification documents IMHO
 

Stijloor

Leader
Super Moderator
Recently our Director of Quality criticized our SQA group for not being pro-active with our supply base. He said we were to re-active only responding when supplier issues arose.

Our travel budget has slashed and we can no longer go visit the suppliers and do proactive thing like process audits.

How are you supposed to be proactive when you can’t visit the supply base? Any ideas?

Hi Jerry,

Excellent reponses from my Fellow Covers..:applause:

Another idea, why don't you ask them to visit your facility, and show them the direct impact of possible supplier errors. Then, work together to initiate FMEA's activities and other prevention-type activities.

Stijloor.
 

somashekar

Leader
Admin
Recently our Director of Quality criticized our SQA group for not being pro-active with our supply base. He said we were to re-active only responding when supplier issues arose.

Our travel budget has slashed and we can no longer go visit the suppliers and do proactive thing like process audits.

How are you supposed to be proactive when you can’t visit the supply base? Any ideas?
Visiting suppliers and auditing alone does not means being proactive. Think of a vendor meet organized at your site. Display parts, invite existing and potential vendors, project annual volumes, project future plans and programs, Have one to one with heads of suppliers organization, This keeps competition alive and you can perhaps get better price and trashout any sticky matters if prevailing ......
 

Wes Bucey

Prophet of Profit
One of the things I did back in the 90s when making on-site visits to suppliers is relatively simple to adapt when the customer cannot personally visit the supplier:

I used to take a video camera and record certain machines or processes which would be used on our products. I also requested and got permission to record interviews with executives and workers about subjects and topics directly related to the business the supplier would do with us.

Before I left, I'd screen the raw footage for anyone at the supplier who cared to view it.

I then used the footage to acquaint my own people with what was going on at a supplier. Sometimes, I even used it to show with customers who were concerned about how we dealt with OUR supply chain.

The adaptation - ask a supplier if (in lieu of a personal visit from you for an audit) he would prepare such a recording for you. My local stores are selling better cameras with more pixel resolution than my expensive one in 1992 with small hand-held cameras for less than $95. Your organization could easily buy one or two such cameras and send them to distant suppliers with a script of what you would normally include in your on-site visit, let them shoot and return the camera and memory card to you. Any time one of your own people is in the vicinity, they can drop in and report how the personal visit compares with the film version.

Obviously, the supplier will show his best face, but most do that anyway with carefully choreographed site tours.
 
R

RandT

The videotape is also something you could match up with the flow chart, control plans and PFMEA.
 
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