Simplifying Supplier Surveys and the time they take to be completed

[Griff23]

Hello Everyone,

For the past few months I have been handling supplier/quality surveys and have noticed that I'm spending way to much time completing them. Customers are asking human resources questions (ex: ethnicity breakdown of employees), for calibration reocrds of every calibrated peice of equipment, and confidential customer and financial information. Most surveys are over 8 pages long and I've had a few over 20 pages long.

I'm starting to put a supplier/quality packet together that I can send to customer with our code of conduct, RoHS, conflict minerals, ISO certs, quality statement, etc. and plan on sending this inplace of filling out the surveys.

I'm curious on how some of you may be handling this or if your even having the same issues.

Thank you
Griff23

 

[normzone]

Re: Simplifying Supplier Surveys and the time they take

I think it depends on your place in the food chain.

I'm a big fish in a small pond. My suppliers are in small ponds and big lakes. My customers are in small ponds, big lakes, and oceans.

I can ask a certain amount of my suppliers, and depending on how much of their business I am they will either bend over backwards, give me some of what I want, or tell me to go pound sand.

My customers that send me queries like the ones you describe are the big aerospace folks. I bend over backwards for them, but it is a resource suck.

I've been down the supplier survey road, from not doing it at all to doing a token survey to doing exhaustive surveys and back to the short form. I've learned who not to bother to survey (the big, obviously well organized outfits) and my current approach is to ask a few pointed questions and gauge the response I get.

I've had suppliers respond to my short form with "I'm sure you understand we're too busy to answer your questions, here's our canned press release". Then you either have to use them or not, depending on who in your organization has painted you into what corner, or if the product / service can be acquired elsewhere.

It's somebody's job somewhere to insure that those forms are sent and received filled out. Whether your approach will work depends on what their job requirements consist of.

 

[Sidney Vianna]

Re: Simplifying Supplier Surveys and the time they take

Maybe they should create an ISO Standard for supplier surveys.

 

[Jim Wynne]

Re: Simplifying Supplier Surveys and the time they take

Hello Everyone,

For the past few months I have been handling supplier/quality surveys and have noticed that I'm spending way to much time completing them. Customers are asking human resources questions (ex: ethnicity breakdown of employees), for calibration reocrds of every calibrated peice of equipment, and confidential customer and financial information. Most surveys are over 8 pages long and I've had a few over 20 pages long.

I'm starting to put a supplier/quality packet together that I can send to customer with our code of conduct, RoHS, conflict minerals, ISO certs, quality statement, etc. and plan on sending this inplace of filling out the surveys.

I'm curious on how some of you may be handling this or if your even having the same issues.

Thank you
Griff23

A long time ago, back in the 90s, I was inundated with those things and the final straw was a 25+ page questionnaire from a customer we had done no business with in a year or so. I did what you're proposing--put together a package that covers the common questions--and whenever I got a questionnaire from a customer I sent that to them with an explanatory note. A suprising number of them accepted it. At the very least it will cut down on the number of them you have to do.

 

[Griff23]

Re: Simplifying Supplier Surveys and the time they take

Thank you Normzone, Sidney, and Jim!

I like your sarcasm Sidney! The standards leave to many items open for people to blow them out of proportion.

I will give a quality/supplier packet a try and hopefully that will help out.

Thanks again everyone!
Griff23

 

[kgott]

Re: Simplifying Supplier Surveys and the time they take

Hello Everyone,

For the past few months I have been handling supplier/quality surveys and have noticed that I'm spending way to much time completing them. Customers are asking human resources questions (ex: ethnicity breakdown of employees), for calibration reocrds of every calibrated peice of equipment, and confidential customer and financial information. Most surveys are over 8 pages long and I've had a few over 20 pages long.

I'm starting to put a supplier/quality packet together that I can send to customer with our code of conduct, RoHS, conflict minerals, ISO certs, quality statement, etc. and plan on sending this inplace of filling out the surveys.

I'm curious on how some of you may be handling this or if your even having the same issues.

Thank you
Griff23

Giving customers our own canned response in a packet may also result in failure to get the job.

Some client 'questionairs' (remote audits of the company) annoy the livin xyz out of me but for as long as I can keep my cool I use the opportunity to sell the company and my own expertise, knowledge and skills.

You never knows whose quietly looking for someone out there.

 

[Jim Wynne]

Re: Simplifying Supplier Surveys and the time they take

Giving customers our own canned response in a packet may also result in failure to get the job.

Some client 'questionairs' (remote audits of the company) annoy the livin xyz out of me but for as long as I can keep my cool I use the opportunity to sell the company and my own expertise, knowledge and skills.

You never knows whose quietly looking for someone out there.

You can accomplish the same thing with a well done "canned" response. In fact, if it's done right it presents a better opportunity to sell your company than just filling out the customer's survery. In many cases the person who receives and evaluates the things will have no decision making authority and you'll have to do their instrument anyway, but there's no harm in trying so long as it's done right.

 

[Claes Gefvenberg]

Re: Simplifying Supplier Surveys and the time they take

I'm curious on how some of you may be handling this or if your even having the same issues.

That is exactly what I am doing too.

You can accomplish the same thing with a well done "canned" response. In fact, if it's done right it presents a better opportunity to sell your company than just filling out the customer's survery. In many cases the person who receives and evaluates the things will have no decision making authority and you'll have to do their instrument anyway, but there's no harm in trying so long as it's done right.

Agreed. Nobody has protested yet, but as you say, it must be done right.

What bugs me is that so many believe that they actually have to keep sending those infernal things out, when there is in fact no requirement for them, combined with the thoroughly annoying fact that the data they request nigh on never is used in any way but to fill out space in a file cabinet until retention time expires.

Another pet peeve of mine is that they often request confidentiality agreements on their own part while also requiring data and figures about our top three or five customers. The answer to that one remains unchanged: "Information withheld due to confidentiality agreement".

 

[Jim Wynne]

Re: Simplifying Supplier Surveys and the time they take

That is exactly what I am doing too.

Agreed. Nobody has protested yet, but as you say, it must be done right.

What bugs me is that so many believe that they actually have to keep sending those infernal things out, when there is in fact no requirement for them, combined with the thoroughly annoying fact that the data they request nigh on never is used in any way but to fill out space in a file cabinet until retention time expires.

Another pet peeve of mine is that they often request confidentiality agreements on their own part while also requiring data and figures about our top three or five customers. The answer to that one remains unchanged: "Information withheld due to confidentiality agreement".

It's a good point: Just because a customer asks for a particular bit of information doesn't mean they're entitled to it. When I've encountered resistance to this in the past, I've always told the customer (or potential customer) that I would safeguard their information in the same way. That usually puts an end to it.

 

[Claes Gefvenberg]

Re: Simplifying Supplier Surveys and the time they take

When I've encountered resistance to this in the past, I've always told the customer (or potential customer) that I would safeguard their information in the same way. That usually puts an end to it.

Exactly. That does it every time.