When to Take Formal Action on a Supplier

[Jcornett344]

AS9100D certified machine shop. We do relatively low volume business for the most part and don't encounter too many supplier issues.

For example, a company sends us the wrong item once out of countless POs with them.

Obviously a SCAR would be in order for a supplier that is demonstrating recurring issues.

But would any of you guys feel the need to issue a SCAR for a small issue like whats mentioned above?

 

[ScottK]

What does your procedure say? Does it say when a SCAR is warranted?
Does your process allow you to issue a complaint without issuing a SCAR?

I would suggest that you analyze the risk of not issuing a SCAR as everything is all about risk analysis these days.
If they are a generally great supplier you might assess the risk is low of this causing a problem to finished goods and will send them a brief heads up saying "Hey - we found this issue... we're going to be trending these and if it happens again can result in a SCAR".

 

[qualprod]

What does your procedure says?
How do you manage your suppliers problems?
I do a suppliers evaluation quarterly, on it , I have records of their performance, # of times raw material was rejected, delayed deliveries, etc.
According to results, I rate them, so, it could be , approved, rejected, and suspended.
In this last case, is a supplier, who got poor results, and we ask him to do something (car).
this could be your case.
If the failure was of high negative impact, it may be necessary to raise an immediate CAR for your supplier,, but again, check your procedure.

Hope this helps

 

[Golfman25]

AS9100D certified machine shop. We do relatively low volume business for the most part and don't encounter too many supplier issues.

For example, a company sends us the wrong item once out of countless POs with them.

Obviously a SCAR would be in order for a supplier that is demonstrating recurring issues.

But would any of you guys feel the need to issue a SCAR for a small issue like whats mentioned above?

Absolutely not. We have become over SCARed these days -- Every problem is a nail, so the SCAR is the solution. I would save the SCAR for real issues.

 

[Jim Wynne]

AS9100D certified machine shop. We do relatively low volume business for the most part and don't encounter too many supplier issues.

For example, a company sends us the wrong item once out of countless POs with them.

Obviously a SCAR would be in order for a supplier that is demonstrating recurring issues.

But would any of you guys feel the need to issue a SCAR for a small issue like whats mentioned above?

The simple answer is that action (whatever form it takes) should be taken when it becomes necessary to do so. It's possible in most cases to forestall formal action by means of informal communication. If it gets to the point where formal action is necessary, the battle may already be lost. Rather than hitting suppliers over the head with onerous paperwork and empty threats, talk to them before anything gets out of hand.

 

[Sidney Vianna]

For example, a company sends us the wrong item once out of countless POs with them.

While frequency of problems is a valid indicator, criticality should also be taken into account.

Remember, a corrective action is supposed to make system changes, so it should be used with care. If your supplier does have a good system and their past performance shows that, to create an unnecessary SCAR is just a make-pretend attempt to fix anything and behind-covering.

Your context (AS9100 -Aviation Space & Defense) is one that requires high level of system discipline and performance in the supply chain, but, even then, nobody is perfect.

The triggering of a SCAR, like many other things, should undergo a risk-based thinking treatment.

 

[Kronos147]

Disclaimer: my girlfriend says I make everything difficult.


As a supplier, I would want to know!

Hey, send me a SCAR and you disposition it "no action required, informational only" or similar.

I'll conduct a cause analysis, and from there, it depends on the issue, risk, severity, affected processes/parts and potential for...

Maybe I end up pulling up an old FAIR approved by the customer and demonstrate that in good faith we were all reading the number on the old drawing wrong all this time and now the engineers find that .xx0 is actually .xx6. We would submit a deviation request on the issue and request disposition from our customer.

The seven basic management principles include strategic supplier relationships. Share the info. Evidence based decision making. It works.

 

[Kronos147]

We have become over SCARed these days --

At our shop we expanded our Non Conformance Log to include Corrective Actions, Opportunities for Improvements, SCAR's, and "Log Only".

A gatekeeper analyses the SCAR and when required, provides clarification or direction that leads to the customer voiding the SCAR.

For just the reason you said, Golfman..

It's true, SCAR's are oft overused, especially the closer to the prime the source is.