outdoorsNW
Quite Involved in Discussions
I don’t have a lot of experience with supplier management. I was hired for my experience in other areas.
In the last few months I have three suppliers, all ISO9001, where poor document control was a major cause of nonconforming product (I suspect not the root cause). Each individual supplier had a SCAR issued.
We are a high mix low volume shop, although the problems occurred on parts with 2 to 8 orders in the last year. As part of the SCAR process, I verified that my company sent each supplier the correct documentation.
In each case, personnel turnover was a significant factor.All are smaller companies with around 12-35 employees. I can provide a lot more details if needed.
I am concerned that other suppliers may have the same weakness and the strong job market will cause more staff turnover with suppliers. How do I head off even more suppliers with the same problem?
I don’t think I can justify the time and travel budget needed to visit 18-22 suppliers.
· Do I send suppliers a letter and hope suppliers act, although I bet most won’t?
· Do I try to arrange conference calls with the suppliers?
· Do I send suppliers a survey (hopefully as part of our annual paperwork required to do business with us package) and follow up on weak answers?
· Is visiting suppliers the only option likely to have much impact?
· Do I do something else?
Details:
Supplier A has 25-35 employees and did a great job until the company lost a key manager a year ago. Since then quality is poor. Recently they failed to use a drawing that was sent with the PO email. Nor did they use an older version of the drawing. The SCAR blamed doc control and order intake not handling the drawing correctly. For a later order of the same part they used the correct drawing but failed to use our packaging instructions and many parts arrived damaged. The packaging instructions were not sent with the PO but had been sent in the past. Follow up on a SCAR revealed the operations manager position is now vacant due to the manager’s poor performance on matters such as this.
Supplier A has almost lost our business. They got another order because we do not have time to find another supplier or bring the operation in house. I have reservations, but others selected this path. I have a clear commitment if supplier A screws up in the near future, they will be replaced.
Supplier B has 20-30 employees with new a Quality Manager, General Manager, and possibly others. They are selected by our end customer, so replacement is more difficult. The problems are mostly with supplier B’s subcontractor C, but supplier B is not rejecting subcontractor C’s poor work. Subcontractor C is being asked to work with a poor combination of paint materials, which may be fixed once regulatory requirements are fulfilled. I discovered supplier B’s personnel were not aware of the customer’s quality standard and inspections were being conducted using a less stringent standard common in the industry (no safety risk).
Yesterday I found out the relatively new quality manager at supplier B is leaving, reportedly moving closer to family. So I may lose a lot of the progress so far.
Supplier D has around a dozen people. They have also had quality manager turnover. They had problems with half a dozen parts on one PO where they failed to follow the print instructions for part markings. Even though the parts are for the same end customer, the required part marking varied and someone did not correctly match the requirements to the parts. I don’t know if supplier D is required by our end customer.
Tom
In the last few months I have three suppliers, all ISO9001, where poor document control was a major cause of nonconforming product (I suspect not the root cause). Each individual supplier had a SCAR issued.
We are a high mix low volume shop, although the problems occurred on parts with 2 to 8 orders in the last year. As part of the SCAR process, I verified that my company sent each supplier the correct documentation.
In each case, personnel turnover was a significant factor.All are smaller companies with around 12-35 employees. I can provide a lot more details if needed.
I am concerned that other suppliers may have the same weakness and the strong job market will cause more staff turnover with suppliers. How do I head off even more suppliers with the same problem?
I don’t think I can justify the time and travel budget needed to visit 18-22 suppliers.
· Do I send suppliers a letter and hope suppliers act, although I bet most won’t?
· Do I try to arrange conference calls with the suppliers?
· Do I send suppliers a survey (hopefully as part of our annual paperwork required to do business with us package) and follow up on weak answers?
· Is visiting suppliers the only option likely to have much impact?
· Do I do something else?
Details:
Supplier A has 25-35 employees and did a great job until the company lost a key manager a year ago. Since then quality is poor. Recently they failed to use a drawing that was sent with the PO email. Nor did they use an older version of the drawing. The SCAR blamed doc control and order intake not handling the drawing correctly. For a later order of the same part they used the correct drawing but failed to use our packaging instructions and many parts arrived damaged. The packaging instructions were not sent with the PO but had been sent in the past. Follow up on a SCAR revealed the operations manager position is now vacant due to the manager’s poor performance on matters such as this.
Supplier A has almost lost our business. They got another order because we do not have time to find another supplier or bring the operation in house. I have reservations, but others selected this path. I have a clear commitment if supplier A screws up in the near future, they will be replaced.
Supplier B has 20-30 employees with new a Quality Manager, General Manager, and possibly others. They are selected by our end customer, so replacement is more difficult. The problems are mostly with supplier B’s subcontractor C, but supplier B is not rejecting subcontractor C’s poor work. Subcontractor C is being asked to work with a poor combination of paint materials, which may be fixed once regulatory requirements are fulfilled. I discovered supplier B’s personnel were not aware of the customer’s quality standard and inspections were being conducted using a less stringent standard common in the industry (no safety risk).
Yesterday I found out the relatively new quality manager at supplier B is leaving, reportedly moving closer to family. So I may lose a lot of the progress so far.
Supplier D has around a dozen people. They have also had quality manager turnover. They had problems with half a dozen parts on one PO where they failed to follow the print instructions for part markings. Even though the parts are for the same end customer, the required part marking varied and someone did not correctly match the requirements to the parts. I don’t know if supplier D is required by our end customer.
Tom
