Ratio of Supplier with a nonconformance vs. Supplier without a nonconfomance

[Phil Fields]

I present to management on a monthly basis the supplier quality data for the previous month. One of the measure is the total number of suppliers and the total number of suppliers with a nonconformance.

What I am looking is if there is an industry acceptable ratio of suppliers with and without a nonconformance. Or is there another type of measurement that others use for this type of data.

I appreciate your help,
Phil

 

[hogheavenfarm]

We simply use an index number, calculated using NC for current year, total NC since they became supplier, and number of years they have been a supplier. This gives us a number that we can use to compare suppliers, and using the years part smooths out any extreme bumps caused by a longtime good supplier experiencing one catastrophic batch.
Management gets year performance by totals, and overall performance since they started supplying, and this info is imported to our AVL.

 

[Phil Fields]

Thank you!

 

[somashekar]

I present to management on a monthly basis the supplier quality data for the previous month. One of the measure is the total number of suppliers and the total number of suppliers with a nonconformance.

What I am looking is if there is an industry acceptable ratio of suppliers with and without a nonconformance. Or is there another type of measurement that others use for this type of data.

I appreciate your help,
Phil

From what you present., is that what management wished to know. What does the management do with the numbers you provide...
Supplier in the supply chain is a vital link in your business process. Just one supplier non conformance can halt your business chain OR get you customer complaint, which will again effect business progress.
I do not think any wise management will therefore look for some ratio to make an assessment.
Which supplier and what part NC stopped your production line
What is the root cause. Something within company specifications OR an issue with the supplier.
What is the action and status in resolving the issue. Is any top management intervention necessary ?
There could be one or very few cases on a ongoing monthly basis. If its more, then both you and management must look into underlying evaluation , selection, payments, specifications issue, lead times management and such other governing processes.

 

[Phil Fields]

Thank you for the response. What you have stated is very basic in understanding supplier quality. Very rarely is there any one number that tells the whole story.

There is one manager in this meeting that has asked if it is normal to have 20% of our suppliers with at least one nonconformance written against them.

I am interested to see if anyone else is reports any data like this.

Thank you,
Phil

 

[hogheavenfarm]

Over time, I think virtually all suppliers experience some issues, it all depends on the product and process. Where it may be useful is when a new supplier is brought on, I would want to know about those issues specifically, how often , etc.
There is no industry standard because every industry is different.

 

[Phil Fields]

Thank you, that is a good response. I can use that the next time the question is asked.

Phil

 

[Johnson]

Thank you for the response. What you have stated is very basic in understanding supplier quality. Very rarely is there any one number that tells the whole story.

There is one manager in this meeting that has asked if it is normal to have 20% of our suppliers with at least one nonconformance written against them.

I am interested to see if anyone else is reports any data like this.

Thank you,
Phil

It is not very clear why the management ask this question, why he want to see this data which in fact can not prove if ths upplier is good nor not. But we you do regular supplier performance evaluation , you will see simialre statistics.

I am working as automotive supplier. I noted from customer (like VW and GM in Chian,) report that, about above 70% supplier have various problems big or smaller. But you may not conclude if the supplier quality level is high or low.

 

[hogheavenfarm]

<But you may not conclude if the supplier quality level is high or low. >

Quite correct Johnson - This is why we use an index number that has part of its makeup the length of time a supplier has worked with us. 1000 minor defects may not be a huge issue on some parts, 2 or 3 may be a game changer on others. Each one must be evaluated based on the criticality of the component, along with how irreplacebale the supplier is (ie is it a single source).
Some of the key suppliers of rare components could really care less of what you think of them, they know you cannot gets parts or materials anywhere else. At that point, a number is largely useless.

 

[Bev D]

There is one manager in this meeting that has asked if it is normal to have 20% of our suppliers with at least one nonconformance written against them.

I am interested to see if anyone else is reports any data like this.

There would be no 'normal' for this index. the ratio would be highly dependent on the complexity of your components, the maturity of your design process and the maturity of your supplier base.

It also completely ignores the severity of the effect of the NCs.


Asking for 'normal' is a sign that this manager is striving for mediocrity. Ask him/her how knowing this would move the organization forward from a continual improvement standpoint. Ask them what action this ratio will drive?

there is well intended yet so misguided effort that we have devolved to that is trying to replace human logic and critical thought with some calculated index that is supposed to provide clear and simple insight into rather complex situations. (RPNs, Cpk, etc. come readily to mind) Donald Wheeler has a great article in the current 'issue' of quality digest called Numerical Jabberwocky. This was posted on April Fool's day but it does the make point about these weird indices...