With ground breaking technology innovation, there must a
supply chain able to supply parts to support this invention to bring a dream
product to the consumer. Parts from
supply must not only be able to support the required technology capabilities,
it must also able to support the smooth production of innovative products. Receiving consistent good quality material or
part from upstream supplier should be the top priority for any manufacturer due
to:-
- By time the part reaches the manufacturer and there is nothing can be done to impact the part form fit function.
- Material account for the highest cost breakdown of the finish parts
- Most of the line down are due poor quality material which impact the delivery schedule to the customer
- Hidden cost associated to reject materials; handling and returning reject material to the supplier which is related to quality cost. A supplier might offer a cheaper cost material, if there is quality issues and because high warranty cost, total cost of ownership could double/triple the actual material cost.
Among all the process inputs, material could be the most
challenging input to control but can also be an input which is quite easy to
manage. The challenging part is because
material is an external variation compare to other inputs which are within the
vicinity of the manufacturing facility.
It is also an easy to miss opportunity as all suppliers need to follow is
the rigor of controlling all 5 process input (man, machine, method, measure and
environment) in their manufacturing process and incoming material. If the cycle of controlling process inputs
keep reiterate throughout the supply chain, then there will be less firefighting
and more time can be spend on quality improvement. Therefore a capable supplier quality
engineer should be in place to ensure supplier have the appropriate control in
place for all process inputs to ensure consistent quality part delivered to the
SQE’s organization.
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| Process input material are from external source |
What I had shared in the last few weeks are ideal state
and sometimes ideal is not very easy to achieve when we have demand more than
supply. This is especially true
situation where there are limited upstream suppliers for certain type of parts
or single supplier who monopolize the whole market. Sometimes it is not possible for an
organization to practice sourcing strategy especially for contract manufacturer
type of business. Most contract
manufacturers have to live with their customer poor or zero procurement
strategy. Most of contract manufacturers’
management does not know what is a procurement strategy. Having worked in the one of the world class
sourcing strategy organization and also work in company with no sourcing planning made
me realize the importance of the sourcing strategy. Sourcing strategy will determine if the SQE
is a true supplier quality engineer or a screening quality engineer. Supplier quality engineer drive for
improvement in the supplier manufacturing process. Screening quality engineer screens supplier
parts in his manufacturing line.
No matter where is
the manufacturer tier in a supply chain, it is equally important to received
consistent good quality material or part from upstream supplier as to produce
consistently good quality product to customer.
There are a lot of organizations especially those that are nearest to consumer
are plagued with bad quality part due to poor supplier management program in place.
Do enroll in this course 7 Essentials in supplier quality management, a systematic approach in supplier management to achieve consistently good quality product.
