Have you ever heard? "We have a supplier problem!"

Over my years in the manufacturing industry, I heard this comment many times. You know the routine; phone calls, returned parts, supplier visits, shipping delays, to mention a few. The issue is typically with a few critical parts or components.

My most memorable was spliced vulcanized cord-rings. Finally, an" AH-HA" came to the team - create duplicate gages; one for the Supplier and one for the production quality team. (For this blog gage will be used to represent any type of fixture, template or black-box-tester measuring device which is not commercially available).

The gage(s) use must be part of the Suppliers quality control process before shipment or as part of their manufacturing process. The manufacturer uses the identical duplicate gage(s) for receiving inspection or when a problem is encountered on the production floor. It may be proven that the supplier component is to specification and the issue is an in-house manufacturing, assembly or test problem.

The Process

A meeting is held with the supplier to discuss the duplicate gauge plan. The agreement should include use, protection from damage and ownership by the manufacturer. Procurement orders should specify the use of the gage(s) and the requirement that the supplier provides VEQ (verifiable evidence of quality) with each shipment.

The gage(s) is designed, produced in duplicate and owned by the product manufacturer. This ensures that:

• both the Supplier and Manufacturer are inspecting the component in the identical way using identical measurement equipment.
• when a Supplier change is made, the manufacturer does not have to produce a new gage. Annual calibration should be considered using appropriate master gaging equipment. Repairs are made as necessary.
• when a design change is made, a new or revised gage is an element of the redesign process. One may say this is expensive, but in a Lean/Flow Manufacturing environment it is very cost effective and reduces the time needed to resolve component issues versus phone calls, return of material and expensive travel.

Editor's Note: CR4 would like to thank Ed Eisermann GEA Consulting for contributing this blog entry.