I have been lurking and reading the post for this discussion
thread and finally I have my thoughts on the topic composed. Yes, look at
all of the items previously mentioned. Having managed a supply base of 800
active suppliers and performing audits on the top 100 who got most of the
dollars at the time I firmly believe that an audit is an audit.... No
matter what the industry or product or supplier it all boils down to finding out
if the supplier has documented what to do, documented what they did, and
reviewed the results for improvement.
Suppliers I always chose for approval all had a proactive up
front engineering review, knew past performance and judged current performance
from it, performed DFM, had little WIP materials (overhead you pay for with
floor space, long lead times, etc), and performed basic process control with
statistical rationale. In most audits with better suppliers any question
was answered by operators and the operators showed confidence and pride in their
process.
I would also like to stress that the up front work begins with
the customer. Design the product well, make it manufacturable, listen, be
open for change, and be friends...Even bad suppliers can be great suppliers with
the right program, customer relationship, and open concise communication.
Kat