Foreword

The position of Supplier Quality Engineer is very challenging, and in many cases, the Supplier Quality Engineer is like a manager who needs to know about all aspects. In this paper, we have compiled a senior SQE's work summary, written very much to the point, I hope that friends who are engaged in SQE work, as well as those who want to work in this area in the future, to help and inspire!

Engaged in supplier quality work for nearly 10 years, along the way, really a lot of feelings. Probably do a line complains of a line of reason, and now have some experience in the walled city of that sentence: people outside the city want to go in, the city wants to go out.

Just started working procurement and supplier quality is together, so honestly, before we work, our position is still very popular, so I joined the work of a colleague said that we are the kind of doorway, the implication is that, if there is no doorway, how will get such a position.

After I started working, I also heard that the job we were doing used to be very enviable because most of the time it was the suppliers who had what they wanted, so naturally there would be this and that kind of “benefit”, and of course, secular prejudice also played a big role. However, after I joined the work, the atmosphere seems to have quietly changed, perhaps because of the gradual maturity of the supplier, coupled with the gradual improvement of the process, but in any case, and the supplier's communication is still very smooth, at least the supplier out of the problem, the speed of response and problem-solving attitude is satisfactory.

With the passage of time, our division of labor is more professional and refined, procurement and supplier quality management is separated, the tools to deal with the problem are more than before, and the supplier strength is getting stronger and stronger, the business is also more and more, but, I think the supplier quality work has become more difficult to do.

And then look at the status of our work, the first feeling is busy, as if always in the state of firefighting, manufacturing and quality often find trouble, the project team often complain that we can not support the project progress, so I feel a lot of pressure, and suppliers do not listen to the command, the submission of the goods can never be submitted on time, the need for us to be like a mother-in-law as the back door with the ass to chase the debt, and to chase many times before the response, the results may not be satisfactory! The results are not always satisfactory.

This situation is very confusing to us, and I think it is confusing and unsatisfying to all of us. Therefore, it has to change, so how?

As a quality worker, we can take this problem as a corrective action project and utilize 8D or 6Sigma tools to accomplish it. However, here, I still want to supplier quality engineers from the responsibility and management point of view, to discuss this issue with you, I hope to be of some benefit to you, can slightly alleviate your confusion.

1, the definition of the supplier quality engineer

Supplier quality engineers, different manufacturing organizations may have different names, some called STA, in fact, SupplierTechnical Assistant is an acronym for three words, translated into technical support for suppliers. Talking about technical support is actually a bit imprecise, as suppliers are definitely experts in technology, while the areas that STAs specialize in are processes and procedures, as well as problem-solving tools.

Therefore, there are many companies also define the position as SQE, SupplierQuality Engineer, that is, Supplier Quality Engineer. In comparison, SQE seems to be more precise than STA. Here, we will borrow the name SQE, Supplier Quality Engineer.

Regardless of the specific call, it can be clear that the supplier quality engineer is the manufacturing organization and the supplier to communicate with the main personnel, as the name suggests, is to deal with the supplier quality issues of the main personnel, many manufacturing organizations to extend the supplier quality engineer's responsibilities, that is, the supplier of new product development coordination responsibilities given to the supplier quality engineer.

Supplier quality engineers are the bridge of communication between manufacturing organizations and suppliers, but supplier quality engineers are not completely neutral, supplier quality engineers belong to the manufacturing organization in the first place, should be in the pursuit of win-win situation at the same time, first of all, to maintain the interests of the manufacturing organization, however, at a certain time, to consider and safeguard the interests of suppliers.

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Before talking about the specific responsibilities of the supplier quality engineer, it is better to look at the role of the supplier quality engineer. For many manufacturing organizations, suppliers are expected to be involved in supplier selection, to assist in the selection of suppliers that meet the requirements, and to be able to supervise existing suppliers for upgrading and continuous improvement, as well as to be able to optimize their suppliers and eliminate those that do not meet the requirements.

For suppliers, it is hoped that the customer's supplier quality engineers can convey the customer's requirements and promote the improvement of the supplier's ability, and at the same time, supervise the successful completion of new projects and assist in dealing with quality problems in a timely manner. For the whole supply chain, it is hoped that the work of supplier quality engineers can improve the competitiveness of the whole supply chain.

Based on the analysis of the role of supplier quality engineers, initially summarized the supplier quality engineer's several major responsibilities:

Supplier review: Whether for the introduction of new suppliers or the need for suppliers to improve the overall supplier quality engineers need to review the supplier, the need to let the supplier understand the customer's expectations, identify the gap with the expectations and take action to improve.

Promote supplier APQP program: For new project development, the supplier's impact on the project is obvious, how to let the supplier understand the customer's requirements and work to meet the customer's requirements, it is necessary to carry out APQP work. Supplier quality engineers need to confirm with the supplier APQP development plan and effectively promote the coordination of the development process to solve the problem, to help successfully complete the development work to meet the project requirements.

Quality problem handling: As a supplier quality engineer, quality problem handling should be the most fundamental responsibility. How to teach and assist suppliers to use the appropriate quality tools, such as G8D, 6Sigma, etc. to deal with pre-sales, after-sales problems, at the same time, from the system level to prevent problems.

Supervise the overall improvement of the supplier: This is the supplier quality engineer's high-level goal, only the supplier's overall strength has been improved, can take the initiative to carry out systematic and comprehensive management, the supplier quality engineer's work will be reduced, the pressure can be reduced. The overall improvement of the content can include but not limited to the system, design, logistics, quality, manufacturing, cost and so on.

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( The following part of the content, excerpted from the QualityIn Quality Institute founder Mr. Jia Ziqiang's article, “Become an excellent SQE, must have the ability to 5, you have a few? )

SQE actually plays multiple roles between us and our suppliers in such a position. This requirement is so high, in the end, what kind of SQE is a qualified SQE?I give a summary, I think as our SQE, this is a comprehensive ability requirements are very high a position, I here with you to emphasize that this is a comprehensive ability requirements are very high a position.

Everyone look at this page of PPT to make a summary. I think a qualified SQE should have what kind of quality? Just like the all-powerful warrior in our dark world, who can go up to the sky as well as into the ground, why do I summarize it this way? Because from a broad perspective, the SQE should be able to go up to the sky, that is to say, when we establish this kind of contact and relationship with the supplier, the SQE as a supplier of quality management of such a person, or engaged in such a position of a person, you must have the ability to what? Is able to communicate effectively with the supplier's senior leadership.

Because many times, whether it is a new product, a new project, involving the progress of the project, the quality of product development, problem solving, many times we need to communicate with the supplier's senior leadership, because in many cases, you communicate with the grass-roots staff, may not be able to effectively solve the problem, so we need to have a certain attainment of knowledge of management, so that we can put forward suitable for the supplier, reasonable, but also able to solve problems. Therefore, we need to have a certain level of management knowledge so that we can propose some suggestions or requirements for suppliers that are suitable, reasonable and can meet our requirements.

As the supplier's senior leadership, they are in control of the allocation of resources such a right, if we are in the management of suppliers, we do not have the means or can not get our senior leadership, for the management of your project, such as our project progress, project development, resource allocation, problem solving efforts, etc., may not be able to achieve this satisfactory degree, then we will We need to go up to the sky, to communicate effectively with the supplier's senior leadership, and then to promote the supplier to carry out project control, effective problem solving, etc. Otherwise, in addition to going up to the sky, we will not be able to do into the ground to mingle with people.

As an all-round warrior another quality is also to be able to enter the ground, this how to understand? That is, we do not say all day in the supplier that boasts, we also need to be able to when needed, with the supplier of the grass-roots staff to mingle with them, followed by them together in the field, together to solve the problem on the spot, together to analyze the problem of our products, together with the validation of some new products.

For example, when we conduct PPAP, we need to work with suppliers to do, for example, process capability verification, beat verification. When we are doing some specific quality problem solving, we need to work with suppliers to analyze the causes, develop measures, and validate the effectiveness of the measures, all of which require us to have certain knowledge and skills.

So as an all-rounder, you can go up when you need to go up, and then you can come down when you need to come down. I think this kind of SQE is a person who has the potential to be a good SQE, this kind of position. But we now have a lot of SQE, he can mingle with the lower side, but when it comes to communicating with the supplier's senior leadership, balked at the idea, do not know how to deal with these senior leaders, and senior leaders in communication, and even their own panic, this is not a qualified SQE should have the quality.

On the other hand, some SQE is very good with the supplier's senior mingle, but encountered specific problems, they hide to the side, can only be there to point fingers, but can not go to participate in the analysis of some specific problems and solutions, this is what we call “crippled”, not our all-round warriors should have the This is what we call “lame”, not a quality we should have in an all-round warrior.

In order to be able to meet the sky can enter the ground so that the basic requirements of an all-round warrior, we have to consider, as a qualified SQE should have what kind of ability? We need to enrich our knowledge and ability to improve our knowledge structure. Specifically what kind of ability we should have or what kind of knowledge structure?

You can see the following PPT, and then I will one by one to introduce to you. You can see this page of PPT, I summarized, as a qualified can go up to the sky can enter the ground SQE, I think should have these five aspects of the core competencies required:

Because when we select suppliers, such as a potential supplier audit of suppliers, suppliers in the formal qualified supplier, we may also need to regularly assess his quality system, process, that this requires us to have a deep understanding of the quality management system and cognition, whether it is ISO9001 or 16949. Or other quality management systems, we need to have the ability to understand the standard, and then have the ability to assess, which is why a lot of SQE to learn how to implement effective auditing. Because we used to be a lot of SQE to audit, in fact, he is no set of rules, completely based on their own understanding of this knowledge, and then go to the supplier, give people instructions.

So many suppliers also reflected to us, that is, a lot of our customers to come, give us a lot of these requirements, we do not think it is a very reasonable request, but they said that must be done in accordance with this, many times with some of our SQE personal understanding and ideological coloring in the inside, I think this is not good.

If your supplier is doing machining, you have to have some knowledge of machining; heat treatment, there are special processes, you have to have some knowledge of special processes. If our suppliers are doing electronic products, we should be on electronic products and its industrial knowledge to understand. This is also our effective management of suppliers, suppliers to control some of the necessary skills or ability requirements.

Take a very simple example, for example, we assess the supplier for PPAP, you have to sign the PSW parts submission warranty, do you pick up the pen and sign with your eyes closed, or do you want to submit some of the supplier's services to conduct an effective assessment? If we are very unfamiliar with FMEA, SPC, MSA and these related core tools, how do we effectively assess the supplier's deliverables to meet the requirements, is effective.

This point I think that most companies now SQE is very lack of ability in this regard, which is why many companies now this PPAP is actually going through the motions, without effective assessment, and so on, after the product in mass production, a large number of suppliers of quality problems, whether it may be the quality of the unstable, or the supplier of the product delivery can not meet the requirements, are after the PPAP. This shows that we didn't implement our approval process effectively in the early stage. We have a lot more to share in the WeChat group, so please pay attention to that.

This is also very important. We are not talking about problem solving, we emphasize effective problem solving. Why do we put this as a competency here? Is because now many times, our suppliers in the problem solving time, do is very poor, and then there are a large number of such quality problems are repeated, recurring, there is no way to effectively solve, so our SQE should go to improve the ability to do this, so that you can give the supplier as a good counselor.

We often submit suppliers for the problem of some corrective action reports, 8D reports, etc., many times just for the sake of submitting and submitting. We for the basic, such as the description of the problem are not good, then you think the problem can be effectively solved? Then for the analysis of the cause, the root cause of the analysis is not done well, do not know how to do root cause analysis, and then we have these corrective action plan and the cause does not correspond to the cause, that is, the cause is said to be A, and then the action plan is said to be B, completely out of the set of routines, but our SQE as usual, so that is our ability to be there is a lack of some.

In addition, if this level is raised to a higher level, the fact is that our suppliers in the effective problem-solving culture, effective problem-solving process, effective problem-solving methodology there is a big gap between our SQE how to effectively go to the counseling supplier, effectively to guide the supplier, effectively to promote the supplier? You must have strong effective problem solving skills, you have to have such a mindset, knowledge and skills, you can go to manage and coach our suppliers.

This is actually one of the comprehensive competencies that we require of our SQEs. I think this can involve a lot of aspects, such as our ability to communicate, our ability to negotiate, the supplier quotes a price, and then we go to evaluate, to cut the price with the supplier, or we have a target requirement, the supplier to reduce the annual number of this requires us to have some skills and methods of SQE to communicate with the supplier effectively.

And as an SQE, do we need to know some financial knowledge? We must always pay attention to some of the supplier's financial risk. For example, how is his cash flow? What is the balance sheet ratio? We also need to understand some financial knowledge, know when he is on the verge of a risk, and then we can quickly and effectively identify it, and can take the necessary measures to target solutions.

So we can see, for the SQE's comprehensive management capabilities, in fact, he requires more. Many times we went to the supplier that place to go, to talk to them, to communicate with them, and even to coach them, in fact, many times are a comprehensive ability to a reflection.

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To rely on the supplier quality engineer's own strength to one or more suppliers to manage well, is indeed a very difficult thing, so we must take advantage of the supplier's power, so that the supplier from top to bottom to recognize the supplier quality engineers to do the work is to enhance the supplier's ability to enable the supplier to be able to systematic and proactive management. At the same time, the management requirements can be passed on to the sub-suppliers and the suppliers are urged to improve.

In order to connect with the customer's supplier quality engineer, the supplier must have a window, this window to be clear about the customer's requirements, and can understand and know how to get all the problems related to the customer's information, not necessarily all the problems are counted on him to deal with, but he has to play a role in the supplier's internal coordination and supervision. Only the supplier's active systematic management, will avoid the fire brigade type of treatment, and can be really effective to enhance.

Supplier to do active systematic management, you must establish a quality operating system (QOS) or similar mechanisms. The Quality Operating System, or QOS, originated from Ford's integration of best practices and knowledge over many years, and is a standardized systematic approach designed to apply standardized operational tools and practices to the management of the business in order to achieve increasing customer satisfaction. QOS stands for the basic philosophies of “Visual Management”, “Data Convergence” and “Quick Execution”. QOS will not be further elaborated here, and those who wish to know more about it should refer to the related materials.

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An effective mechanism has to be established between the manufacturing organization and the supplier. Within this mechanism, the manufacturing plant and the supplier based on mutual trust, can carry out a comprehensive and adequate communication of information, and strong team members to promote the project, to prevent problems and solve the problem, and ultimately promote the supplier's ability to improve, so that both sides win.

Supplier quality engineers should take the initiative and must become the manager of the communication mechanism. To achieve the purpose of effective communication, must be with the supplier's interface personnel, together combing suppliers and customers related to all issues, and the establishment of an open problem list, dynamic update management, the two sides can regularly feedback. Through this mechanism, you can prevent often in the “fire brigade” state, so as to deal with the problem more systematically and proactively.

It should be noted that the handling of problems should be prioritized, important issues should be dealt with in a timely manner, but as long as the problem, even if it is relatively small, must be included in the schedule for tracking and processing, otherwise it will be missed, which will make a small problem into a big problem. In addition, dealing with the problem must be effective, must identify the root cause and control to prevent the problem from recurring.

In the process of communication, supplier quality engineers need to be based on the customer's requirements of the supplier to give guidance and help, rather than adding trouble, only to give the supplier practical help, the supplier has the will to improve and actively cooperate. Similarly, the supplier should be according to the plan of communication between the two sides in a timely manner to take the initiative to feedback on the progress of the issues, rather than waiting for the customer's supplier quality engineers to follow up. As the saying goes, a slap in the face, only both sides are active, in order to maximize the effect.

With suppliers to communicate with the way is now more and more, the traditional way of letters, phone / fax, face-to-face communication, and now the new way of e-mail, MSN, SMS, interactive e-commerce and so on. As for the advantages and disadvantages, that will be determined by the effectiveness of communication. It is important to note that regardless of the method, there is no substitute for face-to-face communication. Therefore, visits to suppliers need to be emphasized.

For suppliers of quality engineers, we must cherish every opportunity to visit, so that each visit is worthwhile, rather than a simple visit. The visit to the supplier, avoid point-to-point problem-solving approach, but to have a general consideration.

For routine visits, before each visit, there should be detailed preparation, that is, the meaning of sharpening the knife, what is the purpose of this visit, what information needs to be collected, what issues need to be communicated, what are the remaining issues from the last visit, there are no other concerns from other departments within the company.

These issues are then organized and summarized, and a visit schedule is prepared and sent to the supplier, so that the supplier can make appropriate preparations before the visit, thus improving the efficiency of the visit.

During the visit, it is important to communicate fully with the supplier, listen to the supplier's opinions and improvement measures, look at the corresponding evidence, and understand what other needs the supplier has for the organization. After the visit, there needs to be a detailed summary reflecting the results of the visit and a list of the supplier's shortcomings, so that the supplier can be corrected and feedback.

For visits in projects, it is even more important to plan. To the different nodes of the project requirements, to determine when to visit, visit to solve what problems, to confirm what the submission, etc., the ability to relatively weak suppliers, the need to intervene throughout the key monitoring.

In addition, there are also visits for special issues, including quality issues, cost discussions (quality function development), equipment utilization and maintenance.

Supplier visits sometimes need to ask the organization's senior management, one to reflect the importance of the second to increase the promotion of efforts, especially for those who intend to strategic suppliers, or for suppliers with major problems, senior visits are particularly important, in addition, for the existence of major problems or risks of the supplier, but also need to support the senior management to the supplier to the supplier's senior management to communicate with the supplier to coordinate. Through high-level visits, it is possible to further understand the supplier's willingness to cooperate with the organization, as well as the supplier's near-term or medium- and long-term goals and plans, so that the organization can have more reference information in procurement planning.

In the supplier visit, the important point is to listen to the supplier's feedback, which can include questionnaires, talking formally or informally, side by side, or learning about the experience of other manufacturing organizations.

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For manufacturing organizations, it is important to develop suppliers as they want to have a stable supplier base, and they want suppliers to be able to progressively improve and continue to meet or even exceed the requirements of their customers. It is well known that there is a beginning to end process in any matter, and the same is true for the process of suppliers in a manufacturing organization. Therefore, the process of supplier management can be broadly categorized into supplier selection, supplier development, and supplier elimination and integration, interspersed with supplier reviews.

To be clear, supplier selection tends to be procurement-led, with the supplier quality engineer as a key participant. But the leading supplier development work is the supplier quality engineers, when necessary, the need to use the power of procurement; supplier elimination integration is again procurement-oriented, supplier quality engineers to support; supplier evaluation may require more departments to participate, including procurement, technology, quality, etc..

Although the lead is not the same in each link, but, as the supplier quality engineers with the closest contact with the supplier, in the above processes, must assume important responsibilities, because the supplier's ability to directly affect the performance of the supplier quality engineers as well as the degree of effort.

Selection of suppliers to meet the requirements of the most basic work, qualified suppliers to enhance the work of the supplier quality engineers reflect the ability, and do not meet the requirements or even do not cooperate with the improvement of the supplier, it is necessary to consider the elimination of integration. Follow-up will be further elaborated on the above links in the work of the supplier quality engineer.

7, supplier selection

Supplier selection is in the many potential suppliers to select a supplier that meets the requirements. Potential suppliers can be obtained from a variety of sources, the Internet, industry catalogs or journals, supplier sales staff, and even competitors' suppliers and so on.

Some manufacturing organizations even have their own database of potential suppliers, once a new development tasks, procurement staff can be selected from inside the initial selection, through the program preset screening conditions, basically can be circled a few competitive potential suppliers, if necessary, will be a candidate supplier you give a preliminary review, and then invite these suppliers to participate in the offer, for the offer and the development of the progress of the estimated situation, selected a certain range of competitive suppliers for further development. A certain range of competitive suppliers for further selection.

As the saying goes, there are no rules. Supplier selection must also have standards, otherwise there will be no way to start, and even select the supplier who does not meet the requirements. Supplier selection, must first make a preliminary analysis and understanding of the specific components and their industries. Traditional supplier selection is based on cost that is price. Secondly, the comprehensive strength of the supplier should be judged to confirm the most suitable supplier.

The so-called comprehensive strength, that is, to consider the supplier's size, technical capabilities, production capacity, quality assurance capabilities, credit status, financial status, labor relations, environment, geographic location and whether or not they have ERP systems and other aspects of the situation, and then make a comprehensive evaluation.

Scale: The size of the supplier can more or less reflect a certain strength, for the organization to choose the supplier, you need to consider the size of the supplier, but also need to consider their own situation, if the pursuit of large-scale suppliers, there may be a customer big bully store situation. Some suppliers of moderate size will also be a good choice.

Technical capabilities: technology development can be said to be the source of product development, so technology development capabilities are very important, in the supplier assessment, you need to pay attention to the number of suppliers and the composition of technical personnel, whether the corresponding design and development system, and whether the design software used is compatible with the organization, it is important that the supplier has the experience of designing similar products, if necessary, but also need to pay attention to the supplier's ability to test.

Production capacity: the supplier's equipment, whether it is old equipment or advanced equipment, equipment maintenance and maintenance of how, how the current production capacity, and whether the ability to develop tooling, new product development and subsequent production have a great impact.

Quality Assurance Capability: From the quality assurance point of view, the provision of third-party certification of the quality system is the most basic requirements, third-party certification is only to play a role in promoting the key is still in the organization itself, the true implementation of the system requirements, and the establishment of the QOS system, proactive management, internal audits through the monitoring and identification of gaps.

Sub-supplier management capabilities: need to pay attention to whether the supplier has an organization or personnel for sub-supplier management, in practice, many problems come from the sub-supplier, the entire supply chain, each chain must be strong and reliable, otherwise, even if the supplier itself is doing a good job, but also to no avail.

Financial and credit status: It is necessary to understand the supplier's sales, profitability, assets and liabilities, in order to assess whether the supplier is at risk, which in turn affects the stability of the supply chain. At the same time, you need to pay attention to the supplier's creditworthiness to prevent the supplier from violating the rules when participating in the competition.

Labor relations: Find out if the supplier has strained labor relations, which can be a significant threat to normal supply.

Geographic location: Consideration of geographic location is not based solely on ease of transportation, but also on the supplier's handling of emergency situations.

Mode of delivery: Whether there are different modes of transportation such as rail, road, ship and air to meet the different needs of customers.

Transit warehouse and after-sales service: It is necessary to consider whether there is a transit warehouse or third-party logistics to support the arrival and distribution of materials, in addition, whether the after-sales service is specialized, and how to ensure the timeliness of the problem also needs to be considered.

In general, or should be to the potential supplier for on-site inspection, in addition to the above aspects, the supplier inspection team should focus on the supplier's attitude (attitude of cooperation, quality attitude) and the site (environment and production control).

For some suppliers, even with the so-called quality system certification, but can not really pay attention to the significance of quality, or, to cooperate with a dispensable attitude, we must clearly identify, even if the other conditions are very good, we can not choose such a supplier, because the choice is a two-way street, the supplier's attitude is not positive, indicating that he is not interested in the business, if in case of such a choice of suppliers, the future work is bound to be full of difficulties. If you choose this kind of supplier, the future work must be full of hard work.

In the choice of suppliers, it is more important to pay attention to the environment and control of the production site, such as environmental conditions, whether in line with environmental requirements, whether the workers have labor protection measures, whether the key processes have control, the site is the most powerful reflection of quality. Attention should also be paid to labor-management relations, especially when China's economy is in the transition stage, some enterprises will bring problems related to restructuring, which may seriously affect normal production.

Also of concern is the effectiveness of the supplier's order processing procedures and emergency response mechanisms. At the same time, you can also pay attention to the supplier's social responsibility, such as the use of child labor phenomenon, environmental protection / labor insurance measures in place, the implementation of the minimum wage. You can refer to the SA8000 standard.

As the saying goes, compare three suppliers. Supplier selection should pay attention to mutual comparisons, if not a monopoly industry, the benchmark for comparison is the comprehensive evaluation of the grade or score. Of course, the finalization also requires the procurement of specific parts and components of the technical processing, such as bidding, sealed quotes and other ways. Behind the supplier inspection team, there should also be a panel of experts to support, for different industries, suppliers to determine the focus of different concerns, to prevent bias caused by the limitations of the inspection team itself.

For the evaluation team, each review needs to have a formal report after the supplier's strengths and weaknesses, for the shortcomings, should require the supplier to feedback action to rectify the plan, and require the supplier to follow up on the rectification situation from time to time, if necessary, should also be verified at the supplier.

After the above inspection, combined with the latest offer from each supplier, as well as the supplier's ability to meet the project schedule, to form a preliminary recommendation, reported to the relevant decision-making bodies for confirmation, before the final selection of the supplier. For selected suppliers, their status should be entered into the supplier database to facilitate subsequent management and analysis. For suppliers not selected, they can also be used as potential suppliers so that there are more choices in future projects.

It is important to note that supplier selection will most likely be made within the existing supplier system, as existing suppliers have advantages over new suppliers, such as familiarity with the manufacturing organization system and the bonding that occurs during normal tie-ins. Unless the existing supplier cannot meet the requirements of the new project or is notorious in the manufacturing organization.

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As mentioned in the discussion of supplier selection, supplier review plays an important role in the selection of suppliers, but the purpose of the review is not only to select a supplier, but to identify the gap between the supplier's current situation and the customer's expectations, so that the supplier can clearly identify the direction of improvement.

Therefore, supplier evaluation is not limited to the selection of suppliers, for the normal supply of suppliers, also need to be evaluated. Because suppliers are constantly improving, and the organization's requirements are also constantly improving, so the review is also a good means of communication between the two sides.

Regarding supplier evaluation, it may include commercial evaluation, technical capability evaluation, quality process evaluation, etc. For supplier quality engineers, they are more concerned about the quality process evaluation. Usually, the quality process review involves both the quality operation system and the quality assurance capability of the manufacturing site.

Quality operation system, the focus of attention is whether the supplier has a normal mechanism to ensure the normal operation of the quality operation system can be compared to the image of the human body's immune system, which can identify internal and external risks and take the initiative to prevent, of course, many times need to be outside to cure the disease. In the case of the quality operation system, it is necessary to identify the key performance indicators of each institution within the organization, and continuously track the trend, and assign the relevant person or team to deal with the situation where variation occurs.

The quality assurance capability of the manufacturing site is a specific manifestation of the quality operation system, focusing on the control of the site, which is basically the management and control of human, machine, material, method, environment and measurement as well as change. In the review, the first focus is on compliance, and then is not in line with the response plan, as for the effectiveness, that is the content of the pre-planning considerations, in the review also need to check the validation records at the time. For the review of the manufacturing site, the focus is still on the special features, as well as around the special features of the man-machine, material, method, environment and testing and other related aspects of the situation. Focus on the key points to bring the whole, so that we can make a comprehensive and focused evaluation of the supplier.

Need to point out that, in the supplier selection time to do the review, to focus on the supplier's technical ability to review, this time, the supplier quality engineers to seek the assistance and support of PD engineers. Because most of the time, the supplier will want to enter the manufacturing organization's supporting system, will conceal some technical deficiencies, if not effectively identified, will have a great impact on the follow-up work.

Supplier review is only a tool to identify the gap between the supplier and the customer's expectations is only the first step, the important thing is that the supplier should be based on the results of the review to develop the appropriate corrective action plan and really be able to continue to improve. At the same time, because any review has its own limitations, suppliers need to expand their self-reviews internally to truly identify their own shortcomings and make improvements. If possible, the supplier quality engineer can also commission a third-party organization to review the supplier.

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Supplier development, mainly for the normal supply of suppliers, which also reflects the requirements of the TS16949 system focus on continuous improvement aspects of the content.

Speaking of supplier development, also mentioned earlier, we must understand the supplier's current situation and the gap between the expectations of customers, and the supplier review is to find out the effective means of such a gap, so the supplier development stage also needs to be assessed on the supplier.

In response to the problems identified in the review, as well as the problems and customer complaints that arise in the business relationship between the two sides, suppliers need to develop appropriate corrective action plans and effectively promote. This is followed up in the supplier's internal QOS mechanism so that corrective actions can be sustained and, if necessary, supported by senior management. As mentioned earlier, QOS is a mechanism for suppliers to ensure the good functioning of the organization from the company's macro point of view, identifying external customer needs is one aspect, on the other hand, it is necessary to identify the problems from within the supplier, and follow up and monitor the KPIs of each department, in order to achieve the purpose of continuous improvement. Therefore, QOS must be emphasized.

For supplier development, it is necessary to focus on the quality status of mass-produced parts and rectify problems to prevent them from occurring. As we all know, the cost of solving problems is much higher than the cost of preventing problems from occurring. From a preventive point of view, it is necessary to focus on quality management based on process control, i.e., quality is designed and manufactured, not inspected. Therefore, it is important to focus on process control, especially for special characteristics. Here, it is important to focus on changes in the process; change is the greatest enemy of quality. Pay attention to the training and change of personnel, prevention and maintenance of equipment and tooling, stability of raw materials and purchased parts, monitoring of process parameters, abnormal changes in the environment and so on.

As for the real handling of quality problems, it is necessary to use specific quality tools, such as G8D and 6Sigma. These tools are not described in detail here, but only to emphasize the effectiveness of the problem, to be able to really find the root cause of the problem and take measures to effectively protect the interests of customers, and to prevent the problem from recurring.

Supplier development, need to focus on the smooth running of new program development. Because from a preventive point of view, the smooth development of new projects is not only related to the progress of the customer's project, the effectiveness of the development of new projects also determines the quality of the product after mass production, although the quality of mass production and subsequent control, but the importance of pre-planning is also self-evident.

New project development, in the supplier selection before the feasibility assessment, which is critical, if not fully considered, will have an important impact on the subsequent project, may make the schedule delay, may also increase the cost, or even make the project can not be carried out. Therefore, the feasibility assessment should take into full consideration the technical, manufacturing, quality, cost and human resource aspects.

New project development must have a main line. This is a detailed development plan based on the nodes of the customer's project. The approximate time period will be considered before the supplier is selected, but the detailed plan must be confirmed with the supplier after the supplier is selected. All subsequent development work should be carried out in accordance with the defined plan, and if there are changes, they should be confirmed by both parties after evaluating the risks.

Don't think that everything will be fine once the main line is determined, but the monitoring and communication during the process is very important. Because there are many uncertainties in the process, there is a saying that plans are better than changes, we will allow changes to occur, but changes must be communicated to each other. Without regular monitoring, changes are often not tracked. Even if they are discovered at a later stage, it makes the time to solve the problem shorter and makes the problem more urgent.

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If some suppliers cannot adapt to the organization's development, or from the consideration of modular supply, it is necessary to eliminate and consolidate suppliers.

Supplier elimination and consolidation is also costly, the development of a new supplier is time-consuming and requires a certain amount of investment, and at the same time, it is necessary to consider whether the eliminated supplier will threaten the normal production, so the operation of the risk of assessment, and proceed with caution.

When it comes to elimination consolidation, it needs to be based on supplier evaluation as well as the organization's sourcing strategy.

Purchasing strategy refers to the organization's general policy on purchasing, based on the importance of the purchased parts, the status of existing suppliers, market competition and other comprehensive consideration of the strategy. Often it is considered whether to establish a strategic partnership with a supplier, or to introduce suppliers to participate in the competition to ensure sufficient stability of the supply chain, or to consider that the existing suppliers can not meet the requirements, and need to bring in suppliers with higher strength.

Supplier evaluations can be categorized into different types, such as monthly evaluations and annual comprehensive evaluations.

Generally speaking, the comprehensive evaluation will incorporate the organization's evaluation of the supplier's commercial, technical, quality, logistics, etc. Based on the comprehensive evaluation, the supplier will be rated. If a supplier is rated at the elimination level, it will often be asked to rectify the situation within a limited period of time, and if the rectification is ineffective, it will be eliminated.

Supplier phase-out takes into account the assurance of normal production, the lead time for new supplier development and the impact on the aftermarket, and also includes aspects such as quality claims.

The following is a recommended principle for elimination consolidation:

A. The elimination of suppliers will be determined mainly on the basis of supplier evaluation rating and score ranking.

B. Prioritize the elimination of the latter in the ranking order when the number of suppliers of the same kind is large, while focusing on suppliers with C-ranking in the evaluation results of the quality system and the evaluation results of the business/product development/corporate strategic outlook.

C. When determining the phase-out program, refer to the degree of difficulty in the implementation of the phase-out program, the less difficult phase-out can be used as the first phase of the phase-out of suppliers, and the more difficult phase-out can be used as the second phase of the phase-out of suppliers.

D. Suppliers of system-type products, integrated by module system, are referred to at the same time:

--- The lesser degree of phase-out difficulty; --- The lesser degree of phase-out difficulty; --- The lesser degree of phase-out difficulty.

----Technical content of the product (technical content of the bottom of the product to the technical content of the integration of high)

----Product assembly relationship (accessory products to the assembly product integration)

--- Value of the product (integration of products with low value to high value)

---Variety of products (consolidation of suppliers with few varieties to suppliers with many varieties).

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In front of the more verbose write a whole lot, turn around to see, it seems to be unable to give people the feeling of enlightenment, perhaps the real should be the phrase “paper to get the ultimate shallow, absolutely know the matter to be practiced. Many things, only their own experience, will have a feeling. Books to get, and ultimately rely on practice to test, experience in practice, in practice to summarize, and ultimately will become their own.

In fact, the supplier quality engineer position is very challenging. Supplier quality engineers are exposed to a wide range of people to deal with, but also a lot of people to help their own promotion. More often than not, a supplier quality engineer is more like a manager, who needs to know about all aspects of knowledge, and if he or she gets good exercise, the career prospect should be very good. Whether they start their own business or work as a professional manager, they have a good foundation. Therefore, supplier quality engineers should have confidence in themselves and in their work.

In fact, as a supplier quality engineers, in the supplier training or training within the company, often talk about the following principles are more useful, here also recorded, I hope to be able to inspire you:

Goal-driven everything: supplier quality engineers, whether it is the overall improvement of the supplier, or the development of new projects, or quality rectification, are the goal of our work, then all our work and efforts are centered on these goals. The goal is the direction, but also will ignite the passion. At the same time, this principle applies not only to work, but also to life, you can think about the purpose of our life, whether it is clear, whether we are going to the goal.

Doing things right the first time : With a goal, you need to work hard to reach it, and doing things right the first time is to be able to reach the goal in the fastest and most efficient way. Doing things right the first time will save you a lot of trouble. Of course, to do things right the first time requires good planning. As the saying goes, sharpening the knife first will make the chopping go smoother, while not sharpening the knife will cause too much waste if the knife is dulled and resharpened after a few cuts.

PDCA cycle: For quality personnel, the importance and practicality of the PDCA cycle should be self-evident. Not only should it be used in new project management, it should be used in quality improvement, and it should also be used in the process of achieving the goals mentioned earlier.

Teamwork is necessary: As we all know, the days of solo work are long gone, for quality personnel, I think the experience will be more profound, team, group in the work of everywhere, but to learn to really become a team, so that the team to give full play to its role. In life, the same can and must be successful with the power of the team.