Supplier quality
A date they chose, that comes back when it passes
A delivery arrives late, short, damaged or not at all. You raise it, the supplier commits to a recovery date, and that date is the thing this area is built around — because the failure that costs you a line stoppage is usually the second one, after a commitment nobody went back to.
What happens to a request
- You
Raise it
What was promised against what turned up: the order, the part, the date, the quantities and which of six kinds of failure it was — late, short, nothing, wrong part, damaged, or paperwork.
- Supplier
Commits to a date
Why it happened, what they will deliver, when, and what stops it recurring. All four are required of them, and the date is theirs rather than one you imposed.
- You
Accept it, or send it back
Record the line impact and whether your customer had to be told — both required here — then accept the commitment or return it saying why.
- You
Wait, and check what arrived
The quantity that finally turned up against the quantity promised. If it is still not right, it goes back to waiting with a reason.
- You
Close it, with two people
Closing needs a Category Manager and a Category Director, so an incident cannot be tidied away by the person who was chasing it.
A missed date chases itself
A day after the recovery date passes, the incident goes back to the supplier on its own. No report to run, nobody to remember, and the question lands on the person who gave you the date rather than on the planner who believed it.
What it cost you stays yours
Hours lost, premium freight and whether your own customer had to be told are recorded on the incident and never shown to the supplier. They answer for the delivery; the consequences are your commercial position and not an opening offer.
Two ways back, both needing a reason
A commitment you do not accept returns to them, and a recovery that was not good enough returns to waiting. Neither moves without a comment, so the record says why rather than just where it went.
It feeds the scorecard
Every incident counts towards the supplier's record on their evaluation — days late, shortfall, premium freight — so delivery performance is assembled from what happened rather than typed in at review time.
It is about the recovery, not the complaint
Plenty of systems will log that a delivery was late. The difference here is that the commitment made in response is a date the software knows about: it sits in the open list until something arrives, it comes back to the supplier if it lapses, and closing it needs somebody other than the person who has been chasing. A late delivery is a problem; a recovery date that quietly passed is how it becomes a stoppage.
Start with it