Adapt Data Solutions Managing Supplier Quality: Supplier Quality Web Portal Case Study: A manufacturing company needed a simple web portal to better manage supplier quality issues. Many supplier quality issues were simply slipping through the cracks as this company would manually email/phone suppliers and request follow-up: Supplier Corrective Action Reports (SCARs) Non-conforming Material Reports (NCMRs) Audit Finding Reports (AFRs) The company worked with Adapt Data Solutions staff to quickly build and deploy a supplier portal based on EnterpriseWizard. This system automated many tasks associated with managing supplier quality and gave them new insights into supplier performance through quality reports and a supplier quality dashboard.
2009 Introduction A manufacturing company had some serious issues managing supplier quality. They had hundreds of suppliers, each with issues to be managed (defective materials, late deliveries, corrective actions to be investigated, etc.). As they had very few quality staff to manage these issues, most supplier quality issues simply fell through the cracks. Does this sound familiar? Quality engineers send emails to suppliers asking for corrective action reports / root cause analysis investigation and hope the supplier replies. With so many suppliers and issues to manage, the quality engineering staff cannot effectively nag suppliers to get a response. Supplier quality management staff don t have data to show which suppliers are providing the best materials or are the most responsive to quality issues. Changes occur at the supplier (new staff, changes in roles, email address changes, etc.) but the staff responsible for managing suppliers can t keep up with the changes. This company (certified to ISO 9001:2008) drastically needed to improve supplier quality management. The manual issue tracking efforts were no longer working and, due to budget constraints, adding staff was not an option. They mapped out their requirements for a web-based supplier quality management system: Supplier access via the web A web-based supplier quality portal would allow the suppliers to login and provide updates to their outstanding issues. Automate processes to manage a mountain of supplier quality issues The legacy supplier tracking systems/processes relied on manual efforts. Too often, that led to critical issues falling through the cracks. For example, quality staff would send an email to a supplier requesting a response to a corrective action report. Unresponsive suppliers would need a nag notice after a week or two. By automating these tasks (for example, sending nag notices, logging supplier responses, etc.) the company could improve supplier quality while managing costs. Hassle-free administration IT staff cannot be burdened with maintaining supplier quality management software. If a new package were to be installed, it had to have zero impact on IT. Reporting & Supplier Quality Dashboard The company needed better visibility into supplier quality. Many departments relied on a gut feel for which suppliers were providing quality products and were responsive. A few manually generated MS Excel reports were available within the company but they only painted part of the supplier quality picture. The Adapt Data Solutions team was able to exceed all of these customer expectations using EnterpriseWizard.
2009 Business Overview The company is a manufacturing company with multiple facilities. They have more than 1,000 suppliers used across several divisions. While some of the company s suppliers had offices in North America, many were completely located offshore. Challenges of Manually Managing Supplier Quality The company faced many challenges by trying to manage their supplier quality data manually (using emails and paper folders). 1. The company simply did not have enough time/staff to manage supplier quality issues manually. At first, the organization had only a handful of suppliers that could be managed using Outlook, Excel, and paper tracking systems. As the number of suppliers grew (>100), critical supplier quality issues were overlooked. The company would often send an email to a supplier requesting a corrective action and not get a response. Overworked quality staff now had to nag these unresponsive suppliers until a corrective action was provided another manual process that often failed. 2. They tracked supplier quality data using spreadsheets & PC databases (MS Excel and MS Access). There were several issues with this using Excel and Access for supplier quality data. First, the data was not available to everyone; only the few who knew where to find the files. Engineering and procurement staff were not reviewing the data because they didn t know where to find it. This led to the second problem: multiple revisions of the data. Supplier quality spreadsheets were often emailed, updated and emailed again. 3. The company only kept a few supplier performance quality metrics (PPM and OTD). These tell part of the story. They wanted to measure other aspects of supplier quality (such as response time to CARs), and then use that data to build a supplier quality scorecard and an overall supplier quality dashboard. Overall, the manual system of managing supplier quality issues was costing the company dollars, time, and a reduction in quality all leading to a reduction in customer satisfaction. EnterpriseWizard + Adapt Data Solutions = Success The company was able to test drive the system using the 30-day free CRM/Issue Track Database trial. Adapt Data Solutions staff were able to create a fully working prototype within a few days, import existing quality records from the legacy systems, provide training to quality staff and launch the system within 4 weeks prior to the expiration of the 30 day trial!
2009 Solution Benefits Complex business processes can be streamlined leading to unexpected savings and improved team efficiency o Staff can now create a Supplier CAR. The supplier is automatically notified via email with a link for the supplier to click and update the Corrective Action online. o Suppliers who do not respond to corrective actions within a specified time (a week) receive an automatic reminder. Staff no longer have to send suppliers nag emails. o If suppliers do not respond to the nag notices within a specified time (3 days) then quality staff are notified. Suppliers login and update the system. Not only do they update the supplier quality records, but they also update their contact data (email, phone, title, etc.) and notify the company of changes. Zero IT administration/maintenance costs using the EnterpriseWizard hosted service Rapid deployment System changes can be made quickly and at little to no cost Advanced reporting system provides insight into supplier quality issues Easy to build and update supplier quality dashboard (available on web and via email reports) Ability to expand the solution to address other business issues Easily import/export data from existing systems (MS Excel, etc.)
2009 Web Based Supplier Quality Dashboard Easily Create Automated Emails Sent to Suppliers as New SCARs Are Created
2009 About Adapt Data Solutions Adapt Data Solutions is a software services and development company dedicated to helping our clients improve their bottom line with the best tools and processes available. ADS is based in Ames, Iowa and was founded by Patrick Rundall, a 17 year veteran of the software systems industry with a strong background in Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) systems, quality management systems, leading customer support teams, and software consulting/professional services. Adapt Data Solutions is a certified EnterpriseWizard reseller with years of experience with this award winning CRM package. Contact Adapt Data Solutions at: sales@adaptds.com About EnterpriseWizard With headquarters in Silicon Valley and resellers worldwide, EnterpriseWizard, Inc. is the leading provider of powerful, affordable, and easily deployed 100% web-based business process automation (BPA) solutions for organizations of all sizes.