What an automotive buyer asks in a supplier assessment, and who should answer

The supplier quality engineer walks in at ten, says the slides can wait unless they are needed, and asks for last quarter's rejection records on a part you already make. Then the calibration status of the gauges on the floor. Then the free hours on your bottleneck machine. A supplier assessment is a set of plain questions asked on your shop floor, with every answer checked against a record. So prepare the facts on capacity, quality records and past parts before the visit. And put people in the room who can answer without looking at the owner.

What the engineer is trying to find out

The engineer is not deciding whether you are impressive. The question is whether the buyer's part will arrive right, on the date, lot after lot, and whether a problem will be caught at your plant or on the buyer's assembly line.

The engineer finds out by comparing three things: what you say, what your records show, and what is on the floor. When all three agree, the visit goes easily. When the owner says "we check every piece" and the inspection register has gaps, the gap is what goes into the report.

Expect the engineer to pick a part you make today and follow it. From the material in your stores, through each machine, to the packed box at dispatch. Every question on the way is a version of "show me".

Capacity: show the bottleneck, not the machine list

"We have twelve machines" tells the engineer nothing. They want to know which process limits output for that kind of part, how loaded it is, and what happens when it breaks down.

Prepare one sheet before the visit. For each process the buyer's part would pass through, give the hours available per shift, the shifts you run, the hours already committed and the hours free. Mark the bottleneck. Add what you do when that machine stops: a second machine, a job-work partner, an overtime shift.

If the volume needs a machine you do not have, say so, and say when it could come and how it would be paid for. An engineer can work with a plan, but not with "we can do anything", which ends a capacity discussion early.

The records the engineer will ask to see

These records come up in many first assessments. Tick each one off only when someone can lay hands on it within a minute.

Material coming in

• Supplier test certificates, filed against the batch they came with
• A rule for material that fails incoming inspection, and where it is kept

On the line

• Process flow and control plan for one current part
• First-piece approval at every setup and every shift
• Records of the checks the control plan asks for, on the line where they are done

Measuring

• Gauge and instrument list, each with its calibration due date
• Labels on the gauges themselves that match that list

When something is wrong

• A marked quarantine area and a rejection register
• Rework records showing who reworked what, and how it was rechecked
• Customer complaints for the past year, each with its root cause and action

Tracing and stores

• Any finished part traced back to its material batch, machine, shift and operator
• First-in-first-out in stores, with held stock kept apart

People

• Training records for operators on the processes that matter most

The quality system behind these records, and whether a buyer expects a particular certification, is a question for the buyer's supplier quality team. Ask them before the visit rather than guessing.

Past parts, and who speaks to them

The engineer will ask what you have made, for whom, and how close it is to the buyer's part. Lay physical parts out on a table, with labels showing material, process and the kind of vehicle they go into. Name customers only where they have agreed. Drawings stay in the drawer unless the customer has given permission; our note on drawings, NDAs and file sharing covers why.

Then decide who answers what. Your quality in-charge takes the records and complaints. The production head takes capacity, setups and breakdowns. The owner takes commercial questions and commitments. When the owner answers everything, the engineer concludes the system lives in one head, and writes that down too.

For example: a harness maker in Sanand

Imagine a wiring harness maker in Sanand, Gujarat, assessed by a tier-1 that supplies a vehicle plant nearby. The details are illustrative. The owner met the engineer at the gate and answered every question himself. Asked about capacity, the owner said the unit could take on anything.

On the floor, the engineer asked for crimp height and pull-test records for the last lot of a running harness. They were in a notebook on the night supervisor's desk, and nobody on the day shift had a key. A crimp micrometer on the line was past its calibration date. The report ran to two pages of findings.

Before asking for a second visit, the owner changed three things, and one of them had a price. The quality in-charge built an assessment file from the checklist above, and the line records moved to the line. A capacity sheet went up for crimping and the assembly boards, bottleneck marked. Then came the rehearsal. The owner asked the questions himself and stayed silent while the team answered. It took a production day on the crimping line, and a delivery slipped by that day. On the second visit the quality in-charge led, and the report listed two open points, each with a date.

When to ask for more time before the visit

If several records on the checklist do not exist yet, ask the buyer for a later date. Say why in one line. A first assessment that goes badly can be remembered when the next RFQ list is drawn up. A short delay is easier to explain.

Never back-date a record. A register written after the fact and dated backwards can end the conversation, and it can be worse than a gap.

Take one part you make today and walk it from stores to dispatch with the checklist, ticking only what can be found in a minute. The gaps are your preparation list. A short account of the plant to open the visit is a capability presentation, and how component buyers choose is on the automotive component makers page. Assessment date already in the diary? Then tell us what you need.