What should a supplier quality agreement for custom metal parts require?

Which unwritten requirements cause the most supplier quality disputes?

The gap behind most of these disputes is change control: the supplier changes a material source, a process, a subcontractor or a plant without telling the buyer. The others that recur are nonconformance handling, sub-tier control, record retention and the right to inspect.

1. Unannounced changes. A part that passed first article can drift when the supplier moves it to another machine, changes bar or ingot source, or sends finishing to a different shop. The automotive production part approval process lists events of this kind as triggers for notifying the customer, including a new or modified tool, tooling moved to a different plant location, and a change of subcontractor for materials or services such as heat treating and plating (AIAG PPAP manual, 4th edition). Outside the automotive world those triggers are only binding if the agreement lists them.
2. Nonconformance and corrective action. Without a written rule, the supplier decides whether to tell you about a suspect lot it already shipped, how to contain it, and when a root cause report is due.
3. Sub-tier control. Cast, stamped and finished parts often pass through more than one plant. Requirements that stop at the first tier never reach the foundry or the plating line where the defect is made.
4. Record retention. If the agreement does not say how long inspection and material records are kept, they are kept as long as the supplier’s own system says, which may be shorter than your product warranty.
5. Right of access. An audit or a source inspection is a request, not a right, unless the agreement grants it, including at the supplier’s subcontractors.

The table maps each clause area to the published requirement it comes from, so the agreement can reference a recognized source instead of a preference.

How should the change, nonconformance and sub-tier clauses be worded?

Word each clause as an action, an owner and a deadline, and list the triggers instead of writing “any significant change.” A clause a new employee at the supplier could follow without asking is worded well enough.

Change notification. List the triggers, then require written approval before the change and a new first article after it. A workable list for machined, cast and finished parts: a different material source or grade; a new or modified casting tool, die or fixture; a move to another machine type, line or plant; a new subcontractor for any process, including heat treatment and finishing; a change in the process sequence; and a change in how a characteristic is inspected. AS9100D frames the same idea as notifying the buyer of changes to processes, products, external providers or location of manufacture and obtaining approval (SAE AS9100D). Pair the clause with the How do you run an engineering change notice with an outside machining or casting supplier? for changes that start on your side. A clause in that form reads, for example: “Supplier shall notify Buyer in writing and obtain Buyer’s written approval before shipping parts made after any of the changes listed in Appendix A. Parts made after an approved change ship only after Buyer accepts a new first article inspection report. Supplier shall pass this clause to every sub-tier source that processes the part.” Appendix A is the trigger list above, so a new quality manager at the supplier can check a planned change against it without interpretation.

Nonconformance and corrective action. Require the supplier to tell you about suspect product it has already shipped, to quarantine stock, and never to ship a known nonconformance without a written deviation from you. Name the report format, usually an What should an 8D report from a parts supplier contain, and how do you tell a real root cause from a weak one?, and set the clock yourself; a typical buyer setting is containment confirmed in about 24 hours, root cause and planned actions in about 10 working days, and closure with evidence in about 30 days, though none of these figures comes from a standard. The eight disciplines themselves are described in ASQ’s overview of the method (ASQ, eight disciplines). Say what your What should a non conformance report (NCR) to a machined-parts supplier contain? will contain, so the supplier knows what evidence it will receive.

Sub-tier flow-down. Require the supplier to pass the agreement’s requirements, and the special characteristics marked on the drawing, to every subcontractor that touches the part. IATF 16949 asks automotive suppliers to cascade statutory and regulatory requirements and special characteristics down the chain to the point of manufacture (IATF 16949:2016), and US federal contracts have a similar rule in FAR 52.246-11, which flows higher-level quality requirements to subcontracts for critical and complex items (FAR 52.246-11). Ask the supplier to state, per part, which processes are subcontracted and where.

Records. Name the records (material certificates, first article, lot inspection data, process records, nonconformance and corrective action files), the retention period and how fast they can be produced on request. For US federal contractors, FAR sets a general period of 3 years after final payment, with different periods for some record types (FAR 4.703); commercial buyers usually tie the period to product life or warranty instead.

Who does what under a supplier quality agreement on a Saola order?

Saola is a managed manufacturing partner: CNC turning and milling are done at our lead CNC plant in Vietnam, while casting, stamping and surface finishing are done at partner plants we manage. The quote names the production site and the country of origin for each part, which tells you where each clause of your agreement has to reach.

Machining work, described on the CNC milling and CNC turning pages, runs at the lead CNC plant. Castings come from partner foundries, as on the die casting page, and finishes from partner plants, as on the surface finishing page. Partner plants are not named on this website, so if your agreement requires named sub-tier sources, approval of subcontractors or access to them, raise it in the RFQ so it is answered before a price is agreed.

The quality page lists what is issued today: a first-article inspection report on new tooling, a dimensional inspection record with every lot, material certification and process routing sheets on request, and a certificate of origin per shipment for parts made in Vietnam. It also states that nothing moves forward on a verbal okay and that an out-of-tolerance first-article result is reported with the measured value and a proposed fix. Saola does not publish its own supplier quality agreement template, so send yours with the drawing; the written reply states which clauses can be met as written and which need discussion. ISO 9001 certification is in progress, not held, and no third-party audit report exists yet, so if either is a condition of your agreement, say so first. Start with the quote form and attach the agreement.