Our quality engineers collect data from supplier locations all over the world, and we encourage our clients to get as much value as possible from our reporting to drive overall improvements and support successful supplier partnerships. Consider the simplified example of conducting weekly pre-shipment inspections of one product at a single supplier site. The information provided in the product specification determines the defects and whether they are major, minor or critical, which the quality engineer checks for on-site when evaluating the random samples. An accept, reject or on-hold determination is made for each inspection based on the AQLs and other factors, but defect data can be tracked over time to add value over just the individual shipment result alone. Here are three ways to get more from defect data: 1) Evaluate a check sheet or other data chart over a period of time such as the basic information below. 2) Visualize the information to observe and compare trends over any determined period of time. 3) Incorporate multiple suppliers to target improvement efforts at each location. For example, is one supplier exceeding at meeting expectations in one or more areas where others are not? Why? Use quality tools to further examine root causes and generate corrective actions. These examples only scratch the surface of what can be captured from quality inspection reports. Each organization is unique and can determine how to select the data most relevant to goals and objectives.
