Maximizing Supplier Quality with Limited Resources

Q&A with NTS Unitek

Prior to the American Aerospace & Defense Summit 2018, we spoke to NTS Unitek to discuss how to maximize supplier quality with limited resources. In this Q&A, we discuss best practices to strengthen a supplier quality management program, how A&D companies can ensure product quality and what strategies A&D companies can employ to streamline their inspections and audits.

This is an excerpt from the Q&A Generis did with NTS Unitek:

“What are the best practices to strengthen a supplier quality management program?

Stop the bleeding – Deploy targeted resources to the suppliers that are causing the most disruption. Unitek has helped many customers with this by deploying experienced quality professionals with commodity/technical expertise and local to the supplier. The resultant effect is faster response time, lower labor costs (not fully burdened), infusion of expertise and cost savings which translate into more presence (FTE’s) at the supplier delivering value to the company and programs.

Shift from Reactive to Proactive – Plot the progression from reactive services (source inspection) to strategic services (“top to bottom” requirements assessment) and resolution of non-conformances, compliance issues, and engineering differences.

Look at total costs – Failure, appraisal, and prevention. Understand where and how you’re deploying organizational resources and ensure that it’s in sync with value stream priorities.

Link the Supplier Quality (SQ) organizational goals to company value stream and financials – Unitek understands how the SQ organization fits within the company and the impact it has on program execution and company financial performance. Unitek takes a macro integrated view (not a functional silo view) and collects inputs from internal customers like PMO’s (they define value). The SQ organizational strategy should be a natural extension of this value stream perspective.

Collect and use data – Without data, the organization is running blind. Use the data to validate supplier performance as well as plan and prioritize organizational initiatives and to validate actual results met planned expectations.”

Questions discussed:

• What are the best practices to strengthen a supplier quality management program?
• How can A&D companies ensure quality at every phase of the product lifecycle?
• How can A&D companies maximize supplier quality with limited resources?
• How can A&D companies benefit from implementing quality early in the product lifecycle?
• What are some of the biggest quality and compliance challenges in the Aerospace & Defense industry?
• What strategies can A&D companies employ to streamline their inspections and audits?

Click through to read the full Q&A here.