Three Amigos? Procurement, QA and Engineering

June 24th, 2008 at 05:49am Oscar Pacheco - Iasta

I used to work as a design engineer in my early work career and often ran into issues with Procurement and Quality Assurance when it came to production problems with suppliers.  Parts would come in slightly out of specification which would raise quality issues, the procurement group was usually on the side of the supplier trying to justify the errors, and then I as the engineer would have to get in between the two departments.  As an engineer my main concern was not with meeting the specification, but the effect the deviation would cause on the form/fit/function of the part and would there be issues regarding the design calculations. 

Looking back on this I learned that the issues that arose between the departments (Engineering, QA and Procurement) were mostly because of lack of communication in the early part of the process of procuring the parts.  If all the departments had been able to review and discuss the design and the production of the parts more easily they would have been much more informed of critical tolerances, key items, supplier difficulties and many other facets of the project.  This would have helped immensely when production problems did occur, as QA would know what was a “major issue” verses a no big deal and procurement would be able to help the supplier understand key areas in the parts.   

Since our groups existed in different parts of the country, this collaboration was expensive and difficult to accomplish.  Today there are software tools that make this process much easier and less costly, giving all departments visibility into the entire procurement process.  Procurement organizations should lead this effort and be the conduit for open communication.  This would save much time and money and improve quality, which is what procurement is all about.

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Entry Filed under: General, Supply Management Best Practices