Pilkington Automotive’s New Central Supplier Quality Concern Management Procedure

  1. Scope and Background

This procedure applies to all suppliers of materials and/or services that directly affect the quality of the products manufactured by Pilkington Automotive. It define the series of activities to be undertaken to contain, resolve and prevent the re-occurrence of supplier related quality issues

  1. Process Flow Chart
  1. Description of Key Activities:
4.1Raising and circulation of Supplier Quality Incident Notice (SQIN – attachment PU0101 A1) for quality concerns
  • The principal potential sources of supplier quality concerns are shown in the process flow chart above. These include written notification from suppliers to Pilkington Automotive when they become aware that they have shipped potentially out of specification material to Pilkington Automotive or they request deviation authorisation from Pilkington Automotive to ship out of specification material to Pilkington Automotive (attachment PU0101 A3).
  • The person within Pilkington Automotive raising the supplier quality concern (the originator) completes the first sheet in the SQIN and circulates it to the Plant Purchasing Representative and Plant Quality Group Leader.

4.2Confirm SQIN and level

  • The Plant Quality Group Leader confirms the SQIN as valid i.e. the material concerned is outside the relevant specification and its level as either normal or serious (see Definition section below).

4.3Send SQIN to Supplier & Central Functions, as appropriate

  • The Plant Purchasing Representative then sends the SQIN and Concern Action Plan (8D) Report (attachment PU0101 A2) to the supplier to be completed. Copies of relevant SQINs are sent to the Pilkington Automotive Global/Regional Supply Managers and copies of serious SQINs to the Regional Head of Purchasing and Director Supplier Quality System Worldwide.

4.4Supplier reports containment actions and planned 8D actions

  • The supplier initial response to the SQIN (containment action and planned 8D activities) is required within 24 hours. This response is chased by the Plant Purchasing Representative and then checked for appropriateness by both the Plant Purchasing Representative and Plant Quality Group Leader.

4.5PPR receives Supplier’s initial response to SQIN

  • Suitable containment action must be taken at Plant and at the supplier immediately to secure stocks and future production as conforming.

4.6Central Pilkington Automotive Support for the resolution of SQINs as required

  • Depending on the material, the level and the nature of the supplier quality concern, Central Pilkington Automotive Quality, Purchasing and Supply Chain representatives will work together with their plant representatives to resolve such concerns.

4.7Supplier completes Full or Interim Concern Action (8D) Report

  • The supplier is required to complete a full Concern Action Plan (8D) Report within 4 weeks of issue of the SQIN. If this is delayed for any reason agreed with the Plant Purchasing Representative, then an interim Concern Action Plan (8D) Report is required after 4 weeks – and then at 4 week intervals after that – until the full report is available.

4.8PQGL receives Supplier’s Concern Action (8D) Report

  • On receiving a full or interim Concern Action Plan (8D) Report, the Plant Quality Group Leader checks and confirms its content with the Plant Purchasing Representative.

4.9Central Quality arrange verification quality audit, if required

  • It may be necessary for the appropriate Pilkington Automotive personnel to carry out quality system, product and/or process audits at the supplier to confirm the effectiveness of the corrective action taken by the Supplier. Request from the Plants for such audits will be co-ordinated by Director Supplier Quality System Worldwide utilising the appropriate Quality resources

4.10PPR evaluates cost of failure

  • The Plant Purchasing Representative estimates the cost of the quality concern with the support of the appropriate Plant Quality and Finance people, and then agrees the financial consequences and liabilities arising from the quality concern with the Supplier.

4.11Closure of Supplier Quality Concerns

  • When the concern has been effectively resolved and the associated financial liabilities agreed, the concern is closed by the Plant Purchasing Representative and Plant Quality Group Leader, and in the case of serious concerns, also by the appropriate central Purchasing and Quality representatives.

4.12 Language of Communications

Formal documentation (e.g. the SQIN template and individual SQINs) and communication between the central Pilkington Automotive functions, the local Pilkington Automotive plants and suppliers relating to the resolution of supplier quality issues must be in English. Local language can only be used in the if ALL the following 3 conditions are met

  1. The Plant raising the SQIN and the relevant supplier’s manufacturing plant are based in the same country
  2. The supplier is only delivering the material to Pilkington Automotive plants in one country
  3. It is a "normal" and not a "serious" concern

Informal and supporting information can be in the language that best ensures efficient and effective communication between the local Pilkington Automotive plant and the supplier

Escalation Process:

If, at any time during this process, the supplier does not respond in a timely manner to supplier quality concerns raised against them, then the appropriate Pilkington Automotive person should escalate the concern by passing it up to the appropriate Pilkington Automotive person at the next management level.

Definition:

Supplier Quality Concern

A supplier quality concern is a supplied material, component or service non-conformity to specification or to other technical terms specified in the purchase order/contract. There are two levels of concern – normal and serious. A concern is serious if production or a customer is directly affected by the concern or, as a guideline, it represents a reject level of >10,000 ppm for the month.

Forms:

The procedure specifies the use of three forms –

PU0101 A1 – Supplier Quality Incident Notice Report

PU0101 A2 – Concern Action Plan (8D) Report

PU0101 A3 – Supplier Deviation Request Form