Guidelines and requirements for our suppliers

1 Introduction

Nitator’s basic mission statement is to be an environmentally aware business partner to customers with high expectations of quality, reliability of delivery and flexibility.

1.1 Requirements

The purpose of this document is to announce Nitator’s requirements to you as our business partner, regarding deliveries of products, material and services.

Nitator hereby requires that you:

  • Review product detailed inspection at the inquiry phase.
  • Reach a delivery accuracy of at least 98%.
  • Mark all deliveries correctly according to 2.4.
  • Package shipments according to packaging instructions.
  • Deliver products according to specified demands (drawings and specifications).
  • Deliver the amount requested on the order form.
  • When specific demands are stated, it is expected that these are included.
  • Have an established quality system. (ISO 9001 or ISO/TS 16949)
  • Immediately let your contact at Nitator know when delivery and/or quality problems occur.
  • Communication language with non-Swedish suppliers is English.
  • EDI should when possible be used for communication. Deviations are communicated via email or telephone.

1.2 Miscellaneous

Nitator’s guidelines and requirements are based on the latest version of ISO/TS 16949, quality system and ISO 14001, environmental management system as well as the routines and instructions that penetrates Nitator’s quality thinking. These requirements and guidelines are integrated with and apply to Nitator’s orders and inquiries. However, ”Guidelines and requirements for our suppliers" does not reduce or replace the specific requirements agreed upon for the product. This document is an addition for our suppliers, to present and make our expectations understood.

1.3 Help

Both today’s and future suppliers are responsible, where applicable, for inserting and keeping up to date with what documents are required by ISO/TS 16949 according to the latest version.

For comments and questions regarding Nitator’s guidelines and requirements contact us at Nitator’s homepage

2 Supplier evaluation

Based on Nitator’s purchasing routines, supplier evaluations are performed on both existing and new suppliers.

For new suppliers this means that the purchasing manager, along with the quality manager evaluate and approve suppliers according to specific criteria. If the purchasing manager deems it necessary, the supplier will carry out a test delivery before approval.

Existing suppliers are followed up with regularly regarding delivery accuracy, quality performance and environment.

New and existing suppliers will be evaluated according to MMOG/LE.

2.1 Evaluation

Nitator performs evaluation on the quality and delivery state for our most important suppliers. The evaluation is performed on a rolling 3 month schedule, and a report is issued each quarter.

The follow up is performed according to a point system where Nitator measures the following:

Number of reports / (R)
Parts per million / (PPM)
Number of incorrect details / (ID)
Delivery accuracy / (D%)
NUMBER OF REPORTS / [POINTS]
0 / 0
1 / 5
2-3 / 20
4- / 40
PARTS PER MILLION / [POINTS]
0 / 0
1 – 1000 / 5
1001 – / 10
NUMBER OF INCORRECT DETAILS / [POINTS]
0 / 0
1 – 20 / 5
21 – / 10
DELIVERY ACCURACY / [POINTS]
100% - 98% / 0
97,9% - 95% / 20
94,9% - 90% / 40
89,9%- / 50

These supplier points ( SP ) are added up:

SP = R + PPM + ID + D%

Level 1 / 0-39 / => / No action
Level 2 / 40-49 / => / Information/follow up
Level 3 / 50- / => / Plan of action

At level 1 no action is taken, except that the supplier is constantly working to get down to 0 SP.

When level 2 is reached communication between the supplier and SQA at Nitator is initiated. The communication takes place via phone or email.

The communication is initiated to achieve improvements in quality and delivery.

Level 3 involves an analysis of the SP trend and the type of control reports is initiated.

The supplier creates a plan of action to reduce the SP to an acceptable level. Follow up is performed to find out whether the SP trend is positive or negative.

Plan of action is demanded from the supplier.

When level 3 does not show a positive trend, discussions whether the supplier is appropriate or not take place.

3 nitator’s guidelines and REQUIREMENTS

All requirements regarding inquiry, ordering and delivery to Nitator, Inc. are listed below.

3.1 Initial sample

Manufacturing of initial sample

Before products are transferred to Nitator for initial sampling, the supplier should perform their own tests to verify that Nitator’s specified requirements are met. This applies to both in-house manufactured as well as purchased products.

Initial samples shall be manufactured in production tools by the machines, as well as by the processing equipment and production technology, that will be used in future productions. Potential deviation from this rule should be reported to Nitator before or at the time of delivery of the initial sample. If agreed upon with Nitator, the initial sampling can take place at different phases throughout the development, e.g. following essential steps in the tool manufacturing.

When several parallel tools are used to e.g. punch one and the same article (art. number), a sample from each cavity should be initially sampled. The article’s marking should make it possible to trace it back to its origin.

Unless otherwise agreed upon, the supplier will sample five articles that will be marked with the numbers 1 through 5. ”Delegated initial sampling” applies to some suppliers and only the below mentioned documentation is required then.

Reporting

The sampling results are noted on form B-5-017,”Initial sample protocol”. Following the completed sampling the supplier fills out form B-5-016,”Initial sample result report”.

Deliveries

No serial deliveries of new/changed articles to Nitator can take place before initial sampling has been performed and a written approval from Nitator has been obtained. The amount of samples for initial sampling ordered by Nitator should always be sent on a separate packing slip, separate from other deliveries.

Address labels and packing slips should be marked "Initial sample”. The pertaining documents should always follow the goods in an envelope or plastic sleeve and thus cannot be sent via mail.

Initial samples that are sent to Nitator without a completed sampling protocol will be returned to the supplier.

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Initial samples should be requested and delivered enough in advance to allow the samples to be approved and potential actions can be taken before the initial serial delivery. Required time frame for approval of initial samples vary, a guideline is two to three weeks.

All orders regarding prototypes, as well as initial samples and serial deliveries should be confirmed and potential deviations reported immediately to the contact person at Nitator.

APQP and PPAP

In existing cases, and where the supplier is ISO/TS certified, Nitator expects that a complete PPAP with the pertaining APQP is performed and recorded according to the specified level on the request.

Product review

A product review should be recorded with every inquiry. If the inquiry is without a review the supplier states that the article can be delivered completely according to the specifications.

3.2 Burrs

The definition of burrs is as follows:

When the material is ordered with the criterion BURR FREE it means that normal burrs can be present on the material.

It is not acceptable to have edges that can cause injuries, production interferences or surface finishing problems (sharp edges), see illustration 1 for allowed burrs. If the above requirements are met there is usually no extra processing involved.

/ Sheet metal thickness / Allowed burrs
Goods thickness
0,5 – 1,0 mm / 0,2 mm
>1,0 – 1,5 mm / 0,3 mm
>1,5 – 2,0 mm / 0,4 mm
> 2,0 mm / 0,5 mm

If the material is ordered with the criterion BURRED, it means that the material can not have any burrs at all. This normally leads to extra processing in order to meet the requirement.

All goods and packaging should be free from loose chips and contaminants.

3.3 Processed material

Generally pipes and sheet metal should be acid treated and lightly oiled unless otherwise stated. All material delivered to Nitator shall be free of rust, iron scale and oxide layers.

3.4 Packaging and marking

All packages, packing slips and invoices sent to Nitator should be marked as follows:

  • Nitator's article number
  • Nitator’s order number
  • Amount
  • Miscellaneous agreed upon in the purchasing documents.

Labeling should be according to Odette-standard. If this is not achievable, exceptions can, after agreement with Nitator, be permissible. Packaging should always be done in such a way that the material cannot be damaged. Every article should be wrapped separately, unless otherwise agreed upon.

3.5 Deviations

The following approach (priority) applies to when deviating material from supplier has been delivered to Nitator, and an agreement has been made with the supplier:

  1. The material is returned at suppliers expense or scrapped immediately, thereby the invoice is automatically stopped at Nitator. When the material is back at Nitator and it is according to the specifications, the invoice is paid. The credit invoice should state the quality manager as reference.
  1. If Nitator has to correct/sort the material, due to lack of time, it is done by the supplier’s personnel.
  1. If the deviation is noticed during production or if the supplier can not correct the difference, the material will be corrected by Nitator. The added expenses for corrections will be charged to the supplier according to agreement.

The added expense for corrections is currently 450 sek./hr. Scrapped material are credited by the supplier at purchasing price. In case there has been refining before the deviation was detected, full price for the article will be credited.

Deviations will always lead to a complain report being sent out. It has to be confirmed within 24 hr. The complaint report is expected to be responded to in full within 10 days.

3.6 Deviation approval

In order to receive a deviation approval the supplier will contact the quality manager, who will determine whether the deviation is accepted or not. Nitator will send a copy of the deviation approval if it is approved. If not, the quality manager will contact the supplier and inform them that the deviation approval was denied.

Copies of the approvals should be attached to the package/s in order for Nitator to know that these are the deliveries with the deviation approval.

3.7 Environment

At Nitator’s request the supplier should report information to International Material Data System, IMDS, at

Ver. 6.03 jul 2012

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