A Tier 1 fasteners distribution & manufacturer sought help with PPAP management.
Challenge
A Tier 1 fasteners distribution & manufacturer (customer) was facing several significant challenges in supplier management, validating initial submission PPAPs, supplier capacity assessment from worldwide suppliers, and submitting PPAPs to different OEM customers like Tesla, Ford, GM, etc. These challenges were affecting their on-time deliveries and had high risk of losing OEM customers. The customer was in a desperate need to overcome these challenges and was looking for partners to support and develop their thousands of suppliers in-terms of initial submission PPAPs and reduce cost of operations having good knowledge of Automotive AIAG PPAP processes for different commodities.
Solution
Quality Software & Training
A few Global Technical Center quality resources in India were allocated to manage the supplier PPAPs. All supplier details were collected and training to all the suppliers on Initial PPAP preparation and capacity planning calculation was provided. Several hundred reviews and approvals of supplier level 3 PPAPs per year are executed on behalf of the customer. The customer is very confident with the process and subject knowledge that they rely on this expertise for the final approvals of PPAPs. Supplier PPAP workflow (from request to approvals) is managed through Empower QLM Quality software solution where all suppliers, customers, and servicers have role-based access. With the help of Empower QLM, dashboard reports helps the weekly live status reports.
Benefit
The customer got a good handle of its supplier PPAP submissions and always achieves its targeted deadlines with the help of Empower QLM and quality services. With the third-party support, issues and discrepancies related to PPAP were solved and the customer introduced standardization across the supply chain without utilizing any of its resources. Leveraging reliable resources for technical support to the supply chain saved the customer more than 50% of costs compared to US operations. Based on this successful approach, the customer has dedicated resources in India for IMDS, Reach and other compliances as well.
