September 7, 2010
Sourcing Overview
PROJECT INITIATION
Customer provides approved samples and/or photos
and/or written part or product specifications in the form of English
narratives or engineering drawings or an inspection checklist which
define the appearance, form, fit, and function of the subject part or
product identifying any criteria that are deemed critical to quality.
PRE-PRODUCTION DEVELOPMENT
ATS locates and qualifies several prospective suppliers
for each part that is to be sourced. ATS quantifies the quality gap
(the delta between the prospective supplier's expected performance and
current performance). ATS develops and manages
a corrective action worklist of improvements in machinery, tooling,
process, material, design and workmanship that the supplier must agree
to implement before production parts can be approved. ATS provides
periodic pre-production progress reports to the customer. Concurrently,
ATS manages the supplier's tool build schedule according to the product
development plan, including the complete evaluation of first-article
samples and subsequent modification of tooling. Upon the customer's
approval of satisfactory first-article samples, ATS authorizes the
prospective supplier to enter the pilot lot phase of product
development.
PILOT LOT & PRODUCTION
Throughout the on-going production of both first-time business and
repeat orders, ATS performs in-process oversight and a rigorous single
or double- sampling final inspection of the entire production lot
based on a sample size taken at random from the subject lot according to
Military Standard 105E using customer-approved AQL's and inspection test
criteria. Immediately following the inspection, ATS provides a copy
of the inspection result both to the supplier's representative and to
the customer. In the case of a failed lot, ATS requests
confirmation of the failure from the customer based on the claimed and
quantified reason(s) for the inspector's rejection. If the customer
concurs with the ATS inspector's judgment, ATS requests the supplier
to initiate immediate corrective action including a rework plan which
provides a date for re- inspection to ATS and the customer.