SQEs have the power to improve supply chains by building a quality mindset with suppliers. The traditional model, relying heavily on reactive incoming inspection, is outdated. This approach severely raises the Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ) and undermines the importance of quality assurance in manufacturing. 

World-class performance requires a proactive shift: prioritizing prevention over costly detection. This means moving beyond inspection towards empowering suppliers with shared goals, accountability, and the necessary tools and support.  

The SQE as a strategic partner: Beyond the audit

Building a quality mindset requires SQEs to become strategic partners and capability developers, more than unilateral auditors. Success hinges on having a clear and shared understanding of quality within supplier relationships. SQEs can facilitate this alignment through a clear communication of goals and expectations or, in other words:

• Defining quality: Clearly communicating the organization’s definition of quality, emphasizing customer satisfaction, and aligning it with supplier goals.
• Setting clear expectations: Aligning clear objectives with the Supplier Quality Manual to transform compliance enforcement into a shared mindset of accountability and proactive operational excellence.
• Sharing quality metrics: Providing regular, transparent feedback on performance using clear KPIs that promote mutual accountability.

Cultivating a culture of quality

Achieving a successful shift from inspection to prevention requires empowering suppliers to take full ownership of quality. SQEs drive this transformation by providing the strategic support and resources necessary to build a self-sustaining culture of quality.

By promoting knowledge transfer, this collaboration reinforces the importance of quality assurance in manufacturing. When SQEs share quality tools, best practices and training on advanced concepts, it ensures suppliers understand the steps in a root cause analysis or the 8D method, for example, enabling them to address issues proactively.

Jointly engaging in audits allows SQEs to provide the necessary framework and support, and encourage future supplier-led continuous improvement projects. This partnership fosters open communication and transparency around shared quality goals, making a proactive quality mindset a fundamental pillar of the relationship. 

Collaborative problem-solving and root cause analysis

When quality issues arise, the response must be a shared, collaborative investigation, not a punitive audit. The foundation of this collaboration is a commitment to rigorous root cause analysis that seeks to eliminate the source of the failure rather than merely treating the symptoms.

Engaging in this investigative process means the SQE and the supplier acknowledge that the Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ) impacts both parties. This mutual accountability creates a powerful incentive for joint resolution and sustainable prevention.

Leveraging real-time data for predictive quality

The final, essential step in optimizing supply chains and solidifying the proactive quality mindset is leveraging technology to make quality predictive instead of reactive. SQEs can catalyze change by shifting the focus from static reporting to utilizing modern quality management software that provides real-time data.

Automated data collection (often via IoT sensors) directly empowers suppliers by moving the detection of defects closer to the point of production. Furthermore, collaboratively analyzing comprehensive quality control data with SQEs enables suppliers to:

• Identify trends: Detect subtle process drift that precedes actual non-conformities.
• Predict issues: Implement immediate, targeted corrective actions based on analysis, preventing scrap and rework before a part leaves the facility.

The path to enhanced manufacturing workflows 

These strategies, from championing a proactive quality mindset and shifting their role from inspector to partner to leveraging technology for data-driven prevention, empower SQEs to build strong, collaborative, quality-oriented relationships with suppliers. 

Improve product quality and manufacturing workflows with a tool that streamlines all your supplier quality processes. Explore Kiuey’s Supplier Audits Manager to simplify assessments, drive collaboration and establish a quality mindset in your supply chain.