On our roadmap
The change was agreed on a call. The supplier shipped the old revision.
Parts come from suppliers who serve many customers. Spurby keeps each part’s record from the calls and emails where engineering changes are agreed, and tells every supplier they touch.
Where an engineering change goes missing.
Design
Engineering
Change
Engineering, supplier
Lost here
Quote
Procurement, supplier
PO
Procurement
First article
Quality
Production
Supplier
Delivery
Supplier, planning
Six ways a change gets lost between plants.
Most start on a call, a trial or a chat, and end as scrap, sorting or a stopped line.
The change reached their sales team, not their shop floor.
A weekly call moves part 4410 to Rev D from lot 2291. The change notice goes to the supplier’s account manager; the PO still says Rev C, and the heat-treat job worker never hears.
Two lots on the old revision: scrap, sorting, and an argument about who pays.
Engineering changesPart 4410, housing
Rev DWall 2.0 to 2.4 mm, from lot 2291
- Supplier qualityRev DUp to date
- Purchase order 5521Rev CNot the latest
- Heat-treat job workerRev CNot the latest
Sent Rev D to the job worker, and asked buying to amend PO 5521.
Sends the change to everyone who makes or checks the part, and catches a PO, ASN or drawing still on Rev C after the cut-in.
Your team decides: Use up, rework or scrap, and who pays.
A new heat-treat vendor, mentioned once in a chat.
A supplier moves heat treatment to a new vendor. It comes up in a chat as “new vendor from this week.” No change notice follows, and nobody re-approves the part.
Sorting, a fresh PPAP, and parts in the field nobody approved.
PPAP expects a supplier to tell its customer before it changes who does its heat treatment or plating.
Reads supplier messages against each part’s approved record, flags a new plant, vendor or process, and asks for the formal notice.
Your team decides: Whether to hold parts and ask for a new PPAP.
A one-lot concession becomes the new normal.
On a call, the SQE accepts one 800-piece lot with an oversize bore, on 100% sorting and an 8D by Friday. Two weeks later the same defect ships again, under the same OK.
Defects in assembly that nobody decided to accept.
ConcessionsPart 5530, bore 22 mm
Accepted for lot 2307 only, with 100% sorting
- Lot 2307 accepted. 8D due Friday.
- Root cause: operator error. Not verified.
- Lot 2318 shipped under the same concession.
Concession coversLot 2307 only
Told incoming quality before lot 2318 is used, and asked for a verified root cause.
Records each concession’s limits and the 8D’s due date, and flags any shipment that goes beyond them.
Your team decides: Whether to grant another concession.
The date changed on a call. The order didn’t.
Planning phones the supplier: pull 1,200 pieces to Friday, and cut next week to 600. The supplier’s schedule, ASN and truck booking keep the old plan.
A line that runs short, premium freight, or stock nobody ordered.
An hour of downtime at a large car plant costs about $2.3 million.
SchedulesPart 4410, supplier schedule
Item Agreed on the call Supplier’s plan Check This week, 1,200 pcs Fri 15 Nov Mon 18 Nov 3 days late Next week 600 pcs 1,800 pcs 1,200 extra Truck Fri 15 Nov Mon 18 Nov Old date Sent the new plan to the supplier’s dispatcher and the transporter to confirm.
Checks agreed dates and quantities against the supplier’s schedule and ASNs, and drafts the confirmation to the supplier and the transporter.
Your team decides: Whether to expedite or accept.
The tool changed after the trial. The drawing didn’t.
At the first tool trial, engineering asks the moulder to raise a boss 0.3 mm. A voice note reaches the toolmaker, who cuts the tool; the drawing changes weeks later, so T2 parts are measured to the old one.
Weeks of launch slip, tool rework, and a late PPAP.
ToolingPart 6210, cover, T2 samples
Item T1 trial Tool Drawing T2 report Boss height +0.3 mm +0.3 mm Unchanged (doesn’t match) Unchanged (doesn’t match) Wall 2.4 mm 2.4 mm 2.4 mm 2.4 mm Asked engineering to issue Rev B before T2 parts are measured, and told the SQE.
Takes changes from trial notes and voice notes, and catches a tool change with no matching revision, or a report measured to the old one.
Your team decides: Whether to approve the tool change, and its cost.
Material went out on a challan. Nobody knows what came back.
5,000 forgings go to a job worker for grinding and plating. 4,700 come back over three trips, 120 are scrapped over the phone, and the register still shows 300 out.
Stock nobody can find, write-offs, and goods taxed as sold once the time limit passes.
In India, inputs sent for job work must come back within a year, or they count as supplied on the day they left.
Job workOpen challans, Shiva Platers
- Challan 2291, 300 forgingsGrinding and plating312 days53 days to the limit
- Challan 2340, 1,200 shaftsPlating140 daysBack Fri
- Challan 2388, 800 flangesGrinding21 daysClosed
Draft to Mohan, Shiva Platers
Hi Mohan, our register shows 300 forgings from challan 2291 still with you. How many are finished, in process or scrapped?
Builds a balance for every challan from photos, e-way bills and messages, and warns stores and tax before the limit.
Your team decides: Whether to write off, resend, or treat it as a supply.
What a missed change costs.
98%
of suppliers to large companies want their customers to communicate better.
37%
of managers' time goes to making decisions, and more than half of it is used badly.
Making parts with suppliers? Talk to us.
Manufacturing is on our roadmap. Tell us where changes get lost between you and your suppliers.