How to select an EMS provider - Part 3

Part 2 of How to select an EMS provider discusses the deceptive nature of unit price and a few suggestions for evaluating the EMS provider's Supply Chain Management. In this installment we examine the issue of quality and options around the breadth of services versus service specialization.

Quality you see vs. quality you don't

There's an old adage in the product business that goes something like this, "I don't know what quality is - but I know it when I see it!" This may be true for the burled walnut veneer on your new European luxury sedan's dash board, but quality is difficult to see in most of today's electronics products. So how do you evaluate an EMS provider for product quality and where do you look for evidence of this quality?

Product quality is simply the confluence of design quality and manufacturing process quality - with the latter of the two being our focus. Process quality in its simplest form is the elimination of variability in all aspects of the process. Reducing variability requires systems and a culture of quality improvement.

Most good EMS providers proudly display their ISO-9001 registration, which indicates they have implemented some minimum systems and standard procedures for process controls throughout the organization. ISO-9001 should be considered the minimum acceptable standard for any EMS provider. Many EMS providers consider rigid adherence to ISO-9001 a sufficiently comprehensive Quality Management System (QMS). Many EMS providers also go far beyond the call of the ISO standard and create a culture of quality that embarks upon rigorous, dogmatic, perhaps even fanatical programs -- to stamp out waste and variability across their operations.

Providers with truly rigorous quality programs for the reduction of defects, process variability and waste tend to be more cost competitive, and in general, have higher customer satisfaction scores (based on personal observations).

So what is a ‘rigorous' quality program? The following are a few quick places to look for it when evaluating an EMS provider (in no order of priority).

First, start with cross-functional work teams that work on defect / variability reduction (all good EMS companies have them). Ask to see the meeting minutes from the last few meetings and ask if you can sit in on a meeting without committing to the exact date of the meeting you will be attending. Then sit back and observe...

Are the meeting minutes up to date and comprehensive? Are there action items two weeks past due with no updates? Are there open items more than 6 weeks old? Does the team leader keep calling the name of some absent engineer for most action items? Does the team seem passionate; energized and committed, or are half of the members texting while the line manager checks e-mails on his laptop?

Second, when you are invited to take a factory tour, ask (at the last possible moment) if the tour can start at the MRB (Material Review Board) area. Every plant has one. This is a place where non-conforming material goes to be reviewed and meet its ultimate fate.

A confident tour guide running a high-quality factory will smile and walk you right over to a small shelf with perhaps a dozen items with little red tags waiting to be evaluated. If, on the other hand, your guide appears to be struck with panic or worse yet, fakes a medical emergency, you are probably not in the right factory.

    

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