My Supplier Said to Me: Let’s Start That Batch Over

Manufacturing floor working to resolve batch quality issues

On the twelfth (work) day of Christmas my supplier said to me ‘Sorry about that. I’ll go find out what happened, but in the meantime, let’s just start that batch over.’  Yesterday, we wrote of the story that is all too common. A supplier screwed up (pun intended), and they’re hoping that you won’t hold […]

My Supplier Said to Me: Just Use Different Screws

Mix of screws

On the eleventh (work) day of Christmas my supplier said to me ‘are you sure you can’t just use new screws that fit the thread in the parts we already sent?’  Specification issues arise in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Some are big issues and make you pause to ask how it’s possible that […]

My Supplier Said to Me: New Specifications?

Scrable board that spells TEAMWORK for smoothly updating supplier specifications

On the tenth (work) day of Christmas my supplier said to me “oh… well, uh, when were those specifications issued?”  Changing specifications are just a fact of life in the world of manufacturing. In the software world we used to say, ‘requirements are like water; they are not firm unless frozen.’ Screw holes are moved, […]