Most PCB supplier scorecards belong in the shredder.
I talk to purchasing managers at EMS & OEM companies all the time who spend hours building 50-point supplier evaluation spreadsheets. If your scorecard is just generating paperwork, you’re wasting your time.
Here is how to build a framework for offshore PCB suppliers that actually drives continuous improvement:
๐. ๐๐๐๐ฉ ๐ข๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ข๐ ๐๐ก๐ซ๐๐
Drop the fluff. For bare boards, you only need to measure three things:
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On-Time Delivery (OTD)
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Quality/Yield (DPPM or RMA percentage)
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Responsiveness – How fast do they answer a DFM question or quote aย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย new high-mix package?
๐. ๐๐๐ค๐ ๐ข๐ญ ๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง, ๐๐จ๐ญ ๐๐ง ๐๐ฆ๐๐ข๐ฅ
Numbers don’t fix problems. People do.
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Don’t just email a PDF. Schedule a 15-minute video call to review the scorecard.
โ
When you’re buying overseas, getting face-to-face (even virtually) builds the relationship and helps ensure nothing is lost in translation.
๐. ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐๐๐ญ๐ก
Your vendors need to know what the colors mean.
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Green = You get the new POs.
๐จ Yellow = We need a corrective action plan this week.
โ Red = You are paused on all new quotes until this is fixed.
Stop measuring just to measure. Start measuring to manage.
How many metrics are on your current supplier scorecard? If it’s more than 5, we need to talk.
๐ต๐๐๐
๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ท๐ช๐ฉ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐? ๐น๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐!