In this guide 6 sections
Make the vendor demonstrate five things on your own parts, not on a sample bracket from the brochure. A PPAP package tied to a part revision. A customer recall traced by lot. Tooling life by cavity. A release schedule driving production. An audit evidence pull. If any of the five needs a spreadsheet, the system is generic.
Can it hold the PPAP package against the part revision?
Generic ERP demos show a bill of materials and a routing, but rarely the production part approval file with its PFMEA, control plan and signed warrant. Ask where the design record, process flow, dimensional results and test reports sit.
Now change the drawing. Ask what happens when revision C moves to D, with every dependent record in view. A good answer names the elements that go stale, such as the dimensional report and the control plan header, and flags each one for review. A weak answer is a folder of PDFs. Walk away.
Check the customer side too. Levels differ. Some customers want a level 3 submission, others only a warrant. The system should record which level each part number needs.
- PFMEA and control plan linked to the routing step
- Dimensional results stored per drawing balloon
- Material and performance test reports attached to the part
- Warrant status and approval date per customer part number
Does lot traceability run forward and backward?
Have the vendor start from a customer complaint on one shipped box and walk back. Which heat of bar stock? Which furnace load, machine and operator shift? Then run the reverse, from a bad mill certificate to every customer shipment it reached.
Time the answer. Use a stopwatch. A supplier who must find every affected shipment inside a single shift cannot wait while someone searches a binder of inspection sheets.
Ask how rework and sorting are recorded. A lot that is sorted and re-released should keep its history; a fresh lot number would hide the containment record that an auditor wants to read.
How does it handle tooling, gauges and customer releases?
Dies, moulds and fixtures often belong to the customer. Contracts say so. Ask whether tooling carries an owner, a cavity count, a shot or stroke counter and a maintenance trigger. Ask the same of gauges, including calibration due dates and the list of parts measured with a gauge found out of tolerance.
Customer releases arrive by EDI or portal download with firm and forecast quantities, so ask to see one imported, matched to open orders and turned into a production plan.
Watch for the shipping label. Many customers insist on their own label format. The barcode must print from the lot record.
- Tooling owner, cavity count and shot counter
- Gauge calibration status checked at inspection entry
- Firm versus forecast release quantities
- Customer label and ASN printed from the lot
Can an auditor get evidence without a scramble?
Certification and customer audits want records, not promises. Request a live demonstration. Pick a part, then pull its control plan, last internal audit finding, 8D status and gauge calibration record in a single sitting, without leaving the system.
Check corrective actions. An 8D report should link to the nonconforming lot, the containment action and the changed control plan line, because a link typed by hand will rot within a year.
Who can edit approved records, and how is the change logged? Read-only login for the auditor is part of the answer.
What should you do before signing?
Take three of your own part numbers, one with a recent customer return, and send them to every shortlisted vendor with a request for the same five demonstrations. It takes a day. It strips away sales polish. You see the real product.
Ask for the data migration plan. Open orders, tooling lists, gauge registers and PPAP files all need a home on day one, and someone must own the cleanup of each before go-live.
Score the answers on one sheet. Let your quality manager hold a veto. Quality owns this call.
Vendor demo scorecard for auto suppliers
Printed on one page, a scorecard with a row for each demonstration: PPAP by revision, lot recall both ways, tooling and gauge status, customer release import, audit evidence pull. Columns hold the vendor name, whether the step ran live on your part, minutes taken, workarounds seen and a score. A last line carries the quality manager’s veto.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
Does a tier 2 supplier need a separate quality system as well as ERP?
Not always. If the ERP holds control plans, inspection results, calibration records and corrective actions against the lot, one system can serve both the shop and the quality office. Ask the vendor to prove it on your parts.
Can we start with traceability and add PPAP later?
Yes, if the part, revision and lot structure are right from the start. Retrofitting revisions onto lots already recorded is the painful part. Settle that first.
Who should sit in the demo?
The quality manager, the production planner and whoever answers customer audits. Owners alone tend to judge screens. These three judge whether the records will stand up.
Is a custom build better than a packaged ERP here?
It depends on how unusual your customer requirements are. Packaged products cover the common ground. A custom layer is worth pricing only for gaps the scorecard exposes.