Dealing with quality challenges requires a combination of effective communication and contingency planning. Here are a few steps you can take: 1. Clearly communicate your requirements and expectations to the supplier, and ensure they are documented and mutually signed. 2. Perform regular audits at their premises to ensure they consistently follow established protocols. 3. Consider developing a second source to reduce dependency on a single supplier and minimize quality risks and replacement timelines. 4. Maintain buffer stock at your factory to manage delays caused by quality rejections. 5. Encourage your suppliers to use quality management tools to identify the root cause of quality issues so they can prevent recurrence in the future.

Perform Process and Quality Audits before the order placed at supplier. Identify and provide enhanced solutions to supplier in order to overcome the challenges. Ensure proper data is provided by us to suppliers in order to avoid rejections.

Instead of traditional audits, form collaborative teams with supplier personnel. This fosters a shared responsibility for quality and allows for knowledge transfer and problem-solving in real-time. Implement systems that provide both you and your supplier with real-time visibility into production data, quality metrics, and potential issues. This allows for proactive intervention and faster course correction. Involve suppliers in the product development process from the design stage. This allows them to provide input on manufacturability and potential quality challenges upfront. Categorize suppliers based on their quality performance and offer preferential treatment (e.g., increased order volume, early access to new projects)

These 3 main points are very important to ensure the production stays on schedule, but not less important is to know what is the culture of the supplier and if the goals are really aligned specially when we are looking for new possibilities as proposed by the ESG.