QP-7.4 Purchasing and Supplier Control

Revision D · Effective 2025-09-08

1 Purpose

This procedure defines how Tallgrass Precision Components selects, approves, monitors and corrects external providers of product and services that affect product quality, and how requirements are flowed down on purchase orders.

2 Scope

Applies to suppliers of raw material, purchased components, hardware, outside processing (including special processes), calibration services and contract inspection. It does not apply to office supplies, utilities or other purchases with no effect on product.

3 Definitions

ASL - Approved Supplier List, F-740-01, maintained in the ERP. A purchase order for product-affecting goods or services can only be released to a supplier with ASL status Approved or Probation.
Special process - a process whose result cannot be fully verified by later inspection, such as heat treatment, plating, anodize, passivation, chemical conversion coating, welding and non-destructive testing (NDT).
Customer-directed source - a supplier required by the customer's drawing, specification or contract.
SCAR - Supplier Corrective Action Request, F-740-03.

4 Responsibilities

Supplier Quality Engineer (Kim Tran) - owns the ASL, performs supplier surveys, publishes the quarterly scorecard, issues and closes SCARs.
Quality Manager - approves new suppliers and removal from the ASL; approves each new PO to a supplier on probation.
Buyers - purchase only from the ASL and include the required quality clauses on every PO.
Contracts & Export Compliance Manager (ITAR Empowered Official) - performs restricted-party screening on new suppliers per EXP-01.

5 Procedure

5.1 Supplier selection and approval

The requester or buyer submits the prospective supplier to the Supplier Quality Engineer with the commodity or process to be purchased.
The Empowered Official completes restricted-party screening. A supplier that is not cleared is not added and no PO is released.
The Supplier Quality Engineer evaluates the supplier using the Supplier Survey, F-740-02, and a copy of its quality certificate. Expected certification is AS9100 for machining and assembly suppliers and ISO 9001 at a minimum for other product suppliers. Special process suppliers must hold Nadcap accreditation for the process or be approved by the customer.
An on-site audit is performed when the survey score is below 80 percent, when the supplier will handle ITAR-controlled data, or when the Quality Manager requests it.
The Quality Manager approves the supplier, and the Supplier Quality Engineer enters it in the ASL with the approved commodities or processes and the certificate expiration date.

Customer-directed sources are added to the ASL on the basis of the customer's requirement and are monitored the same way as other suppliers.

5.2 Purchase order flowdown

Every PO for product-affecting goods or services references the Supplier Quality Manual SQM-01 and states:

part number, drawing and specification revisions;
the requirement for a Certificate of Conformance and, for material, mill certifications traceable to heat or lot;
applicable customer requirements and key characteristics flowed from the customer contract;
first article inspection per AS9102 when required;
counterfeit parts prevention requirements;
right of access for Tallgrass, its customers and regulatory authorities;
the ITAR flag and export control requirements for ITAR-controlled jobs (see EXP-01).

Buyers may not change flowdown clauses without Supplier Quality Engineer approval.

5.3 Verification of purchased product

Purchased product is received in Bay 1 and inspected in Bay 3 per SHP-01. Receiving inspection verifies the PO, quantity, part number and revision, CoC and material certifications, and the sampling plan assigned in the ERP. Special process certifications are compared to the specification on the PO. Material that fails is tagged and quarantined per WI-610 and dispositioned per QP-7.5.

5.4 Supplier scorecard

The Supplier Quality Engineer publishes a scorecard for every active supplier each quarter. Targets are:

quality acceptance rate >= 98 percent (lots accepted divided by lots received);
on-time delivery >= 95 percent (received no later than the PO due date and no more than 5 working days early).

5.5 Probation and removal

A supplier below either target for two consecutive quarters is placed on probation. While on probation, each new PO requires Quality Manager approval before release, and the supplier must submit an improvement plan. A supplier returns to Approved status after two consecutive quarters at or above both targets. A supplier that does not return to target within two quarters of being placed on probation is reviewed for removal from the ASL by the Quality Manager. Removal does not cancel open POs; the Quality Manager decides how open orders are handled.

5.6 Supplier corrective action

The Supplier Quality Engineer issues a SCAR (F-740-03) for any supplier-caused nonconformance found at receiving, in production or at a customer, and for any MRB disposition of "return to supplier". The supplier must provide containment within 2 business days and root cause with a corrective action plan within 15 business days. Full supplier requirements are in SQM-01 section 8. A SCAR that is not answered on time counts against the supplier's quality score for that quarter.

5.7 Certificate and survey maintenance

The ERP flags suppliers whose quality certificate expires within 60 days. Suppliers are resurveyed with F-740-02 every 3 years.

6 Records

The ASL (F-740-01), supplier surveys (F-740-02), SCARs (F-740-03) and scorecards are quality records retained 10 years from creation per QP-4.2.

7 Revision history

Rev	Date	Change	Approved by
B	2018-11-05	Added special process supplier requirements.	Ruth Okafor
C	2022-07-18	Added quarterly scorecard and probation rules.	Ruth Okafor
D	2025-09-08	Added restricted-party screening of new suppliers; added SQM-01 reference on all POs; on-time window clarified (no more than 5 working days early); added 3-year resurvey.	Ruth Okafor