SQM-01 Supplier Quality Manual

Revision 4 · Effective 2025-10-06

1 Purpose

This manual states the quality requirements that Tallgrass Precision Components places on its suppliers. It is referenced on every Tallgrass purchase order for product-affecting goods and services and forms part of the purchase order terms. Where a purchase order (PO) states a more specific requirement, the PO governs.

2 Scope

Applies to suppliers of raw material, machined and purchased components, hardware, outside processing and special processes, calibration services and contract inspection, and to their sub-tier suppliers.

3 Definitions

CoC - Certificate of Conformance signed by an authorized supplier representative.
Special process - heat treatment, plating, anodize, passivation, chemical conversion coating, welding, NDT and similar processes that cannot be fully verified by later inspection.
SCAR - Supplier Corrective Action Request, Tallgrass form F-740-03.

4 Responsibilities

Supplier - meets every requirement of this manual and the PO, and flows them down to its sub-tier suppliers.
Tallgrass Supplier Quality Engineer (Kim Tran) - supplier approval, scorecards, SCARs and questions about this manual.
Tallgrass Contracts & Export Compliance Manager - export control questions (exportcompliance@tallgrasspc.com).

5 Supplier Approval and Certification

5.1 Approval

Only suppliers on the Tallgrass Approved Supplier List may receive product-affecting POs. Approval requires a completed Supplier Survey (F-740-02) and, where needed, an on-site audit.

5.2 Certification expectations

Machining and assembly suppliers: AS9100 certification by an accredited registrar.
Other product suppliers: ISO 9001 certification at a minimum.
Special process suppliers: Nadcap accreditation for the process, or written approval by the Tallgrass customer.
Calibration providers: ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation covering the calibration performed.

Suppliers must notify Tallgrass within 5 business days if a certification or accreditation is suspended, withdrawn or allowed to lapse.

6 Shipment Requirements

6.1 Documentation with every shipment

Each shipment must include:

A CoC stating the Tallgrass PO number and line, part number, drawing and specification revision, quantity, lot or serial numbers, and a statement that the product conforms to all PO requirements.
For raw material, the mill certification (chemical and physical test report) showing the heat or lot number, specification and results.
For special processes, a certification identifying the process specification, revision and results, and the processor's name if performed by a sub-tier supplier.

Shipments without the required documentation are held at Tallgrass receiving.

6.2 Mill traceability

Raw material must be traceable to the producing mill and heat or lot number. Distributors must supply the original mill certification, not a re-typed copy. Each piece of bar or plate must be marked with the heat or lot number, or bundled and tagged so traceability is maintained.

6.3 Packaging

Product must be packaged to prevent damage, corrosion and foreign object debris, with different lots packaged and labeled separately.

7 Product Integrity

7.1 Counterfeit prevention

Suppliers must maintain a counterfeit parts prevention program appropriate to the product (for example to AS5553 for electronic parts or AS6174 for materiel). Parts and material must be bought from the original manufacturer or its authorized distributors. Suspect counterfeit items must be quarantined and reported to Tallgrass, and must never be returned to the supply chain.

7.2 Changes require advance notice

Suppliers must give Tallgrass at least 30 days advance written notice, and receive Tallgrass approval, before any change to: manufacturing location, manufacturing process or method, sub-tier special process source, material source, or key personnel responsible for quality.

7.3 Supplier first article inspection

Suppliers of machined parts and assemblies must submit an FAI to AS9102 with the first shipment of a new part number and when the PO states FAI is required, including after a drawing revision change or a change notified under 7.2. The FAI is reviewed by Tallgrass at receiving; product is not accepted until the FAI is accepted.

7.4 Nonconforming product

Suppliers must not ship known nonconforming product without written approval from Tallgrass Quality, obtained before shipment. A supplier that discovers nonconforming product may have shipped to Tallgrass must notify the Supplier Quality Engineer within 24 hours of discovery.

8 Supplier Corrective Action and Performance

8.1 SCAR response times

Tallgrass issues a SCAR (F-740-03) for supplier-caused nonconformances. The supplier must:

provide containment, including a check of stock at the supplier and in transit, within 2 business days; and
provide root cause and a corrective action plan within 15 business days.

8.2 Scorecard

Tallgrass rates every active supplier quarterly. Targets are quality acceptance >= 98 percent and on-time delivery >= 95 percent. A supplier below either target for two consecutive quarters is placed on probation, and each new PO to that supplier requires approval by the Tallgrass Quality Manager.

9 Right of Access

Tallgrass, its customers and applicable regulatory authorities have right of access to the supplier's facilities, sub-tier suppliers and records related to Tallgrass orders, with reasonable notice.

10 Export Control and ITAR

Some Tallgrass POs include technical data or product controlled under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR); these are identified on the PO. For ITAR-controlled orders the supplier must:

not give any foreign person access to ITAR technical data or hardware without U.S. government authorization and Tallgrass's prior written approval;
not export, re-transfer or send the data to any sub-tier supplier without Tallgrass's written approval;
report any suspected unauthorized access or disclosure to exportcompliance@tallgrasspc.com immediately.

Tallgrass employees and contractors follow EXP-01 for handling ITAR data.

11 Records

Suppliers must retain quality records for Tallgrass orders, including CoCs, material and process certifications, inspection and test records and FAIs, for 10 years from creation unless the PO specifies longer, available to Tallgrass on request.

12 Revision history

Rev	Date	Change	Approved by
1	2018-07-09	Initial release.	Ruth Okafor
2	2020-11-02	Added counterfeit prevention and right of access.	Ruth Okafor
3	2023-04-17	Added ITAR flowdown section; SCAR timelines set at 2 and 15 business days.	Ruth Okafor
4	2025-10-06	Advance notice of changes set at 30 days; added mill traceability for distributors; supplier escape notification within 24 hours; record retention extended to 10 years; certification lapse notice within 5 business days.	Ruth Okafor