Requirements & Specifications

1. Are product requirements clearly defined in controlled drawings, specifications, work instructions, samples, or acceptance criteria? Score: ____
2. Are critical or significant characteristics identified where failure would create major customer, safety, regulatory, or functional risk? Score: ____
3. Are inspection or test methods defined so two competent people would reach the same acceptance decision? Score: ____
4. Are packaging, labeling, lot identification, certificates, and traceability requirements defined where applicable? Score: ____

Document & Change Control

1. Do you know which revision of each key requirement is current and approved? Score: ____
2. Are obsolete requirements prevented from being used at purchasing, inspection, production, and supplier locations? Score: ____
3. Are product, material, process, tooling, supplier, or sub-tier changes reviewed before implementation? Score: ____

Supplier Qualification

1. Are suppliers risk-classified based on product/process importance and potential failure impact? Score: ____
2. Do new suppliers receive a documented capability/quality review before approval? Score: ____
3. Are suppliers formally approved for a defined scope of products/processes rather than generally approved? Score: ____
4. Are higher-risk suppliers subject to deeper qualification such as audit, FAI, sample approval, PPAP, or capability evidence? Score: ____

Purchasing & Flow-Down

1. Do purchase orders or supplier agreements flow down current technical and quality requirements? Score: ____
2. Do suppliers know when they must notify you before making changes? Score: ____

Incoming Inspection & Release

1. Is incoming inspection based on defined risk, supplier performance, and product criticality rather than habit? Score: ____
2. Are inspection results recorded with enough detail to prove what lot was checked, how, and against which requirement? Score: ____
3. Is nonconforming incoming material physically or systemically controlled to prevent unintended use? Score: ____

Traceability

1. Can you trace finished product or complaints back to supplier, material/lot, inspection status, and relevant production records where needed? Score: ____
2. Can you identify which customers/orders received product from a suspect lot when necessary? Score: ____

Nonconformance & Corrective Action

1. Is every significant nonconformance documented with clear defect description, requirement, quantity, lot, and disposition? Score: ____
2. Are rework, use-as-is, return, scrap, and concession decisions authorized by appropriate people? Score: ____
3. Do recurring or significant supplier defects trigger structured root-cause and corrective-action activity? Score: ____
4. Do you verify corrective actions were effective rather than closing them when the supplier responds? Score: ____
5. Are temporary containment actions clearly separated from permanent corrective actions? Score: ____

Calibration & Measurement

1. Are inspection and test devices identified and calibrated or verified at appropriate intervals? Score: ____
2. Is out-of-calibration impact reviewed to determine whether prior acceptance decisions may be invalid? Score: ____

Training & Competence

1. Are people who make inspection, release, supplier-approval, and disposition decisions trained and competent? Score: ____
2. Are new or revised quality procedures communicated and trained before use? Score: ____

Internal Audits

1. Do you periodically verify that the quality and supplier processes are actually being followed? Score: ____
2. Are audit findings corrected and tracked to closure? Score: ____

Supplier Performance

1. Do you track meaningful supplier performance measures such as defects/PPM, delivery, responsiveness, SCAR closure, and audit results? Score: ____
2. Do poor supplier results trigger defined escalation, development, increased inspection, requalification, or sourcing review? Score: ____

Complaints & Returns

1. Are customer complaints/returns evaluated for supplier, material, process, and system causes? Score: ____
2. Do complaint trends feed back into supplier controls, inspection plans, specifications, and corrective action? Score: ____

Management Review

1. Does leadership periodically review quality and supplier performance, major risks, recurring failures, and needed resources? Score: ____
2. Are quality objectives and improvement actions assigned to owners and tracked to completion? Score: ____

What to Fix First

Prioritize any score of 0 or 1 that affects product requirements, supplier approval, incoming inspection/release, traceability, nonconformance containment, or corrective action. Those gaps can allow defective or uncontrolled product to move through the system.

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