Thursday, October 23, 2008

It’s ESCS Quality Performance Award Time Once Again.


Have you earned the right to be rewarded?
As part the ESCS quality management system we are required to rate our suppliers performance for both on-time and quality.
Electronic Supply Chain Solutions maintains an almost perfect scorecard to our prime customers, so our need to demand the same of our suppliers is paramount to our success. Many of our suppliers obtained the award the past two years with one of them being Tresco (click on Tresco to follow the link). We are proud to recognize a job well done and as this year closes we urge those of you whom are in the hunt to keep up great work as your efforts continue to make ESCS one of the premier AS9120 certified distributors in our industry.

Monday, October 13, 2008

ESCS President gives keynote speech at the 2008 First Aerospace Congress


This years Future Aerospace Congress was well represented by senior members of prime contractors such as: ABB, Boeing, Bell Helicopter, NASA, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, and United Space Alliance, just to name a few.
The three day event consisted of roundtable discussions on the Evolution of Advanced Materials, recycling, automation and the importance of full disclosure.
A second round table discussion was on Supply Chain Strategy including best practices, sourcing and overall effectiveness. As an owner of an electronic component distribution company, Electronic Supply Chain Solutions’ President Matthew Heaphy III provided other panel members a unique prospective as to the approach his company has taken to “Combat Counterfeits" with a free web site designed to educate the electronics industry. Mr. Heaphy discussed what it meant to be an AS9120 Quality Certified company and how teaming up with organizations such as GIDEP, AIA, IDEA, ERAI and his association with the CACP (Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Piracy) were just some of the steps companies can take to protect their supply chain. ESCS also showcased a process called ICPHOTOSYNTH.com which captures every single lot code of every single date code of every part that enters ESCS during the inspection process.
This year's Future Aerospace Congress also featured several keynote speakers during the event. The first speaker this year was Electronic Supply Chain Solutions President Matthew Heaphy III on the topic of “Best Practices in Supply Chain Sourcing to Combat Counterfeits” During his speech Mr. Heaphy touched on many of the issues identified during the panel discussion but also conveyed the size and scope of the counterfeiting problem in the USA and the trickle down effect it has on all U.S. citizens. He also outlined some of the steps companies need to take to protect themselves. As an independent distributor that services the aerospace industry ESCS is asked to procure obsolete products that are required to maintain aircraft for many years. ESCS uses third party testing and evidence based protocols to mitigate our customers risk especially as it relates to the loss of human lives. A watch or DVD seems like a victimless crime; however, intellectual property is stealing the life blood of companies today. Information sharing is becoming more popular when conducting business with supply chain partners. But how can you protect your IP? This topic was on the minds of everyone in attendance and many companies requested private discussions with ESCS to explore their options.
Electronic Supply Chain Solutions staff has been collecting data as part of their commitment to a safe supply chain and has published an Industry Assessment entitled Awareness and Industry Efforts to Combat Counterfeits in Aerospace & Military Electronic Component Procurement
By clicking on the above link you can learn the views and prospectives of many aerospace industry leaders and use that information to Combat Counterfeits at your company.
ESCS has also tried to raise awareness in the industry by offering its product called “Infomins” Have you taken yours today? Infomins are like vitamins that give you the information you need to make sound business decisions. Visit www.infomins.com.
Mr. Heaphy wrapped up his speech on Best Practices in the Supply Chain by announcing thier latest brainchild of www.escsgps.com which navigates to the information you need. This GPS “Graphic Procurement System” utilizes many of ESCS graphics to hyperlink you to our proprietary suite of web products designed to help buyers and engineers become better informed.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

AEROSPACE COMPANIES COMBAT COUNTERFEITS THROUGH MINIMUM DISTRIBUTOR QUALITY REQUIREMENTS


ESCS promotes industry best practices to combat counterfeits to ensure quality service from independent distributors of electronic components. We strongly believe every aerospace and military manufacturer should demand at least the following minimum standards of excellence from their independent distributors:


1. Aerospace AS9120 certification - If your company is aerospace certified, shouldn't you require your suppliers to maintain the same quality standards for inventory control, split lot traceability and vendor management? Companies with only an ISO 9001 certification should be given a deadline to achieve AS9120 certification or lose their status as an approved supplier. You can easily view your suppliers' AS9120 certification status on the OASIS database at http://www.iaqg.sae.org/servlets/index?PORTAL_CODE=IAQG. For all audits completed after October 1, 2008, the IAQG is now requiring certification bodies to upload the latest audit details as well as any corrective action reports with root cause analysis and correction plans, yet it will be up to the distributor to make this data viewable on the OASIS database. All distributors should be required to allow visibility to their scored results for your review. For all audits completed before October 1, 2008, distributors may request their most recent audit information be uploaded for your review.

2. Membership in GIDEP - The Government and Industry Data Exchange Program provides an important resource for current information on suspect and known counterfeit components, as well as disseminating general information critical to maximizing supply chain efficiency.

3. Membership in ERAI - Membership in The Electronic Reseller's Association requires distributors to be in good standing, and provides access to critical information on suppliers and the ERAI's counterfeit component notification database.

4. Validated component testing - Distributors should confirm what testing protocols are required under their quality management system for all components lacking clear pedigree back to the original manufacturer's Certificate of Compliance. Decide whether 3rd party testing should be required or if testing done in-house is acceptable to your standards. If in-house, confirm their inspection staff is qualified by a standard at least as strong as the Independent Distributors of Electronics Association's IDEA-STD-1010-A inspection standard, and that on-going compliance with this is documented in their AS9120 Quality Management System.

5. Vendor management system - Confirm your distributor maintains their own approved vendor list, and that their quality management system includes tracking of each supplier's performance for quality and delivery compliance. You may want to ask what the minimum requirements are to add a supplier, and the minimum quality standards they must achieve to remain on the distributor's approved vendor list.

6. Agreement to on-site audits - Every distributor should be required to allow on-site audits by their customers. Whether the manufacturer chooses to do so or not, any distributor who will not agree to at least prospective future audits with minimal notice should be suspect.

The above requirements should be considered minimum standards. At ESCS, we not only meet and exceed these standards, we offer a wide range of quality services to help increase manufacturers' supply chain efficiency and cost-effectiveness, and provide best in class buyer resources to help make sound business decisions through our buyer portal at http://www.escs9120.com/.

Please give us a call today to learn more about these free, on-line buyer productivity tools and the wide range of component services provided by ESCS. For more information on how your company can combat counterfeits, visit ESCS's site, http://www.combatcounterfeits.com/.