1. Complaint department
If WIKA recognises a deviation of the bought-in products, WIKA complains about the deliveries (in individual cases also parts of the delivery) and sends them back to the supplier. If it may be necessary to rework or sort out the products at WIKA for reasons of meeting deadlines, the supplier must agree upon the activities required prior to reworking or sorting out the products and the costs incurred are passed on. Each complaint is reported to the supplier by means of a test report and has effect on the supplier evaluation.
2. Comment / 8D report
If WIKA requests a written comment from the supplier in case of a complaint, the request is clearly recorded in the test report with indication of the deadline. The supplier must send the statement in the form of an 8D report to the quality employee defined in the 8D report (SQE, Supplier Quality Engineer) within the required deadline. If it is not possible to send the statement within the required deadline, the supplier must inform WIKA by sending a short message, including the new deadline, to the same e-mail address. The definition of the new submission deadline is important. If a statement is not submitted within the deadline, the supplier will receive a written warning and will be assessed negatively in the supplier evaluation.
3. Technical modifications
Technical modifications of the product or the manufacturing process at the supplier must be reported, planned and carried out early in agreement with WIKA. After each modification, WIKA reserves the right to re-sample the product or to revaluate the process on the basis of a process sign-off.
Modification on the initiative of the supplier
The supplier must request the modification of an approved component from the responsible WIKA Lead Buyer. WIKA decides internally if the modification can be carried out. The modification may be carried out only after approval. An advance plan guaranteeing the supply until the modification is authorised must be presented in agreement with the WIKA Supplier Quality Engineer.
The following modifications are examples that require a new first article inspection:
- Modifications of the product design
- Change of material or contents
- Modifications of the product manufacturing process
- Application of new or changed machines, tools or equipment
- Use of new subsuppliers
- Outsourcing of production
If new/follow-up sampling of the product is required as a result of technical modifications, WIKA will trigger a sample order and provide the supplier with the initial sample test report file (EMPB Report). The responsible WIKA Supplier Quality Engineer must agree upon the extent of the first article inspection.
Modification on the initiative of WIKA
After a modification, WIKA will provide the technical documentation, such as drawings and/or specifications, with a new index and provide it to the suppliers. On request, WIKA gets an offer (costs and deadlines) and a feasibility assessment of the requested modification. The drawings will be modified only after accepting the offer and confirming the feasibility. The extent of the first article inspection will be defined by the responsible WIKA Commodity Team.
4. Deviation Rrquest
If a supplier recognises that the product differs from the technical documentation, the supplier can inform WIKA by means of a deviation request. This can be found on the WIKA homepage (WIKA Group / Quality / Suppliers). The completely filled in application must be sent to the responsible Supplier Quality Engineer. The information on failure cause and rectification measures are of special importance here.
WIKA checks the usability of the product internally and will notify the supplier of the decision concerning a possible approval. Products delivered due to an authorised deviation permission are not considered negatively in the supplier evaluation.
5. Process audit
WIKA reserves the right to audit the manufacturing process and all processes relevant for supplying WIKA at any time and after agreement with the supplier. Reasons for an audit may be: qualification of a new supplier, conclusion of a quality assurance agreement, considerable deterioration of the quality performance of a supplier, approval of new/modified processes and tools. WIKA performs process audits based on VDA6.3. The audit is planned in agreement with the responsible body of the supplier. After carrying out the audit, the supplier is informed about the result within one workweek but normally the same day. If the audit result requires improvement measures, the supplier must elaborate an action plan and send it to the WIKA lead auditor within the agreed period of time. If a follow-up audit may be required due to the occurred deviations, the follow-up audit must be agreed upon with the responsible body of the supplier.