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8.0  Organisation

8.1  Any change to the management representative responsible for Quality Management System and or in-process inspection within the suppliers organisation shall be communicated to Curtis Engineering. Changes to premises shall be notified sufficiently in advance to CE.

9.0  Purchase Order / Documentation Issue Control

9.1  Purchase Order amendments required by suppliers shall be subject to review by Curtis Engineering prior to acceptance. The review shall ensure that copies of all processes and specifications quoted within Purchase Orders are available, and that, where a supplier is unable to carry out any operations, approved sub-contractors may be identified.

9.2  Where a supplier has more than one site, every site used to produce product for shipment direct to Curtis Engineering must have Curtis Engineering approval (by completion of CE 03-01-01).

9.3 Curtis Engineering shall be afforded the right of entry to verify at source and / or upon receipt that purchased product conforms in all respects to specified requirements. This action shall not absolve the supplier of their responsibility for the quality of the delivered product nor preclude its subsequent rejection should other quality issues arise at a later date / time.

9.4 Where the use of a sub-contractor is permitted, the identification and selection shall form a part of the initial contract review. Suppliers may consider / use a sub-contractor where suitable given the following circumstances: that the sub-contractor is currently approved by Curtis Engineering*. 

9.5  *Suppliers are responsible for ensuring the flow down of applicable sections of CE 03-01-01 and related specifications to sub-contractors / suppliers.

9.6  Suppliers must reference CE 03-01-01 on all Purchase Orders issued in support of activity for Curtis Engineering (referring their suppliers to the Curtis Engineering web-site for latest version of this document).
 

10.0 Procurement of Components

10.1 Failure of material and or components can have major effects on safety, reliability, operational and structural integrity – with related cost impact. All parts are therefore termed “controlled” and should be treated as such (appropriate bonding of non-conforming material and or fabrications, etc. requirements may be appropriate and / or necessary).

10.2 Any material and or component, which is sourced, and has the original manufacturer and or preferred supplier identified on the bill of quantities / bill of materials may only be purchased from that supplier or their approved agent. Suppliers must not source materials and or items from non-approved sources (original manufacturing suppliers only with recognised certification).

10.3  Where a Supplier wishes to change the source of material and or component, the Supplier shall request permission to make the change from Curtis Engineering.

NOTE: Identification of a supplier on a controlled bill of quantities / bill of materials does not automatically approve them for use. It is the supplier’s responsibility to check that any sub-contractor is correctly approved prior to use (objective evidence for audit purposes is required).

11.0 Control of Non-Conforming Material (or Components / Items)

11.1  The supplier shall have no discretionary power to deviate from the specification requirements as detailed with Purchase Order (and supporting drawings and documentation). Concessions will only be accepted on receipt from the providing Supplier of a full “root cause analysis” report detailing the reasons / issues and evidence of non-conforming materials (or components / items).

Parts subject to a concession must not be delivered to Curtis Engineering or their customer until Curtis Engineering approves a concession.

Note: Concessions are normally only issued to Suppliers when a product is non-conforming, and the non-conformance does not affecting fit, form or functionality (and may require final user approval – normally the customer of Curtis Engineering).

11.2  No rework shall be permitted on identified non-conforming product without written approval from Curtis Engineering. Manufacturing records shall clearly record the operation and the results achieved, should re-working under a concession be approved.

11.3 Where the supplier has any reason to suspect non-conformance of any delivered product, then the supplier must immediately notify Curtis Engineering.

11.4  When instructed by Curtis Engineering scraped (or non-conforming) fabrications / components for the contract specification must be physically damaged beyond repair prior to actual disposal (to prevent use or mixing with conforming product of the same / similar type / model / product). The Curtis Engineering management representatives (or their customer) may require a report from the Supplier and / or witness by inspection of the process of damage and / or disposal.

12.0  Rejections after Delivery

12.1 The Supplier shall be notified of non-conforming supplies / poor workmanship found after delivery. Curtis Engineering will contact the supplier and issue a non-conformance report (NCR) against the parts noted for corrective action by the supplier.

12.2  Following receipt of an NRC notification the Supplier shall take immediate corrective action (or containment action in the case of critical safety failure, e.g. weld structure integrity). The action shall include 100% inspection of all supplier stock and or work in progress. This containment action shall be taken within 48 hours of notification from Curtis Engineering. The supplier shall provide within 14 days an investigation into the root cause of the problem and provide corrective action to prevent recurrence. The findings, corrective action and effective date shall be reported to Curtis Engineering in writing with supporting documentation and photographic images as appropriate.

13.0 Supplier Monitoring

13.1  All Suppliers shall monitor the quality and delivery performance of product delivered on behalf of Curtis Engineering. In addition, each supplier’s quality and delivery performance is continually monitored by Curtis Engineering based on delivery documentation provided with reference to that originally agreed. Supplier’s whose performance does not achieve and maintain an acceptable level shall be formally notified of their supplier status and may be required to implement improvement actions accordingly. Failure to improve or respond positively to a Curtis Engineering NCR will result in the withdrawal of supplier approval by Curtis Engineering.

14.0  Records & Archives

14.1  All (Quality Management System) records held by Suppliers shall be legible and identifiable to the product and or contract involved. Records shall be stored and maintained in such a way that they are readily retrievable in facilities that provide a suitable environment to minimise deterioration or damage and to prevent loss. Records shall be available for evaluation by Curtis Engineering staff until such time as Curtis Engineering authorise disposal in writing.

14.2  Documentation and records applicable to Curtis Engineering shall not be amended with correction fluid. A single wet-inked line shall delete any revisions and or correction of errors and will be accompanied by an initial and date next to the corrected document.

14.3  Should a supplier cease trading with Curtis Engineering, quality records shall still be maintained until disposal is authorised by Curtis Engineering. If the supplier ceases trading completely, or is unable to maintain the records, Curtis Engineering must be informed so that alternate arrangements can be made to store the records.

14.4  All records shall be retained by the Supplier for a period of 10 years unless otherwise agreed with Curtis Engineering.

15.0 Certificate of Conformance

A Certificate of Conformity** (C of C) and or Declarations of Compliance** (with reference to CE Marking of product compliance), shall include sufficient information to enable the same to be correlated and traceable to the materials and or components supplied and must accompany technical documentation / records provided to Curtis Engineering.

 **Certificates and supporting documentation will be identified by the original Curtis Engineering Purchase Order and or Contract number and shall include the following information:

The Certificate shall include a statement of conformity individually signed by an authorised signatory by the Supplier and shall be as stated below or similar, subject to agreement by Curtis Engineering.

We (name of the supplier) hereby confirm that the whole of the supplies detailed hereon have been manufactured, inspected and tested and conform in all technical and integrity respects with the requirements of the contract order / specification;

(signed by: authorised *** person from the Supplier – printed name and date)

Note: ***The Supplier shall be able to demonstrate to the satisfaction of Curtis Engineering and or third parties in the form of a Notified Body and or HM Trading Standards that the nominated authorised signatory has controlled usage of the authority (with the personal technical competence demonstrated by qualification and or experience supported by validated CV claims).

Where the Supplier utilises an automated system for generation and / or authorisation of certificates / records, then those systems shall be subject to robust management and security controls approved by Curtis Engineering to protect the integrity of the certification and approval process.

The Supplier shall ensure completion of all requirements of the purchase order prior to delivery including all processes. Deliveries of goods that do not fulfil the purchase order requirements will not be accepted. The Supplier is responsible for providing a C of C that confirms that the products, processes, and/or services furnished meet the requirements for lot, of each shipment, of the Curtis Engineering - Purchase Order. The C of C must have at a minimum the following:

15.1  Preservation: If used, all packaging materials / substances / paints used to preserve the integrity of the fabrication and or component parts must be supported with the necessary COSHH or other, data as recommend by the manufacturer.

15.2  Packaging: When instructed, the method of packaging / transportation must:

15.3  Inspection Report (IR)

When an IR is required with the goods to demonstrate compliance with all the procurement
Specifications detailed in the design package the following must apply: Inspection Reports shall be in accordance with and Curtis Engineering procedure CE 05-01.

A copy of the IR shall be supplied with the product unless otherwise stated. The supplier shall retain the IR as a quality record and they shall not be disposed of without the written permission of CE. This shall not absolve the supplier of the responsibility for the quality of the delivered product nor preclude its subsequent rejection should other quality issues arise.

15.4  Curtis Engineering right of access

Any person authorised by Curtis Engineering, including the Customer and or Regulatory Authority, shall not be Unreasonably refused permission by the supplier to enter any works, warehouse or other premises under the supplier’s control for the purpose of surveillance or inspection of any tools or materials procured or used for the manufacture of the goods or process of manufacture on the completed goods themselves before dispatch.

15.5  Business continuity planning

Curtis Engineering advises each supplier to have a written business continuity plan to cover disaster recovery and the responsibilities and actions to be taken in the event of an emergency that may affect deliveries to Curtis Engineering that will bring the supplier on line in the shortest possible time.

15.6 Change Control

Uncontrolled change to specifications and or processes within the supply chain is the major cause of possible deficiency. It is crucial therefore that all change, no matter how trivial these it may appear, is assessed for potential risk and then subject to mitigating actions and control.

Changes can occur in three ways:

 The control mechanism for these is as follows.

 3) Changes within the supplier’s stores shall be controlled as follows:

 - All changes to components storage location shall be subject to a documented risk review prior to being carried out.

 - Staff changes must prompt a retaining and supervised until level of competence is assessed and approved as competent.

 - Changes to the Stock control computer system, must be documented, risk assessed, audited and checked after changes for example, new operational software is introduced or updated.

 All documentation relating to point 3 must be kept indefinitely and made available to Curtis Engineering on request in writing with reasonable notice following an NCR with relation to supply quality problems.

15.7 Traceability

All material and or parts shall be clearly traceable back to the original manufacturer of the parts. Where the supplier has purchased a component and or assembly, they shall have a copy of the original manufacturer’s Certificate of Conformance.

All components and assemblies shall be traceable to the original material identification.

The traceability system must facilitate the rapid identification of any part delivered and suspected of being defective. Containment action must be implemented immediately to protect the customer on any defects found that affect quality of the product.

All records in relation to Curtis Engineering must be kept indefinitely and shall be made available to Curtis Engineering upon request

15.8 Special process requirements (Ref. section 19.0 of this document for requirements)

 Any special process supplier’s must be ISO9001 approved or meet the requirements outlined in section 19 of this document. The supplier performing the special process must certify that all applicable requirements have been met.

15.9  Manufacturing & Process Control

Adequate, clean well-maintained facilities shall be provided to enable products to be consistently
 produced in accordance with the requirements of the Curtis Engineering order.

Suppliers must not omit any part of any specification except when defined on the purchase order or covered by a non conforming report authorised by Curtis Engineering.

Suppliers providing Shelf life items shall ensure they are correctly labelled with shelf life expiry and suitably packaged. No shelf life items within 6 months of expiry with the exclusion of Solder Paste shall be accepted by Curtis Engineering. Suppliers are expected to establish procedures for identifying adequate statistical techniques for determining process capability of key characteristics, especially when these are identified on the documentation. Such techniques shall demonstrate management ownership and responsibility and be based on recognised industry models.

Where the supplier uses a sample inspection plan as a means of product acceptance, the plan shall be predicated on industry recognised models, statistically valid and shall preclude the acceptance of known non-conforming product. Documented procedures and records to demonstrate this shall be available.

All parts supplied to Curtis Engineering shall be identified in accordance with the requirements of Curtis Engineering. Suppliers shall maintain records to identify the materials used and the manufacturing and processing history of each batch of parts supplied to Curtis Engineering. A lot number that enables all associated records to be retrieved shall identify each batch.

15.10  Inspection Reports

The supplier is required to maintain and provide upon request all inspection records. The records must be at a minimum based on an established/recognized sampling plan.

16.0  Source Inspection

16.1  Source Inspection will be used by Curtis Engineering to help develop a new supplier, or a supplier that is having quality issues. Source inspection at a supplier’s site will be imposed by a letter issued from Curtis Engineering to the supplier. In the event Curtis Engineering imposes source inspection, only Curtis Engineering can remove or waive source inspection.

Curtis Engineering will also use source inspectors to perform in process checks at a supplier, process audits at a supplier, or corrective action development, or follow up. Curtis Engineering will select a UKAS and / or other approved inspector.

17.0  Concessions / Permits

17.1  If a supplier’s quality system discovers a non-conformance to the Curtis Engineering Purchase Order, the supplier can submit a request for a concession to the Curtis Engineering Buyer.

The supplier can use the table below to determine when a concession is needed.

Requests to use as is, or repair a non-conformance, must be processed using the suppliers own concession request form and signed by Curtis Engineering.

*Rework must return the part to full compliance and specification.

Note: The supplier is not authorised to dispatch items requiring concession until he has been informed of the applicable Concession Number and the supplier has a copy of the approved concession. This Concession Number must appear on his Certificate of Conformity, each time a delivery is made from the batch that has been approved under Concession.

18.0  Corrective Actions

18.1  If Curtis Engineering performs a supplier audit and finds a non-conformance a request for corrective action will be issued to the supplier. Corrective actions for issues found during an audit will be documented and maintained on file by Curtis Engineering with a copy to the supplier for action.

19.0  Special Process Suppliers

19.1  Curtis Engineering uses ISO 9001 approved special process suppliers. In addition to ISO 9001 approval the special process supplier must demonstrate the ability to satisfy all applicable requirements. Failure to satisfy any requirement will prevent Curtis Engineering from using that supplier.

19.2  Curtis Engineering considers the following to be special processes:

- Anodizing / Other / Plating
- Welding / Soldering / Brazing
- Conformal Coating
- Painting / Power-coating
- Non-destructive testing (NDT)

20.  Distribution (appropriate access of this document)