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Supplier scorecard

A supplier scorecard is a monthly report card for each supplier that puts quality, delivery and responsiveness into numbers both sides agree on, so supplier reviews start from data instead of impressions. The usual measures are PPM (parts rejected per million received), on-time delivery percentage, how quickly the supplier answers a supplier corrective action request (SCAR) and how many SCARs are still open. Each measure is turned into points against a target, and the points are weighted and added into one score with a rating. Page 1 of this template is a year for one supplier: the month's parts received and rejected, PPM, deliveries and on-time percentage, SCARs issued and open, average days to respond, points per measure, score and rating. Page 2 explains how points are worked out, has a targets and weights table with example values, a worked example and a chart to plot the score. The Excel version keeps the targets and weights on a settings sheet, scores every supplier every month, leaves a measure out of the score in a month with no data, and has a twelve-month card per supplier with charts and a ranking of all suppliers for one month.

Free to use: print it, copy it and edit it for your team. Enter your name and work email once to download.

Page 1 of the supplier scorecard: fields for supplier, code, commodity, year, buyer and quality engineer, and a table with a row per month for parts received and rejected, PPM, deliveries, on-time %, SCARs, response days, points per measure, score and an A, B or C rating.
PPMOn-time delivery %SCAR response daysOpen SCARsPoints per measureWeighted score and ratingTwelve-month trend

When to use it

When to use a supplier scorecard

  • For monthly or quarterly reviews with your main suppliers.
  • When deciding which suppliers get new business and which need development.
  • To show a supplier, with data, why they are on a watch list.
  • To see whether a supplier's corrective actions are working over time.

How to fill it in

  1. 1

    Choose the measures

    PPM, on-time delivery, SCAR response time and open SCARs are a common start. Agree how each is counted, such as the on-time window.

  2. 2

    Set targets, limits and weights

    Full points at the target, zero at the limit, and a weight per measure. Tell suppliers before the first scorecard.

  3. 3

    Collect the month's data

    Parts received and rejected from receiving and inspection, deliveries and on-time deliveries, and the SCAR log.

  4. 4

    Work out points and the score

    Points = 100 × (zero-points value − actual) ÷ (zero-points value − full-points value), kept between 0 and 100. Score = Σ(points × weight) ÷ Σ(weights).

  5. 5

    Share and review

    Send each supplier its scorecard and review the trend, not just the month, with the ones below the rating you want.

A filled-in example

Illustrative, not a benchmark

An example month for one supplier, with example targets and weights (illustrative numbers).

  • Quality: 800 PPM against full points at 250 and zero at 2,000: 100 × (2,000 − 800) ÷ (2,000 − 250) = 68.6 points.
  • Delivery: 94% on time against 98% and 85%: 69.2 points. Response: 8 days against 5 and 20: 80 points. One SCAR open against 0 and 4: 75 points.
  • Weights 40, 30, 15 and 15: (68.6 × 40 + 69.2 × 30 + 80 × 15 + 75 × 15) ÷ 100 = 71.4.
  • With example rating bands of A from 85 and B from 70, the supplier is a B.

The review focused on the PPM, which cost the most points, and the supplier agreed a containment check on the defect behind it. The next three months were watched for a change in the trend.

Common mistakes

  • Changing the rules mid-year

    If targets or weights change, scores before and after cannot be compared. Change them at the start of a year and say so.

  • Scoring a month with no data

    No SCARs to answer is not a perfect or a zero score. Leave that measure out for the month.

  • Measuring what the supplier cannot see

    Share the data behind each score, or the supplier will dispute it instead of acting on it.

  • Only looking at one month

    One bad month can be noise. Act on the trend over several months.

Download the template

Free to use: print it, copy it and edit it for your team. Enter your name and work email once to download.

Run this template in LeanSuite

In LeanSuite every inspection and SCAR feeds a live supplier scorecard with PPM defect rates and chargebacks by vendor, part or date range, and the days a supplier took to respond to each SCAR feed into its scorecard.

FAQ

Supplier scorecard: common questions

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