On-Time Delivery and Quality Ratings: Behind the Numbers in Aerospace & Defense Supply Chains

Many contract manufacturers talk about their on-time delivery rate and quality rating, but it’s important for primes and OEMs to know the story behind these numbers. At Focused on Machining, our on-time delivery rate is above 90% over the past 24 months, with a quality rating above 98%. But a deeper understanding of these metrics shows how a truly reliable supplier will differ from a partner that might sound good on paper.

On-Time Delivery Is Only Part of the Story

In high-stakes defense and aerospace programs, a single late part can delay an entire production line. For a large enough program, that could lead to millions of dollars lost. Primes have a lot at stake with on-time delivery, but the metric alone can’t always be enough to determine who can actually deliver.

Our on-time delivery rate for the past 24 months is above 90%, but there’s more to the number. When a delivery does miss its target date, the delay is typically days rather than weeks or months. That’s because we’ve invested in technology that allows us to make data-driven commitments at the start of every project.

Some shops may simply operate off of instinct, but our ERP system, ProShop, allows us to plan every step months ahead. We look at our machining schedule, outside processing time, shipping windows, and more. That lets us give you a reliable delivery date. And if we can’t meet your timeline, we’ll tell you upfront.

The Context for Quality Ratings

Of course, on-time delivery without consistent quality is a hollow number. Our high quality rating of 98% is the first step in proving our value in precision machining. But there’s still more to understand.

Of that remaining 2%, nearly every instance involves situations where we proactively and transparently reached out to a customer to discuss parts with small deviations from print. Yet after engineering review, the customer was ready to accept them.

For example, we recently machined a batch of 25 parts for an aerospace customer. Three of the parts came in technically outside tolerance, but within three ten-thousandths of an inch of the requirement. We proactively reached out to the customer to discuss their options: we could ship the full batch and allow them to inspect the three nonconforming parts, or we could take additional time to remake those three. The buyer’s engineering team chose the former option and accepted all 25 parts.

Stories like these make up most of the nonconformances that affect our quality rating, but in some ways we’re proud of them. We are able to warn customers of potential issues ahead of time and allow them to make informed decisions. We don’t hide from bad news.

As far as actual customer rejections for parts delivered out of spec, we’ve had a single instance over the past two years. That puts our customer rejection rate at a fraction of a percent.

Ask Your Suppliers for Context

Quality rating and on-time delivery are a great starting point for conversations with your supplier, but they shouldn’t be the conclusion. You should always try to understand what their quality rating actually measures, and how they approach potential quality or delivery issues in aerospace machining.

At Focused on Machining, we’re ready to talk about what’s behind the numbers. If you’re looking for contract manufacturing services, let’s discuss! Request a quote today!