Respond in proportion. A one-off nonconformance with an obvious, confirmed cause may need only a return and a note on the NCR. A nonconformance that needs the supplier to find and remove a cause gets a supplier corrective action request (SCAR), sent on the Corrective Action Request template (AQL-B01) and tracked in the Supplier Corrective Action Register (AQL-C08).
Stage by stage
Every SCAR gets a due date for each stage: acknowledgment, containment, root cause and escape cause, the plan with its effectiveness criterion, implementation evidence, and the effectiveness check. Review each answer when it arrives, against rules the supplier knows in advance. Accept a stage only when you would defend it to your own customer; send it back, with the reason, when it names a person, restates the problem, or has no evidence. When an effectiveness check fails, reopen the same line rather than issuing a new number: the history is the point.
| Stage | Our starting due date | We send it back when |
|---|---|---|
| Containment | 2 business days (24 hours for an escape) | Quantities and locations are missing, or product already shipped to you is not identified |
| Root cause and escape cause | 10 business days | It names a person, restates the problem, or doesn't explain why only the rejected lots were bad |
| Plan and criterion | 3 business days after the root cause | Retraining alone; nothing at the escape point; a criterion that can't fail |
| Implementation | As the plan dates | A statement with nothing attached |
| Effectiveness | Long enough for the problem to come back | A recurrence, or a window cut short |
The escalation ladder
Write down in advance what moves a supplier up a level and who decides, so escalation is a rule rather than a mood. The Supplier Risk Escalation Matrix (AQL-C10) is where you set your own triggers and owners; this is the ladder we start from.
| Level | Typical trigger | Who acts | What changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. SCAR | A nonconformance that needs the supplier to remove a cause | Supplier quality engineer and their quality lead | Stage dates; receiving watches the failure mode |
| 2. Improvement plan (C11) | Yellow two periods running, or Red once on one measure | Supplier quality engineer and their manager | A 60 to 90 day plan on the weak measure |
| 3. Conditions or probation (C03) | A repeat, an escape, a failed effectiveness check, a traceability failure | Quality manager | Written conditions; raised inspection; no new part numbers |
| 4. Recovery plan (C12) | A needed supplier failing on more than one front | Sponsors on both sides | Exit criteria, gates, consequences agreed up front |
| 5. Restrict, resource or disqualify | Exit criteria missed, or a serious breach of trust | Plant or general manager | Work moved part number by part number, or all at once |
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A management aid, not certification or a registrar audit. Using it does not by itself show conformity to AS9100D or any other standard, and your customers' requirements may add to it.
Clause numbers refer to AS9100D (SAE AS9100 Rev D) unless another document is named. The standards' text is not reproduced here: use your own licensed copy.
Aegis Insights are our own guidance, labeled wherever they appear: how we approach this work, not a requirement of any standard or customer.