Kris Kent said something interesting in the recent blog post. He made note of a supplier audit by a global medical device manufacturer. As someone who has worked for 30 years and continues to work in manufacturing (Tier 1 automotive) I know that supplier audits in the traditional sense are very significant. 100% of the time in my experience, passing a supplier audit was a major milestone on the path to pending (already on the drawing board) production business. Tier 1's do not entertain new suppliers easily. It is a big expense to set up a new supplier and to qualify them, especially in critical industries with significant product liability. Qualifying a supplier can literally take months or even longer and a supplier audit traditionally is a team of people coming in to examine every department, looking at you record keeping in each department to make sure you are compliant to industry required standards. Tier 1's don't do this unless there is a compelling need i.e. they want to place an order. So, it tells me there is a likelihood they are close to receiving production business from this company. The other interesting point is that they are global. Obviously being a global supplier means they are of significant size and capable of generating very high sales volumes. They will also have experience qualifying standards product across international markets, and the infrastructure to penetrate a global market rapidly. This to me was the most encouraging hint I've heard in many months!
