Second-Source Qualification for an OEM Brake Pad Programme in Mexico
Client
An OEM brake brand in Mexico
Industry
OEM Tier Supply
Key Impact Metrics
The Challenge
The brand's incumbent supplier had missed three consecutive delivery windows, and the plant had already used its safety stock twice in a year. A second source was needed, but the qualification process is the hard part: the customer's engineering team requires documented evidence, not a sample that happens to work.
The requirement was a PPAP-style package — dimensional report, material certification, process flow, control plan, test data and batch traceability — plus staged samples for bench and vehicle validation.
With an eleven-week window before the next model-year build, there was no room for a failed first submission.
Our Solution
We ran qualification as a project with its own schedule, not as an extended sample request.
- Stage 1, material and dimensions: compound certification, shear strength, hardness, and a full dimensional report against the customer drawing.
- Stage 2, performance: friction coefficient across temperature, fade and recovery cycles, wear rate, and noise behaviour on a dynamometer.
- Stage 3, production: samples taken from a production run rather than from a pilot batch, with the control plan and process flow submitted alongside.
- Traceability: batch number laser-marked on each backing plate, retained test data for every batch, and a documented containment procedure for any nonconformance detected downstream.
- Capacity: a six-month capacity reservation agreed before approval, so the ramp could not be limited by our line.
The Result
The reference was approved in eleven weeks with no resubmission, and the first production batches ran at 380 PPM against a 500 PPM target.
The brand now splits volumes between two sources and has not used safety stock since. The same dossier format was reused for two further references.
Why a good sample is not a qualified source
A sample proves that the process can produce one good part. Qualification asks a different question: can the process produce good parts repeatedly, and can you prove it when something goes wrong?
That is why the control plan and the traceability system carry as much weight as the test data. An OEM buyer who cannot trace a defective set back to a batch, a machine and a material lot has no way to bound a recall.
The three stages, and why each is separate
Stage 1 catches a specification error before any performance work is wasted. Stage 2 catches a compound that measures correctly at ambient but fades at temperature. Stage 3 catches the difference between a pilot batch and a production run — which is where most qualification programmes actually fail.
Submitting production-run samples at stage 3 is more demanding on the supplier, because it requires the line to be set up and running before approval. It is also the only way to find out that the process is not yet capable.
What a buyer should insist on
Insist on production-run samples, not pilot samples. Insist on a written containment procedure. And ask what the supplier's capacity reservation looks like — a supplier that cannot hold capacity for the ramp will deliver the qualification and then fail the volume.
Project Highlights
- Agile development methodology
- Dedicated project manager
- 24/7 support & maintenance
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