CPP Quality Assurance in Purchasing 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which statistical sampling plan standard is most commonly referenced for incoming inspection in US procurement?
- ISO 9001
- MIL-STD-1916
- ANSI/ASQ Z1.4 (Correct answer)
- AS9100
Correct answer: ANSI/ASQ Z1.4
ANSI/ASQ Z1.4 provides attribute sampling procedures and tables widely used in commercial purchasing for lot-by-lot inspection.
Question 2: What is the purpose of a First Article Inspection (FAI) in procurement?
- To inspect every unit of the first production run
- To verify a supplier can produce a part conforming to all specifications before full production (Correct answer)
- To test the first shipment received from a new supplier
- To audit a supplier's quality management system
Correct answer: To verify a supplier can produce a part conforming to all specifications before full production
FAI confirms that a supplier's manufacturing process, tooling, and materials can produce parts that fully meet drawing and specification requirements.
Question 3: A supplier's process capability index (Cpk) is 0.85. What does this indicate?
- The process is highly capable and centered
- The process is capable but slightly off-center
- The process is not capable of consistently meeting specifications (Correct answer)
- The process exceeds Six Sigma requirements
Correct answer: The process is not capable of consistently meeting specifications
A Cpk below 1.0 means the process cannot reliably produce output within specification limits, indicating high risk of defects.
Question 4: Which quality cost category includes expenses from scrap, rework, and warranty claims?
- Prevention costs
- Appraisal costs
- Internal failure costs and external failure costs (Correct answer)
- Conformance costs
Correct answer: Internal failure costs and external failure costs
Scrap and rework are internal failure costs (found before delivery), while warranty claims are external failure costs (found after delivery).
Question 5: When evaluating a potential supplier's quality system, which document provides the most insight into how the supplier handles customer complaints?
- Quality manual
- Control plan
- Corrective action procedure (Correct answer)
- Process flow diagram
Correct answer: Corrective action procedure
The corrective action procedure describes how the supplier identifies, investigates, and resolves complaints and nonconformances systematically.
Question 6: In a supplier quality agreement, a 'certificate of conformance' (CoC) requirement means the supplier must:
- Pass an ISO 9001 certification audit before each delivery
- Provide written documentation that shipped goods meet all specified requirements (Correct answer)
- Allow the buyer to inspect goods at the supplier's plant
- Submit test reports from an accredited third-party laboratory
Correct answer: Provide written documentation that shipped goods meet all specified requirements
A CoC is a supplier's written declaration that the delivered product conforms to all applicable specifications and purchase order requirements.
Question 7: A buyer wants to reduce incoming inspection costs while maintaining quality assurance. Which strategy BEST achieves this?
- Increase the AQL for all suppliers
- Implement a supplier certification program with skip-lot inspection for certified suppliers (Correct answer)
- Eliminate incoming inspection entirely
- Switch all sourcing to domestic suppliers
Correct answer: Implement a supplier certification program with skip-lot inspection for certified suppliers
Supplier certification programs allow buyers to reduce or skip incoming inspections for consistently high-performing suppliers, lowering costs while maintaining quality.
CPP Quality Assurance in Purchasing 3
Which statistical sampling plan standard is most commonly referenced for incoming inspection in US procurement?