OEM Power Supply Supplier Scorecard: 23 Checks

Lead-time accuracy beats lead-time speed. A supplier promising 15 days with ±2 days variance is worth more than one promising 10 days with ±10 days variance, because your production plan is built on the certainty, not the average. Most scorecards weight lead time as “shorter is better.” That is wrong, and it is the single most common scoring error in procurement templates.

Below is the 23-check card, weighted, with the scoring rules that make it useful.

Weighting

Category	Weight	Checks
Quality system	25%	6
Certification	25%	5
Delivery	20%	5
Commercial	15%	4
Service	15%	3

Pass threshold: 70 / 100. Below 60, do not sample. 60–70, sample and re-audit.

Quality System — 25% (6 checks)

#	Check	Score
1	Burn-in coverage: 100% (5) / AQL sampled (3) / none (0)	/5
2	Burn-in duration ≥4 h @ 45°C (4) / 2 h (2) / none (0)	/4
3	Burn-in failure rate logged and <0.3% (5) / logged >0.3% (3) / not logged (0)	/5
4	Capacitor brand named, 105°C/10,000 h (5) / 105°C/2,000 h (2) / unbranded (0)	/5
5	Hi-pot 100% at 3,000 V AC (3) / AQL (2) / none (0)	/3
6	Serial traceability to component lot (3) / to batch (2) / none (0)	/3

Certification — 25% (5 checks)

#	Check	Score
7	Certificate verified on issuing body’s website, in scope (6) / PDF only (2) / expired (0)	/6
8	Certificate covers your target market (5) / partial (2) / no (0)	/5
9	Holder named, and your rights on termination defined (5) / unclear (2)	/5
10	EMC and safety both covered (5) / safety only (2)	/5
11	Test report (not just certificate) available (4) / no (0)	/4

A note on check 7: verify independently. Both TÜV and Intertek maintain online certificate databases. A PDF is trivially edited; the database is not.

Delivery — 20% (5 checks)

#	Check	Score
12	Lead time quoted with a stated variance (4) / point estimate (1)	/4
13	Variance ≤ ±3 days (5) / ±3–10 days (3) / >±10 days (0)	/5
14	On-time rate for last 12 months ≥95% (5) / 85–95% (3) / <85% (0)	/5
15	Sample lead time ≤15 days (3) / 15–30 (2) / >30 (0)	/3
16	Capacity buffer for a 2× order (3) / no (0)	/3

Commercial — 15% (4 checks)

#	Check	Score
17	MOQ stated clearly, no hidden setup fee (4) / fees appear later (0)	/4
18	Price valid for a stated period ≥90 days (4) / 30 days (2) / open (0)	/4
19	Tooling ownership defined — you own it (4) / factory owns (1)	/4
20	Payment terms and currency risk addressed (3) / unclear (0)	/3

Service — 15% (3 checks)

#	Check	Score
21	RMA response ≤48 h with replacement shipped (5) / ≤7 days (3) / none (0)	/5
22	Named technical contact with engineering access (5) / sales-only contact (2)	/5
23	EOL notice ≥12 months committed in writing (5) / 6 months (2) / none (0)	/5

Scoring Three Realistic Suppliers

	Supplier A	Supplier B	Supplier C
Unit price (200 W)	$18.40	$21.10	$26.80
Quality (25)	12	21	24
Certification (25)	10	20	23
Delivery (20)	11	17	14
Commercial (15)	12	11	9
Service (15)	6	12	13
Total	51	81	83

Supplier A is cheapest and fails outright: no documented burn-in, unverifiable certificate. That is the normal shape of the result — the bottom-quote supplier usually scores lowest.

Supplier C scores highest and costs 46% more than A. Is it worth it? On a 5,000-unit order that is $42,000**. One percentage point of field failure on 5,000 units is 50 RMAs; at $180 labour plus 60 freight each, that is **12,000 — plus the account damage, which is the part nobody puts in the spreadsheet.

The correlation between price and score is strongest in the middle of the range. The most expensive supplier is often selling brand premium rather than quality; the cheapest is almost always selling a shortened process. Score the 2nd to 4th cheapest and pick from there.

How to Use It

Send all 23 checks as your RFQ attachment. Suppliers who fill it in seriously have already separated themselves from those who do not.
Score from documents first; re-score after a factory audit.
Re-score annually. A supplier who scored 81 two years ago may have changed capacitor vendors.

Score us. Send the 23 checks and we will fill them in and return the sheet — including the burn-in log and the capacitor brand. → Request our completed scorecard · Get a quote

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