A reader of my blogs once called me to ask my opinion of the practice of drop shipping; this because she wanted to draft some procedures for her Quality Manual and staff.   We need to initially distinguish the difference between ‘drop ship’ vs. ‘direct ship’, which many seem to confuse or use interchangeably. ‘Drop ship’ is a commercial term we use to describe that a part is being shipped from your supplier straight to your customer; it is not gong to be physically received at your facility. ‘Di...

In the Aviation/Aerospace industry, Manufacturers, Airlines, AMO/Repair Stations, and Distributors all conduct Receiving and Shipping Inspections of their aircraft parts. I have experience with all of these, so I thought I’d share some critical observations. First a little sarcastic humor from the distributor community: Salesman: “I meet my quotas by buying everything as quickly as I can issue PO’s. If it gets through my Receiving Inspectors it must be good…” Salesman: “I secretly drop ship ever...

You’ve been ‘listed’. That could be good or that can be bad! If you’re on a no-fly list, that’s bad, but if you’re on any of the following lists, consider yourself privileged. Whether you call it a Roster, Registry, or Listing of Authorizations, they all essentially mean the same thing: It’s a tabulation of names and the listing of tasks they are authorized to perform. Let’s amplify this, and by the way, regardless of what you call it, in this article I’ll use the generic term, Roster. In aviati...