Transparency in Vendor development & Product Inspection

9.0 MEASURES TAKEN FOR TRANSPARENCY IN VENDOR

DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCT INSPECTION

VENDOR DEVELOPMENT

Vendor Approval in RDSO is basically done both by Design Directorates and Quality
Assurance Directorates. Product is first developed and established and few vendors
are approved by Design Directorates. The item/product is then transferred to Quality
Assurance Directorates for multi-sourcing i.e. increasing the vendor base.

14 Directorates of RDSO are undertaking vendor approval of these items. The Vendor
approval procedure which was tedious and varying from Directorate to Directorate has
now been redefined and made uniform for all the Directorates. The registration
charges are also uniform for all items in all the directorates and monitoring has
become simpler.

The process of vendor approval comprises of three major activities. Initial preparation
and submission which includes activities to be performed by the manufacturer such
as procuring the documents and applying to RDSO online. The second activity is for
RDSO and manufacturer both which include scrutiny of application and compliance
of deficiencies. This is a time consuming process depending on the readiness of the
manufacturer.

Once the STR is complied, the third & final activity is the capability and capacity
assessment which includes testing of sample at firms premises or in RDSO depending
on the item. Wherever field trails are necessary, these are completed and the
certificate is awarded to manufacturer as Part II vendor.

In the process of vendor approval, the important areas which have the bearing on the
approval process with regard to effectiveness, simplification and transparency have
been well indentified and addressed by RDSO. These are: preparation of specification,
availability of drawings, STRs, payment to RDSO, uniformity in procedure, document
transaction, communication at various stages during the process, knowing the status
of vendor application, complaint redressal and the inspection interface.

To simplify, all the documents have been made available online which include
specifications, drawings and STRs, the procedure of e-payment has been simplified
and made effective. The documents such as specifications, drawings and STRs are
made available free of cost for the items which are approved by RDSO. For the other
items which are not approved by RDSO vendors have to make payment which is also
standardized.

The finalisation of specification has been totally transformed, which is now finalised
only after the detailed views are gathered from the existing as well as the potential
vendors. This is being done by way of publishing the draft specifications on website
for a reasonable time, obtaining their comments and again uploading on website
before final approval.

The vendor registration process has been made online. This has ensured real time
monitoring not only by RDSO but also by vendor who can now know the status of
action taken instantly through SMS alerts and emails which are being given for
individual action by RDSO.

This has been further simplified to ensure the follow up by vendor by giving him a
reference ID in the very beginning. The deficiencies communicated are instantly made

31st Meeting of Governing Council Page | 81

 Transparency in Vendor development & Product Inspection

available, thereby eliminating postal delays. Also the information such as date of visit
by RDSO official to the firm premises is made available in advance for their
preparedness.

Once the approval is accorded, the process of upgradation has also been well defined
and effectively simplified by defining the time period and quantity to be supplied for
individual item. The performance is considered on the basis of the reports made
available during the period.

To ensure the quality of the material supplied by the firm, it is necessary that regular
checks/quality audit are made as per their Quality Assurance Plan including
machinery and plant, man power, source of raw material and their own internal
quality checks to ensure they are in place as per conditions laid down while approving
the firm. Quality audit of the approved vendors is done at an interval of 3 years or 5
years depending upon the criticality of item or on need basis, based on the feedback
on field performance. It is ensured that the periodic quality audit is conducted well
before the next due date for periodic quality audit. In case quality audit could not be
carried out by RDSO within due date, firms name shall continue in approved list till
the quality audit is completed.

All the activities have now been well laid down and made available with the help of
different modules on RDSO website. All these modules which are user friendly can be
accessed by the existing as well as potential vendors.

The periodical publication of EoI (Expression of Interest) is being done for the items
having less than three vendors through newspapers as well as on website.

PRODUCT INSPECTION

RDSO is also an inspecting agency for inspection of some of the safety & vital items by
Zonal Railways.

The methodology involved in inspection is -

QAP (Quality Assurance Plan)
Check Sheet and Inspection Plans
Internal test reports
Periodical type tests
Quality audit of manufacturers premises

To simplify the inspection methodology and reduce the paper work inspection process
has been made online. Online system is capable of registering inspection request by
manufacturer, nominating inspectors, monitoring the status of inspection by RDSO as
well as vendor. The purchaser and user also know the status of inspection. The
system has been found highly useful. It has improved the monitoring of inspection,
reduced the time of travel, and has brought total transparency in the inspection
process, reduced the time in issuing DMs and also no visits by vendor to RDSO
offices.

The wagon inspection has also been made online using the same principle. As such all
the wagon details are now available at the click of mouse. Railways can now find out
the major information pertaining to wagon assemblies just by entering the wagon
number.

The method of pasting hologram, instead of the old practice of stamping, has been
found highly effective towards eliminating duplicate stamping, avoiding intermixing of

31st Meeting of Governing Council Page | 82

 Transparency in Vendor development & Product Inspection

material etc. This has also improved the traceability. The system has also been made
available to the users who can now know the details of the product by entering the
hologram number.

There have been some other steps, taken by RDSO to improve the inspection and
vendor approval such as defining the validity of IC for one month, creating a vendor
support cell which is manned by trained personnel for facilitating understanding of
vendor registration process.

The check sheets being used in inspection are being regularly reviewed to ensure
synchronization with the design changes and amendments in the specification, if any.

Salient features of aforesaid system are explained below:

1.1 Online Vendor Approval :
Website: rdso.indianrailways.gov.in vendor interface
online vendor registration
Features:
- Application online
- Submission of all documents online
- Approval status available online
- Communication of deficiencies online
- E-mail and SMS alerts for every action by RDSO
Advantages:
- Need for physical visits eliminated
- Transparent system
- Receipt of charges by RDSO on line through RTGS
1.2 On-line product inspection monitoring system :
Website: rdso.indianrailways.gov.in vendor interface
Features:
- Online vendor application for case file opening
- Auto generation of case file number
- Online submission of Inspection Call by the approved vendors
through vendor login
- Allocation of RDSO Inspector through Director login
- Informing probable date of visit through inspector login
- Uploading of Check Sheets
- E-mail and SMS alerts to Vendors and Inspectors
- Customised reports to monitor progress of inspection
Advantages:
- Elimination of vendors visit to RDSO office for submission of
inspection calls
- Instant anytime monitoring of inspection status
- Reduced time in travel by inspectors
- Easy to trace status of particular PO by consignee through
website
- Total transparency in inspection process
- Issuing Dispatch memo(DM) for dispatch of materials
immediately after inspection

1.3 Online availability of documents :

Website: rdso.indianrailways.gov.in vendor interface
Features:-
- All the documents - specifications, Schedule of Technical
requirements (STRs), drawings; made available on-line-
downloadable.
- Payment through RTGS

31st Meeting of Governing Council Page | 83

 Transparency in Vendor development & Product Inspection

Advantages:-
- Physical visits eliminated
- Easy accessibility to vendors to view above documents on-line.
- Changes in above documents displayed online for
quick/immediate information to vendors.

1.4 On-line Wagon Production Monitoring system:

Website: rdso.indianrailways.gov.in vendor interface
Features:
- Offering wagons by Wagon builders for inspection online as
inspector after physical verifications indicates the status of
inspection online
- Easy monitoring of wagon production
- Real time production status
- Generation of various reports online.
- Availability of Wagon details to zonal Railways online viz. wagon
manufacturers details, bogie details, coupler details, brake
system, CTRB, wheel sets details etc.

1.5 Quality Audit of vendors

Features:
- Periodicity decided for all the items
- Firm need not apply for quality audit
Advantages:
- Firms compliance of STR/Specification and QAP is verified.
- Firms name shall continue in approved list till the quality audit
is completed.
- Enables firm to manufacture the item/product of required
quality consistently.
1.6 Random Sampling in inspection
- IS:4905 introduced for all items
Advantages:
- Discretion at inspector level eliminated
- System of storage is improved by vendors during offering
- True representation of lot is ensured.

1.7 Use of Holograms on inspected material:

- Pasting holograms introduced, as against old system of stamping.
Advantages:
- Use of duplicate stamp eliminated
- Intermixing of material after inspection eliminated
- Traceability improved
- Easy for consignee to verify the inspected material

1.8 Vendor support cell

Vendor support cell which is manned by qualified personnel to help and
facilitate existing & potential vendors (Phone No: 0522-2465743)

1.9 EOI (Expression of Interest)

Periodical publication of EOI for multisourcing of items having less than
3 vendors.

1.10 Validity of inspection certificate (IC)

Validity of inspection certificate (IC) has been fixed as 30 days. Earlier
there was no time frame fixed for it.

31st Meeting of Governing Council Page | 84