A Scorecard for Lighting Suppliers

Buyers select lighting suppliers on price, sample quality and a factory visit, then discover that the relationship is decided by something else entirely: how the supplier behaves when something goes wrong. A scorecard makes that behaviour visible before it is expensive.

The six measures

Score each from one to five, quarterly, with evidence rather than impression:

Weight documentation higher than it feels

A supplier who cannot produce the certificate for the exact model being shipped creates a risk that no price advantage can offset, because the cost of a lost listing or a rejected container is a multiple of the entire margin on the order.

Score the change, not the fault

Suppliers make mistakes. What distinguishes them is whether the substitution, the delay or the defect is disclosed before the shipment or discovered after it. That single behaviour predicts the next five years of the relationship better than any other measure on the card.

Two suppliers, always

The scorecard has a second purpose: keeping a qualified alternative alive. Buying a low-volume trial from a second factory each year costs very little and converts a single-source dependency into a decision.

Use it in the conversation

A scorecard that is never shared is a private grudge. Send it, explain the weighting, and review it once a year. Most suppliers improve on the two measures they can see being counted.

Related reading

• How to Evaluate a Lamp Supplier Before You Commit
• Factory Inspections for Lighting: What to Check and When

Frequently asked questions

What should a lamp supplier scorecard track

Track on-time delivery, defect rate from inspection, certification currency, responsiveness, and how well the supplied unit matches the approved sample. A scorecard turns vague good-supplier feeling into comparable numbers across factories.

How do I weight the scorecard

Weight by what hurts most: a late or non-compliant shipment usually costs more than a small price difference. Put delivery, quality, and certification compliance at the top, then service and cost.

How often should I score suppliers

After each shipment or at least each quarter, so a drifting factory shows up before it costs a season. A scorecard only helps if it is current and actually changes who gets the next order.

How do I evaluate a lighting supplier before placing a bulk order?

Run the evaluation on two axes: qualification before the first order (components, listing evidence, tooling ownership, factory process) and behaviour across the first shipments (on-time delivery, defect rate, disclosure of substitutions). Score both on evidence rather than impression, weight documentation and delivery above price, and keep a second qualified supplier alive so the scorecard has consequences. The process questions to ask are set out in the evaluating-a-lamp-supplier guide; this scorecard is what you score the answers against.