The Vendor Reality Scorecard: Calculate Real Risk

The Vendor Reality Scorecard: Stop Guessing, Start Calculating Risk

A decision-support tool for automation engineers that translates "Gut Feeling" into "Management Math."

🚀 Update v1.1 is Live

We've added a dedicated "The Sheet Mechanic" resource tab to the dashboard. This gives you instant, one-click access to the mechanical design handbook and our website directly from the tool, bridging the gap between theory and the factory floor. The core scoring engine remains exactly the same.

The Dashboard automatically flags high-risk vendors and calculates the hidden cost of potential delays.

⬇️ Download The Vendor Scorecard

Trusted by automation engineers and PMs to prevent catastrophic vendor delays.

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The Problem

Most engineers select vendors based on two numbers: Price and Lead Time.

But in custom automation, the lowest bidder is often the most expensive choice. If a $50,000 vendor delivers 4 weeks late, the cost of your idle assembly line is far higher than the $5,000 you "saved" by not picking the reliable vendor.

The problem is that "Risk" is usually just an opinion. You cannot put an opinion on a Purchase Order.

The Solution

The Vendor Reality Scorecard is a VBA-powered Excel dashboard that standardizes vendor selection. It forces you to ask the 5 "Mechanic's Checks"—the soft-skill questions that reveal if a vendor actually understands your drawing or is just quoting blindly.

It outputs a Reality Score (0-100) and a Management Cost View, giving you the data you need to justify choosing the right vendor, not just the cheapest one.

How It Helps Your Team

For Engineering Managers

• Justify budgets with real risk math.
• Stop firefighting delays caused by low-bidders.
• Set realistic project contingencies.

For Design Engineers

• Catch vendors who ignore your GD&T.
• Standardize vendor Q&A objectively.
• Compare quotes beyond just price and lead time.

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The Mechanics: How the Algorithm Works

Unlike simple "Weighted Average" spreadsheets, this tool uses a Severity Hierarchy and Risk Multipliers based on real-world failure modes.

1. The "Clean Quote" Baseline

Every vendor starts with a perfect score of 100. Points are deducted based on behavioral red flags, not just financial ones.

2. The 5 Red Flags (The Penalty System)

• The "Yes Man" Penalty (-20 pts): Did they ask technical questions? If not, they likely missed the complexity of your GD&T.
• The History Penalty (-30 pts): Past behavior predicts future behavior. A history of delay is the heaviest penalty.
• The "Too Good to Be True" Penalty (-15 pts): If a price is >20% lower than average, they have missed a scope item.
• The Ignorance Penalty (-15 pts): Quoting without clarifying inspection/tolerance assumptions.

The tool translates a cheap quote into the "Real Cost" based on risk factors.

3. The "Rush Job" Multiplier (The Explosion Logic)

Most tools treat a "Rush Job" as a flat penalty. The Sheet Mechanic algorithm treats it as an Aggravator.

• If the vendor is Good (Score > 80): A Rush Job adds minor risk.
• If the vendor is Bad (Score < 70): The Rush Job triggers a code multiplier that increases the "Management Cost View" by an additional 20%. This mathematically models how chaos explodes when bad vendors are hurried.

4. The "Management Cost View" Calculation

This is the core feature. It applies a Reality Factor to the quoted price.

• Score 80-100: Factor 1.0 (Safe)
• Score 60-79: Factor 1.2 (Expect 20% cost overrun/management overhead)
• Score < 40: Factor 1.6 (This project will likely cost 60% more than quoted due to firefighting).

Automated planning advice based on the final score.

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Download the Tool

This tool is based on the principles from The Sheet Mechanic. It is free to download for engineers and project managers.

• ✅ Format: Excel Macro-Enabled Workbook (.xlsm)
• ✅ Compatibility: Windows (Excel 2016+)
• ✅ Version: 1.1

⬇️ Download via Payhip (Free)

Secure download. No subscription required.

⚠️ Seeing a "Security Risk" Red Bar?

Microsoft automatically blocks macros on files downloaded from the internet. This is normal behavior.

How to unblock it (One-time fix):

1. Close the Excel file.
2. Right-click the downloaded file and select Properties.
3. At the bottom, check the box labeled "Unblock" (Security section).
4. Click Apply, then OK.

The tool will now open without issues.

Want the full system? Get the book on Amazon:

📖 The Sheet Mechanic: A Guide to Engineering Productivity