How do you calculate a supplier risk score?

Multiply the severity, occurrence and detection scores. For a material scored 6, 4 and 3 the calculator returns a supplier risk score of about 4.55 for ranking against other inputs.

Why does detection matter so much for battery materials?

Many critical defects, trace metals, moisture, particle-size drift, are invisible at goods-in unless specifically tested. A high detection score flags inputs where incoming inspection is likely to miss the problem, which often dominates the overall risk.

What is a good supplier risk score for cathode materials?

Lower is better, and the value matters only relative to your other suppliers. Set an action threshold; inputs above it get tighter incoming testing, second-source qualification, or supplier audits.

How do I reduce a high supplier risk score?

Severity is fixed by chemistry, so cut occurrence with supplier process controls and cut detection by adding incoming tests. Improving incoming detection from 3 to 1 would roughly third the score in this example.

Severity vs occurrence vs detection for suppliers?

Severity is how much an off-spec input damages the batch, occurrence is how often that input goes off-spec, and detection is how likely you catch it before use. All three multiply, so a weakness in any one raises priority.

Should I use one scale across all material types?

Yes. Applying the same calibrated scale across metal salts, lithium sources, dopants and coatings is what makes the rankings comparable and your qualification decisions defensible.

Cathode Active Material & Precursor Manufacturing calculator

Supplier Risk Calculator

Supplier Risk scoring brings FMEA discipline to the upstream supply base of a cathode active material or precursor plant, the metal sulfate salts, lithium carbonate and hydroxide sources, dopants, and surface-coating materials whose purity and consistency directly govern electrochemical performance. Sourcing and incoming-quality teams multiply how badly a supplier problem would hurt the line, how likely that problem is, and how likely incoming inspection would miss it, to rank suppliers and materials by real exposure. It matters because a trace metal contaminant in a nickel sulfate stream or an off-spec lithium source can poison an entire CAM batch, and these defects are notoriously hard to catch at goods-in, making detection the dimension that most often drives the score.

What this calculator does

Score supplier risk for critical CAM and precursor inputs such as nickel, cobalt, manganese sulfates, lithium hydroxide, dopants, coating materials, and packaging.
Use it when supplier risk in cathode active material and precursor manufacturing needs a defensible ranking against other cathode active material and precursor manufacturing risks for the next review.
It multiplies supplier impact severity, supply occurrence and incoming detection scores into a single battery-material supplier risk score.

Formula used

Battery-material supplier risk score = supplier impact severity score × supply occurrence score × incoming detection score
Use the same scoring scale across metal salts, lithium sources, dopants, coating materials, and qualified suppliers.

Inputs explained

Supply disruption severity:
Likelihood of supply problem:
Likelihood incoming inspection misses it:

How to use the result

Use it to rank metal salts, lithium sources, dopants, coating materials and the suppliers behind them so qualification and audit effort targets the highest-risk inputs.
It ranks relative risk on your scale, it does not price the financial exposure or replace a formal supplier audit and incoming-test method validation.

Common questions

How do you calculate a supplier risk score? Multiply the severity, occurrence and detection scores. For a material scored 6, 4 and 3 the calculator returns a supplier risk score of about 4.55 for ranking against other inputs.
Why does detection matter so much for battery materials? Many critical defects, trace metals, moisture, particle-size drift, are invisible at goods-in unless specifically tested. A high detection score flags inputs where incoming inspection is likely to miss the problem, which often dominates the overall risk.
What is a good supplier risk score for cathode materials? Lower is better, and the value matters only relative to your other suppliers. Set an action threshold; inputs above it get tighter incoming testing, second-source qualification, or supplier audits.
How do I reduce a high supplier risk score? Severity is fixed by chemistry, so cut occurrence with supplier process controls and cut detection by adding incoming tests. Improving incoming detection from 3 to 1 would roughly third the score in this example.
Severity vs occurrence vs detection for suppliers? Severity is how much an off-spec input damages the batch, occurrence is how often that input goes off-spec, and detection is how likely you catch it before use. All three multiply, so a weakness in any one raises priority.
Should I use one scale across all material types? Yes. Applying the same calibrated scale across metal salts, lithium sources, dopants and coatings is what makes the rankings comparable and your qualification decisions defensible.

Last reviewed 2026-07-13.