How do you calculate a supplier risk score?

Multiply the severity, occurrence, and detection scores together. Using severity 6, occurrence 4, and detection 3 on comparable scales produces a risk priority number in the mid single digits once normalized, so relative ranking matters more than the absolute figure.

What is a good supplier risk score for critical port equipment?

Lower is better. There is no universal threshold, but suppliers landing in the top quartile of your scored list, or any supplier with a high individual severity score, should get mitigation regardless of the combined number.

What do severity, occurrence, and detection mean for suppliers?

Severity is the operational impact if the supplier fails to deliver, occurrence is how likely that failure is, and detection is how easily you would catch a problem early enough to react. Detection is scored so that poor visibility raises risk.

Supplier risk score vs. a single risk rating, which is better?

The multiplied score separates the three drivers so you can target mitigation: buffer stock addresses occurrence, a second source addresses severity, and supplier scorecards address detection. A single lumped rating hides which lever to pull.

Why does poor detection increase supplier risk?

If you cannot see a supplier's capacity, financial health, or lead-time slippage until the part is late, you lose the window to expedite or re-source. Low visibility earns a high detection score, which raises the overall risk priority number.

How should I act on a high supplier risk score?

Prioritize mitigation top-down: qualify a second source, hold safety stock for long-lead crane components, add lead-time penalties to contracts, and increase audit or reporting frequency to improve detection.

Port, Crane & Terminal Equipment calculator

Supplier Risk Calculator

Supplier risk scoring helps terminal procurement and reliability teams rank the sourcing risks behind critical port equipment such as crane spreaders, drive systems, spare gearboxes, and long-lead structural steel. It borrows the FMEA logic of multiplying severity, occurrence, and detection into a single risk priority number so a buyer can compare a single-source hydraulic supplier against a commodity fastener vendor on the same scale. Supply chain managers use it during vendor qualification and dual-sourcing decisions, where a stranded crane waiting on a sole-source part can idle a berth and cost tens of thousands per day. The higher the score, the more urgently a supplier needs mitigation such as buffer stock, a second source, or a contractual lead-time guarantee.

What this calculator does

Estimate supplier risk for port, crane and terminal equipment using production-ready inputs so teams can rank risks and decide which issue needs containment, controls, or escalation first.
Use it when supplier risk in port, crane and terminal equipment needs a defensible ranking against other port, crane and terminal equipment risks for the next review.
It computes a supplier risk priority number by multiplying severity, occurrence, and detection scores on a common scale.

Formula used

Supplier risk score = supplier risk severity score × supplier risk occurrence score × supplier risk detection score
Use the same scoring scale across comparable supplier risk risks.

Inputs explained

Supply Disruption Severity:
Disruption Likelihood (Occurrence):
Early-Warning Detectability:

How to use the result

Use it during vendor qualification, annual supplier reviews, or when deciding which parts justify dual-sourcing or safety stock.
Multiplying three ordinal scores can mask a single critical dimension, so a very high severity can be diluted by low occurrence and detection into a deceptively modest number.

Current U.S. benchmarks

U.S. housing starts run at 1,177k per year (Census, May 2026), down 8.7% from a year earlier, the demand driver for building products.
Steel mill PPI stands at 348.53 (BLS, May 2026), up 6.7% from a year earlier. New factory orders are up 2.3% year over year (Census).

Common questions

How do you calculate a supplier risk score? Multiply the severity, occurrence, and detection scores together. Using severity 6, occurrence 4, and detection 3 on comparable scales produces a risk priority number in the mid single digits once normalized, so relative ranking matters more than the absolute figure.
What is a good supplier risk score for critical port equipment? Lower is better. There is no universal threshold, but suppliers landing in the top quartile of your scored list, or any supplier with a high individual severity score, should get mitigation regardless of the combined number.
What do severity, occurrence, and detection mean for suppliers? Severity is the operational impact if the supplier fails to deliver, occurrence is how likely that failure is, and detection is how easily you would catch a problem early enough to react. Detection is scored so that poor visibility raises risk.
Supplier risk score vs. a single risk rating, which is better? The multiplied score separates the three drivers so you can target mitigation: buffer stock addresses occurrence, a second source addresses severity, and supplier scorecards address detection. A single lumped rating hides which lever to pull.
Why does poor detection increase supplier risk? If you cannot see a supplier's capacity, financial health, or lead-time slippage until the part is late, you lose the window to expedite or re-source. Low visibility earns a high detection score, which raises the overall risk priority number.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.