2.2 Quarterly business review (QBR)

A Quarterly Business Review (QBR) is not merely a social check-in or a grievance session focused on a single late shipment. It is a critical, strategic calibration event. Its primary purpose is to synchronize the customer’s 12-month demand roadmap with the factory’s technical capabilities and capacity planning. Without a disciplined QBR process, the commercial relationship often degrades into transactional chaos, forcing teams to react to shortages rather than proactively preventing them.

The QBR logic structure

Avoid presenting data without clear context. Every slide in the presentation must drive toward a specific decision or a corrective action.

Metrics achieving Green (On Target) status provide an opportunity to strategically propose cost optimizations or volume increases.

Metrics indicating Red (Off Target) status require a clear presentation of the Root Cause Analysis (RCA) alongside the established recovery timeline.

The meeting agenda should uniformly follow this hierarchy:

Performance (Look Back): Cold, hard data reviewing the last 90 days.
Continuous Improvement (The Fix): The current status of CAPAs (Corrective Actions) and ongoing engineering initiatives.
Roadmap (Look Forward): Forecast reconciliation and the NPI (New Product Introduction) pipeline.

The KPI scoreboard (data pack)

Subjective assessments (e.g. “We feel quality has improved”) are generally insufficient. Use the following objective metrics to define the health of the manufacturing system.

Metric Categories	Key Performance Indicator (KPI)	Target / Definition
Quality	FPY (First Pass Yield)	% of units passing test on the first attempt (Target: >98%).
	DPPM	Defective Parts Per Million at the customer line.
	RMA Turnaround	Average days from receipt to repair/credit (Target: <10 days).
Delivery	OTIF	On-Time In-Full. % of lines shipped by the committed date.
	Commit Rate	% of requested dates accepted without a push-out.
Commercial	Forecast Accuracy	(Actual Orders / Forecasted Demand) for the period.
	E&O Liability	Value of Excess & Obsolete material aging > 90 days.

Pro-Tip: Always include “Forecast Accuracy” in the KPI pack. When a customer raises concerns about on-time delivery, cross-reference their forecast accuracy. If they ordered 200% of the forecasted volume, the delivery failure is fundamentally a planning failure, not an execution failure.

QBR deck template

Standardizing the presentation format helps ensure efficiency and consistency across all accounts.

Slide 1: executive summary

High-level health check (Red/Yellow/Green status).
Top 3 achievements of the quarter.
Top 3 critical risks (e.g. Component EOL, Tariff changes).

Slide 2: the KPI dashboard

Visual representation of the KPI table above.
Trend lines are essential. A single number provides limited value; the trend (improving vs. degrading) indicates process stability.

Slide 3: quality deep dive (pareto analysis)

Yields dropping below the formally agreed target necessitate a Pareto chart highlighting the top three failure modes.
Clearly display the specific engineering fix addressing the #1 failure mode.

Slide 4: supply chain & market risk

Present lead time trends for critical commodities (Silicon, PCBs, Connectors).
Action: Highlight any components requiring immediate “Bridge Buys” to cover identified lead time gaps.

Slide 5: the commercial roadmap

Input: The Customer provides their forecast for Q+1, Q+2, and Q+3.
Output: The Factory confirms its capacity allocation.
Review the E&O liability status. Request written authorization to either scrap the material or ship it to the customer.

The action register

Discussions often fade, but written registers endure. The QBR process is incomplete without a formalized, signed Action Register. This serves as the control document for the subsequent 90 days.

Format requirements:

ID: A unique identifier for tracking (e.g. Q3-01).
Issue: A clear technical description of the problem (e.g. “Solder bridging observed on U45”).
Action: The specific, concrete task to be executed (e.g. “Modify the stencil aperture design”).
Owner: The name of one specific individual responsible for the task (either at the Customer or the Supplier).
Due Date: A fixed target date. Vague entries like “TBD” are not acceptable.

Status states:

Open: The action is defined, but work has not started.
In Process: Engineering or remediation work is currently active.
Validation: The solution has been implemented, and the team is monitoring the results.
Closed: Effectiveness has been verified by objective data.

Mutual commitments

A healthy partnership requires bidirectional accountability. Ensure you conclude the QBR by formally ratifying the “Give/Get” commitments.

Factory commits to:

Implementing the specific CAPA outlined for the top quality issue.
Reserving necessary manufacturing line capacity for the agreed Q4 forecast volume.
Holding strategic buffer stock for agreed-upon critical components.

Customer commits to:

Providing firm Purchase Order coverage for long lead-time components (Risk Buys).
Dispositioning E&O material (deciding to Pay or Scrap) within 30 days of notice.
Freezing the production schedule for the upcoming 4 weeks (No pull-ins or push-outs allowed during this window).

Final Checkout: Quarterly business review (QBR)

Control Point	Passing Criteria	State
Minutes Ratified	Meeting minutes sent within 24 hours of close.	Yes / No
Forecast Lock	Customer explicitly confirms volume for next quarter.	Locked
Pricing Update	Adjustments for PPV (Purchase Price Variance) agreed.	$___
Action Owners	Every open item has a named owner and due date.	Verified
Next QBR Date	Date and time for the next review is set in calendars.	Set