Atlas helps U.S. manufacturers add domestic suppliers for stamped and formed steel and aluminum parts, then proves, with measured evidence, that the new shop can make the part to drawing, consistently, at production volume.
When lead times stretch and tariffs move, buyers turn to new domestic sources fast. A passing sample and an attractive price do not show that a press, a die, a coil of steel and an inspection bench will produce the same part next month. Changes in material, tooling, forming sequence or measurement method surface later, on your assembly line.
Lead times a major Florida power provider faced from its existing suppliers, before a regional manufacturing network connected it with a domestic switchgear maker.
Source: NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership, 2025Every new source found under that pressure still has to be shown to make the specific purchased parts, to drawing and at rate.
Higher-yield coil than the die was set for. The flange opens up and holes in it miss.
Bend radius too tight for the temper, or a bend line parallel to the rolling direction.
Pilot and punch wear, coil changes and a press warming up move a dimension over the run.
A good part rejected, or a bad one accepted, because the gauge or fixture was never checked.
Like a progressive die, each station does one job and hands a defined result to the next. Atlas can start after a supplier-scouting result or after your own search, and works alongside your engineers, the shop’s toolmakers and qualified laboratories.
Drawings, material specifications, change history, inspection records and field or assembly data, reviewed with your engineering and quality staff.
Press capacity, die maintenance, forming sequence, process controls, gauges, traceability and the shop’s response to nonconforming parts.
When first articles miss, a structured look at material variation, die condition, forming sequence and measurement error. Revised parts are judged against the same requirements.
Sample and trial plan agreed before results come in. Dimensional, material, mechanical, assembly-fit, measurement-system and capability evidence.
Approve, approve with conditions, or not yet. Your authorized engineer decides; then the requirements go into purchasing and supplier-quality documents.
For technically acceptable options, we compare cost the way the part is actually made: metal input and yield, operations, cycle time, tooling, scrap, rework and logistics. Verified supplier data and assumptions are labeled separately, so you know which numbers to push on.
DSQP v1.0 is a staged, freely reusable workflow for buyers who do not have a dedicated supplier-quality engineer and for shops that have never been taken through a formal customer qualification. It contains the forms, decision gates, sample plans, forming troubleshooting and model purchasing clauses. No client drawings, results or trade secrets are in it.
Score five factors from 0 to 2. DSQP turns the total into an evidence plan. A safety, regulatory or structural consequence is always Level A.
A cosmetic panel and an electrical-safety bracket do not get the same sample plan.
The shop scores itself against your part first; the buyer verifies key answers against records.
Springback, cracking, wrinkling, drift, burrs and flatness linked to checks and controlled corrections.
The approval names the part, site, die, press and material, and changes trigger re-approval.
Every engagement ends in a qualification dossier your engineer can sign and your purchasing team can enforce.
| Characteristic | Spec | n | Ppk | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CC Yield strength | ≥ 275 MPa | 3 heats | — | Conforms |
| SC Hole position A-B-C | Ø0.3 MMC | 30 | 1.81 | Met |
| SC Flange angle | 90° ± 1° | 30 | 1.07 | Conditional |
| SC Burr height | ≤ 0.20 mm | 30 | 2.62 | Met |
| SC Clinch nut push-out | ≥ 1.1 kN | 60 | 0 fail | Met |
Every paid engagement starts with a written statement of work: part numbers, buyer and supplier responsibilities, deliverables, access to drawings and production data, test resources, site visits, schedule and fee.
Run the protocol yourself with the published forms and the browser-based Workbench.
We define what the part actually needs before anyone quotes or builds a die.
Atlas runs the qualification from shop assessment to a signed recommendation.
Keep the approved process from changing quietly once orders start.
For U.S. stamping, forming and fabrication shops preparing for a customer qualification: traceability to coil, hit-count die maintenance, verified gauges and written reaction plans, documented in a supplier capability record you can show the next customer.
Workshops and train-the-trainer sessions for manufacturing associations, extension centers, supplier networks and technical colleges that want to put the open protocol to work with their members.
Atlas coordinates; it does not replace credentialed work. Material and mechanical testing is done by accredited laboratories, and work that requires a licensed professional is done by one. Your authorized personnel keep final design and release authority.
Formed-metal qualification is our core service. The same engineering-first approach applies to materials, design and compliance questions that block a sourcing decision. Each is scoped the same way: a written statement of work, your engineers keep authority, and credentialed work goes to credentialed specialists.
Where a part or formulation depends on a constrained mineral or a single foreign processor: materials review for diversification, feasibility of substitutes, and technical qualification of alternate processors.
Some parts stay offshore because the drawing asks for something U.S. shops rarely run. We review tolerances, processes and materials with your engineers to find changes that open more domestic options without hurting function.
REACH and CBAM look like paperwork but run on engineering data: what a part is made of, how much embedded emissions it carries, and whether suppliers can document both. We organize that data at the supplier level.
For suppliers facing a customer or certification audit: calibration records, process validation, measurement capability and reaction plans checked the way an engineering auditor will check them, followed by a mock audit.
The same gates and forms work for a buyer qualifying a shop, a shop getting ready to be qualified, and an organization helping either side.
Small and midsized makers of electrical and grid equipment, HVAC, appliances and industrial or agricultural equipment that buy stamped and formed parts and need a new source that will not fail at assembly.
Job shops that want domestic work and need to show, in a customer’s terms, that their presses, dies, gauges and records can carry a part at volume.
Extension centers, trade associations, supplier-scouting services, colleges and consultants who want a free, staged method to hand to members after a match is made.
Purchased parts from sheet or strip steel (including coated steel) and aluminum, made by blanking, piercing, bending, forming, drawing and progressive-die stamping, including simple welded or hardware-inserted assemblies.
Engineering-based procurement only works if everyone can trust the record. These are the terms we work on.
Any change to design, material or tolerance needs your authorized engineering approval. We recommend; you decide.
First articles and trials are recorded as numbers, with the gauge and method that produced them.
We check the measurement before blaming the press, so good parts are not scrapped and bad ones not shipped.
Your drawings and results never enter public material. The open protocol stays generic.
Outcomes are reported against a stated baseline, period and data source, without claiming gains that volume or design changes explain.
Atlas exists because the hardest sourcing problems are engineering problems that land on a buyer’s desk.
Taylan Iscan has spent more than sixteen years where procurement meets the shop floor. At BSH Home Appliances he supervised metal-material purchasing and worked with engineering and quality teams on sheet-metal supplier evaluations: dimensional requirements, tooling condition, control plans and corrective action.
At Kordsa Global he ran purchasing across eight plants and led technical qualification of alternate sources with capability and validation evidence. At AkzoNobel he managed mineral categories for more than 30 plants across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, building process-based should-cost models and dual-sourcing frameworks. Most recently he led global procurement for a specialty materials manufacturer with sites on three continents.
He wrote the Domestic Source Qualification Protocol to put that practice into a form any small manufacturer or job shop can use.
Results above are from the founder’s prior roles and were achieved with engineering, quality and production colleagues.
25.89° N · 80.19° W
Home base. Grid and electrical equipment, appliances and fabricated assemblies.
Transformer, voltage-regulator and industrial equipment production.
Electrical equipment and custom industrial components.
Florida, Texas and California are where we start outreach, not where we stop. A buyer in one state can qualify a shop in another. Site visits go wherever the part and the press are; the protocol and remote coordination work anywhere in the U.S.
Short technical pieces for buyers and shops working through a new-source qualification. All insights →
Why a flange that was fine from the old source opens up from the new one, and what to change first.
Read → Measurement · 6 minA capability index is only as good as the measurement behind it. How to check the gauge before judging the process.
Read → Qualification · 5 minProduction tooling, actual values and a header that ties every number to a die, a press and a coil.
Read →Yes. The protocol and its blank forms are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. You can copy and adapt them, including commercially, as long as you credit the source. The Workbench app is free to use in your browser.
No. DSQP brings established practice together into one staged workflow for smaller buyers. Where a customer requires PPAP or a sector-specific approval, that requirement governs, and DSQP can help you prepare for it.
Your responsible engineer. Atlas prepares the evidence and writes a recommendation to approve, conditionally approve or not approve. Your authorized people decide whether a supplier enters production and keep design and release authority.
No. An approval covers a specified part, revision, site, die, press and material. The shop’s improved controls carry over to later work, but each new part gets its own assessment.
That is the ideal starting point. Scouting finds shops with relevant capability; DSQP starts once a candidate exists and answers whether it can make your part.
The drawing at its current revision, the material and finish specifications, annual volume, the current source and any history of failures or deviations. A mutual confidentiality agreement is signed before drawings change hands.
A first call is a working session: the part, the reason for a new source, the candidate shops and the evidence the part’s risk level calls for.