English and technical communication with Indian suppliers

What proficiency actually means

India has a large English speaking engineering workforce, and it is easy to generalise from a good first call. The generalisation usually fails because English is not a single skill. A toolmaker may understand a drawing note and a tolerance without being able to explain a delay on the phone. A sales engineer may write fluent emails and misread a datum callout.

The practical question is not whether a supplier speaks English. It is whether the person who controls the process can read the instruction and confirm it in a way you can check. In most Indian factories the commercial contact and the production contact are different people, and the handover between them is where meaning is lost.

That handover is manageable. It needs writing, not charisma. A drawing with explicit notes and a short written confirmation of the critical calls will do more than a long call with a persuasive account manager.

The drawing is the contract

A drawing works across a language gap because it is a controlled document. It has a revision, a title block, a general tolerance and a set of symbols that mean the same thing in Chennai as in Coventry. Any instruction that exists only in an email is weaker than the drawing it refers to.

Use the drawing to carry the intent. Put the critical-to-quality dimensions on the drawing, not in a covering note. State the finish, the material grade and the temper in the title block or in a note. If a feature is decorative, say so, rather than leaving the supplier to guess and then over-inspect.

The common failure is a drawing that is technically complete but commercially vague. It shows a radius without saying whether it is an inside or outside radius. It shows a thread without a class. It shows a plating without a thickness. Each gap is filled by an assumption, and the assumption is made by the person with the least context.

Email that survives translation

Write short paragraphs, one idea each. Number the questions. Avoid idioms, sport metaphors and indirect phrasing such as a suggestion that is really a requirement. If you need something by Friday, say that the parts are needed by Friday and say what happens if they are late.

Keep one thread per topic. A subject line that changes with every reply breaks the trail, and a trail is what you need when a decision is disputed six months later. Put the drawing revision in the subject line when the email is about a specific revision.

Confirm the answer in writing. If a call produces a decision, send a short note that lists what was agreed and who will do what. Ask for a reply that says yes or no, not a reply that says noted. Noted is not agreement.

Where misunderstanding shows up first

A communication gap rarely appears as a refusal. It appears as a first article that is close but not right, a finish that is the wrong shade, or a certificate that covers the material but not the heat treatment. By then the tooling is cut and the schedule is under pressure.

An escalation route agreed in advance

Every programme has a moment when a date slips. The difference between a recoverable slip and a crisis is whether the supplier tells you early. That depends on having a route that a production manager can use without feeling that he is complaining about his own company.

Agree three levels before the first order. The first is the day to day contact, who answers technical and schedule questions. The second is the operations or quality head, who can move capacity or authorise a rework. The third is the owner or the commercial head, who can settle a commercial disagreement. Put names, roles and response times in the quality agreement.

Then use the route as designed. A buyer who jumps to the owner on the first late shipment trains the supplier to hide the second one. A buyer who never escalates trains the supplier to ignore the first level.

1. 01

   Level one

   The account engineer or coordinator. Technical queries, drawing clarifications and weekly schedule.

2. 02

   Level two

   Operations or quality head. Capacity, rework, deviation and corrective action.

3. 03

   Level three

   Owner or commercial head. Price, liability, tooling and continuity.

4. 04

   The trigger

   Agree what starts an escalation: a missed milestone, a rejected lot or a silence longer than two working days.

Improving clarity without adding cost

The cheapest improvements are visual. A photograph of a good part and a bad part removes more doubt than a paragraph. A marked-up drawing with the critical dimensions highlighted tells the inspector where to look. A short video of the packing method settles a dispute about transit damage.

A glossary helps where the vocabulary is specialised. Terms such as free length, solid height, burr direction and mill finish do not translate reliably. A one page list with a sketch for each term is a small investment that pays back at every first article.

• Photograph the reference sample from three angles
• Mark critical dimensions on the drawing before issue
• Use one first article template across all suppliers
• Keep units explicit, metric or imperial, never both
• Ask for a written DFM note with the quotation
• Agree a standard weekly report format

Assessing a supplier before the order

Do not use a language test. Use the RFQ. A supplier that returns a quote with a marked-up drawing and three specific questions has read the package. A supplier that returns a price with no comment has read the first page.

Ask for a sample of their standard inspection report and a sample corrective action. These documents show how the company writes when it is not selling. A clear eight discipline report with a real root cause is better evidence than a fluent presentation.

If the programme is critical, ask who will attend the kick-off and who will sign the first article. The names matter more than the org chart. A supplier that sends the same two people to every technical discussion is a supplier with a stable team, and stability is what keeps a drawing revision under control.

What the buyer has to fix on their own side

Communication failures are not one sided. A buyer who sends a drawing without a revision, changes a requirement in a call and never updates the document, or asks for a date without saying which parts are urgent is creating the confusion and then blaming the supplier for it.

Write in plain English. Avoid phrasal verbs where a single verb will do. Avoid sarcasm and avoid a polite construction that hides a refusal. If a concession is not acceptable, say that it is not acceptable and say why.