Hello:

I have been on the board a couple of weeks now, just gleaming the past post and getting answers to most of my questions. First of all, thanks for the great advice and what seems to be an eagerness to help.

I was heavily involved in the implementation of ISO 9001:1994 (not the MR) at one of the metal fabricators in 1997. About 3 years ago I got involved in the remanufacturing world. The company was TS16949 and supplied remanufactured product to a big 3 OEM.

I am currently (4 months now) working for a remanufacture of engines to the aftermarket world. I hired in as a supply chain manager and during the interview process learned they were seeking ISO certification. After a few staff and quality meetings, and me pounding them with lots of questions about the process and procedures they did or did not have in place, I was ask if I would be interested in being the Quality Manager. Not being one to turn down a challenge, I accepted with the goal of being ready for pre-assessment by year end.

With all that said, I am now the Quality Manager and MR with the goal of being prepared for our initial ISO 9001:2000 audit by year end. We have a lot of things in place now, and I have a team of writers working work instructions and procedures. I feel confident we can reach that goal.

My question (finally): We have a warranty department that handles all our warranty issues. What ea of the standard should this fall under? Is this the “service” in 7.5.1 and 7.5.2?

Hello:

I have been on the board a couple of weeks now, just gleaming the past post and getting answers to most of my questions. First of all, thanks for the great advice and what seems to be an eagerness to help.

I was heavily involved in the implementation of ISO 9001:1994 (not the MR) at one of the metal fabricators in 1997. About 3 years ago I got involved in the remanufacturing world. The company was TS16949 and supplied remanufactured product to a big 3 OEM.

I am currently (4 months now) working for a remanufacture of engines to the aftermarket world. I hired in as a supply chain manager and during the interview process learned they were seeking ISO certification. After a few staff and quality meetings, and me pounding them with lots of questions about the process and procedures they did or did not have in place, I was ask if I would be interested in being the Quality Manager. Not being one to turn down a challenge, I accepted with the goal of being ready for pre-assessment by year end.

With all that said, I am now the Quality Manager and MR with the goal of being prepared for our initial ISO 9001:2000 audit by year end. We have a lot of things in place now, and I have a team of writers working work instructions and procedures. I feel confident we can reach that goal.

My question (finally): We have a warranty department that handles all our warranty issues. What ea of the standard should this fall under? Is this the “service” in 7.5.1 and 7.5.2?

"Service provision," as it's referred to in the standard, refers to providing service. Warranty/repair/maintenance service falls in this category, but so do any other services (as opposed to palpable products) that you might provide. You shouldn't worry so much about fitting your documentation to the clauses of the standard. If you have an efficacious, well-documented warranty service process, it doesn't matter what clause it falls under.

BTW, Al Rosen posted recently posted an attachment (http://elsmar.com/Forums/showthread.php?p=183585#poststop) that might be helpful to you.

Thanks for your hlep Jim.

My question (finally): We have a warranty department that handles all our warranty issues. What ea of the standard should this fall under? Is this the “service” in 7.5.1 and 7.5.2?

Firstly welcome to the cove Dhandley.

Jim is right it is important your processes work for you but it may be useful to be able to point people (especially those pesky external auditors) towards how those processes address 9001 requirements.

IMHO these are the relevant clauses
5.6.2.b - Customer feedback
7.2.3.c - Customer feedback
7.5.1.f - Control of production (after delivery activities)
8.3 - Nonconforming product
8.5.2 - Corrective action


Hope this helps!

Don't forget that information on your current warranty return rates and the associated cost should be an input to Management Review [5.6.2 b) & c)] . Warranty rate and cost reductions make a great quality objective (5.4.1). You probably want to look at whether you should cover yourself with a process for Section 7.5.4, Customer Property. You can also fit warranty returns into every sub-section of Section 8, Measurement, analysis and improvement. For my money, warranty cost reduction (i.e. reduction in what you AND your customer spend) is the #1 way to get the best customer satisfaction value for your time and money spent Measuring, Analyzing and Improving. Your customers don't care that your scrap and rework costs have gone down dramatically (unless you hand them a dramatic price reduction as well). They do care if you cut your warranty return rate in half! It saves them a fortune!
-Icy

Thanks for everyones help. It is great to have a resource like the Cove to get help.

David:thanks: :thanks:

Two more points to keep in mind. Warranty returns to your premises are customer property. Warranty per say is a service contract. This still requires any paid part replacements to be separately accepted by the customer.

I cite 7.2.1 Determination of requirements to the product claues,
C) Statutory and regulatory requirements related to the product.

Sal,
Good point. Adequately and accurately determining requirements BEFORE a product ships can save you a fortune in warranty. I have been the victim of huge warranty expenses due to a customer's returns of product that was without a single defect in material or workmanship. We screwed up, me made it exactly the way the design team told us to make it. Unfortunately, AS DESIGNED, the outputs were marginal under full load and we did not meet the customer's specifications with 100% of the shipped product.

The new draft standard includes a new "Note" to 7.2.1 that states that

"Post delivery activities may include actions under warranty provisions..."

This is a reference to 7.2.1 a.

Hope this helps.