We are having problems with the note under 8.2.1 - Note "Consideration should be given to both internal and external customers." We have some here that are saying the "internal customer would be going from our production cell to the balancer, the balancer is the internal customer of the cell and so on, through our process. Then there are others here that say it would be in the case of a "business" inside of a "business". In other words if you had a finishing department that was actually considered another business. Does either of these fit the description of an internal customer, or am I still off base?

My interpretation of "internal customer" is that it is defíned per process. Once you have established the process "Input/Process/Output" then you know who the customer is - it is whomever receives the output.

Does this make sense to you?

We are having problems with the note under 8.2.1 - Note "Consideration should be given to both internal and external customers." We have some here that are saying the "internal customer would be going from our production cell to the balancer, the balancer is the internal customer of the cell and so on, through our process. Then there are others here that say it would be in the case of a "business" inside of a "business". In other words if you had a finishing department that was actually considered another business. Does either of these fit the description of an internal customer, or am I still off base?

I think you have it when you talk about the cell to the balancer.
For example, our press room provides stampings to our weld cells, therefore the press room's customer is the weld cell.
I agree with the previous post. Establish the input / output and who gets the output, that will tell you your customer for the process.

It's a bit dated, but interesting - See Internal Customer vs. Process Partner (http://elsmar.com/Forums/showthread.php?t=531)

...it is whomever receives the output.

Does this make sense to you?
Yep.:agree1: