Document Control - Extent of Responsibility

gheghe · Jan 7, 2004

The set-up here is that Document control encodes the customer BOMs in the programmed system including, accredited Vendors details(supplier and part#s) using the BOM list sent by customer. This BOM was reviewed and concurred by Engg group/dept(should be!) prior production run. The customer made a mistake giving us the wrong supplier part number, resulting to purchasing wrong material. For me, we could simply go back to customer to clear this out. What happened is they are blaming DOCUMENT CONTROL for not seeing this in the first place. As far as I know, it is Eng'gs responsibility to check the accuracy of those inputs from customer and not document control. Am I right? Im getting confused these days of what is the extent of Document Control responsibility. Can you pls give us another input on how we could justify our side here? Thanks.

howste · Jan 7, 2004

IMO the responsibility should lie with the group responsible for 7.2.2 (review of requirements related to the product). If document control has both the competence and responsibility to review and approve the BOM, then it could be their problem. But it most likely falls in engineering's lap.

Wes Bucey · Jan 7, 2004

Holey Moley, Batman!

gheghe said:
The set-up here is that Document control encodes the customer BOMs in the programmed system including, accredited Vendors details(supplier and part#s) using the BOM list sent by customer. This BOM was reviewed and concurred by Engg group/dept(should be!) prior production run. The customer made a mistake giving us the wrong supplier part number, resulting to purchasing wrong material. For me, we could simply go back to customer to clear this out. What happened is they are blaming DOCUMENT CONTROL for not seeing this in the first place. As far as I know, it is Eng'gs responsibility to check the accuracy of those inputs from customer and not document control. Am I right? Im getting confused these days of what is the extent of Document Control responsibility. Can you pls give us another input on how we could justify our side here? Thanks.

Before I take sides, who is "they" in "they are blaming DOCUMENT CONTROL"?
Who is "us" in "justify our side"?
Short answer - Document Control is usually a clerk-type job and no responsibility is attached for the "content" of documents, only for the sorting, storage, and distribution of most recent approved [by someone else] version.

David Hartman · Jan 8, 2004

Regardless of who within your organization is responsible for this verification action, your customer's unwillingness to accept responsibility for their mistake would more than a little upset me. What actions are THEY taking to ensure the adequacy of the information that they are providing you.

Even if they are "the customer", they still should take some responsibility for their actions - and not rely solely on your "inspection" efforts. Quality should NOT be inspected in!

I'll step down off of my soap box now.

Marc · Jan 8, 2004

ddhartma said:
Regardless of who within your organization is responsible for this verification action, your customer's unwillingness to accept responsibility for their mistake would more than a little upset me.

I agree this is key. One reaches a point where it is just plain stupid. I've seen this so often I just laugh anymore. I've taken companies as big as Visteon and Harley-Davidson to task for being idiots. My key is a well laid out corrective action which details the facts in the situation - including evidence such as releases, e-mails, etc. - and declare it a customer issue. Then get together with sales (they'll hate you) and send an e-mail wherein you explain that future mistakes will result in a debit - say $1000 - for sending incorrect data.

Customer errors cost money. GO after them for it.

gheghe · Jan 8, 2004

Before I take sides, who is "they" in "they are blaming DOCUMENT CONTROL"?
Who is "us" in "justify our side"?

"They" Our Manager, Engineering Manager and Plant Manager, "US" -Document Controller.

Cari Spears · Jan 8, 2004

Re: Holey Moley, Batman!

Wes Bucey said:
...Short answer - Document Control is usually a clerk-type job and no responsibility is attached for the "content" of documents, only for the sorting, storage, and distribution of most recent approved [by someone else] version.

gheghe - I agree with Wes' short answer unless your document controller(s) does have some kind of responsibility in reviewing requirements (as howste described).

Our document administrator has no control over content, and would not be held responsible in the situation you have described. Sounds to me like "they" are trying to pass the buck.

mshell · Jan 8, 2004

gheghe,

I would look at the responsibilities and authorities of all involved parties and determine internal responsibility. In our organization, these items are located in job descriptions. Also, Marc has a good point about customer responsibility. It sounds like your organization did meet the customer requirements but the customer requirements were wrong.

Document Control - Extent of Responsibility

gheghe

howste

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Wes Bucey

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gheghe

Cari Spears

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