SUPPLIER OR CUSTOMER? - Dual role quandary

[potdar]

A typical situation in the slightly crazy world of service industry - for comments from all of you:

One of my clients has applied for certification to ISO 9001:2000. The scope: provision of marketing services for speciality maintenance products. His business - locate speciality maintenance consumables not available in the country, approach the manufacturer, offer his services and obtain distributorship for the country for those products. Sell the concepts to probable consumers here, import and supply the products on order.

The CB auditor comes in for a certification audit. He wants to see supplier evaluation records. The auditee says 'Look, I don't evaluate my suppliers (of the consumables) on a routine basis. I evaluate them when I choose them and decide to approach them. If you want to see, here are the records. This is my manual, which says I don't evaluate them.

Now the spin. The auditee says that look here, I don't evaluate this party as my supplier, on the other hand I provide services to them for which I am seeking certification. It is they, who evaluate my performance and decide whether to continue with my services. They are my customers.
The auditor is visibly confused and decides to shut up for the day. He is currently on his way to another location, and will write his NCs, if any, at the end of the audit (4 locations).

Any advice for the confused fellow?

[chergh]

OK think I have managed to get my head round this one.

I think the easiest way to explain this to your auditor is through a high level process map. Draw the process map and then highlight the parts of the process that you are including in the scope of registration.

This seems to be one of those thing thats is probably easier to illustrate than explain verbally.

[Wes Bucey]

There must be some other distributors who have achieved certification. How did an auditor unfamiliar with distributors get selected for the assignment? Does not the registrar have other distributor registrants?

Sounds to me like the auditor AND the auditee BOTH need some time to think about what they are really doing.

[Helmut Jilling]

Originally Posted by potdar

A typical situation in the slightly crazy world of service industry - for comments from all of you:

One of my clients has applied for certification to ISO 9001:2000. The scope: provision of marketing services for speciality maintenance products. His business - locate speciality maintenance consumables not available in the country, approach the manufacturer, offer his services and obtain distributorship for the country for those products. Sell the concepts to probable consumers here, import and supply the products on order.

The CB auditor comes in for a certification audit. He wants to see supplier evaluation records. The auditee says 'Look, I don't evaluate my suppliers (of the consumables) on a routine basis. I evaluate them when I choose them and decide to approach them. If you want to see, here are the records. This is my manual, which says I don't evaluate them.

Now the spin. The auditee says that look here, I don't evaluate this party as my supplier, on the other hand I provide services to them for which I am seeking certification. It is they, who evaluate my performance and decide whether to continue with my services. They are my customers.
The auditor is visibly confused and decides to shut up for the day. He is currently on his way to another location, and will write his NCs, if any, at the end of the audit (4 locations).

Any advice for the confused fellow?

Evaluating them at the beginning is fine. Whether they are suppliers or clisnts should not have any bearing on this situation.

[atitheya]

Interesting situation

Both the consumer and the manufacturer of the speciality maintenance products can be customers given the range of products and their use and, ofcourse the services of the company. The suppliers can be information agencies, shipment services (logistics) etc (supplier of services) and they need to be evaluated and their performance needs to be monitored (re-evaluation)!!!

Did the auditor say he wanted to see the supplier evaluation records as for the suppliers (as a general question) or did he specified the manufacturers as suppliers?

Had the scope been 'Provision of Speciality Maintenance Products' the manufacturers needed to be re-evaluated on their performance as a supplier. But since the scope is as stated in the question, it adds the twist. Still the client needs to evaluate and re-evaluate its suppliers as in service suppliers.

[atitheya]

Infact, to add to my earlier message, given the scope

provision of marketing services for speciality maintenance products

, the manufacturers of the speciality maintenance products are the customers and the consumers, for the organisation in question, are customers' customer.

However as part of the marketing strategy, the organisation may keep the track of the utilisation / utility of the manufacturers' products (customers' products) in the country, in their own business interests.

[potdar]

Originally Posted by Wes Bucey

There must be some other distributors who have achieved certification. How did an auditor unfamiliar with distributors get selected for the assignment? Does not the registrar have other distributor registrants?

Sounds to me like the auditor AND the auditee BOTH need some time to think about what they are really doing.

Well, I have helped the auditee design his system. Any advice to the auditee as well is very much welcome from all.