Non-Conformances in a Service based industry with no product

[debbie135]

Hello everybody
Not posted for a while as have been on holiday

next question
I am in a service based industry so there is no product to supply
This would mean any non-conformance relates to the service to the customer.

This seems to replicate exactly the type of issue which would already be recorded as a customer complaint.

Is it OK to have the customer complaint procedure and the control of non-conformance procedure so similar?

Debbie

[AndyN]

Hello, again, Debbie!

I hope you're keeping your head above water! My old house in Gloucester is probably flooded right now!

Non-conformance controls are a little different to customer complaint handling. You might have situations that your organization would see as non-conformance, that the customer might not and may not concern them sufficiently to make a complaint. However, your processes should detect these situations, record them and use the data for trend analysis. These situations are an indicator of how effective the processes are.

Non-conformance might affect your suppliers, too. Not just things you do for customers. Having staff turn up at the wrong customer location etc. might be correctable, may not cause a customer complaint, but should still be recorded and tracked for trends. etc.

[Jim Wynne]

Originally Posted by debbie135

Hello everybody
Not posted for a while as have been on holiday

next question
I am in a service based industry so there is no product to supply
This would mean any non-conformance relates to the service to the customer.

This seems to replicate exactly the type of issue which would already be recorded as a customer complaint.

Is it OK to have the customer complaint procedure and the control of non-conformance procedure so similar?

Debbie

Customer complaints may or may not be related to nonconforming conditions. In order to qualify as nonconforming, there must be a standard or explicit requirement to which conformance is necessary. It might happen that a customer complaint creates a new requirement, but that's more in the area of continuous improvement than nonconformance, per se. And of course, there will always be customers who just like to complain, whether anything is really wrong or not.

[DannyK]

Hi Debbie,

Do you purchase any goods or services? If yes, an anomaly with the purchased goods could result in an nonconformance.

You could definitely embed the customer complaint process within the nonconforming product procedure.

Danny

[Sidney Vianna]

Originally Posted by debbie135

I am in a service based industry so there is no product to supply...Is it OK to have the customer complaint procedure and the control of non-conformance procedure so similar?

Debbie, certainly you have a product to supply. Even though, it might be combination of a qualified human being and non-tangible services. Without a product your employer would not exist.

Originally Posted by Jim Wynne

In order to qualify as nonconforming, there must be a standard or explicit requirement to which conformance is necessary.

Being somewhat pedantic {so forgive me in advance}, the ISO 9000 definition of requirement does not limit itself to explicit requirements; (implied) expectations also fall in the definition of requirements. So, in Debbie's case, if she sends a temporary employee to a client and that individual has excessive B.O. (body odor), creating a problem for the co-workers, Debbie's customer might be dissatisfied and might generate a customer complaint, even though he might not have originally specified an "odorless electrical engineer with 5 years of experience in designing high voltage circuitry".
Actually, in the Service Sector, one of the challenges for the quality professionals is to anticipate many of these unwritten expectations those "pesky customers" tend to come with.

[harry]

Jim's post should be read in conjunction with Sidney's. In other words, when you set your service standards, you should consider the following:
1. Customer requirements or expectation
2. Requirements set up by trade associations, standards, etc
3. Company requirements and expectations
4. Others - requirements not stated anywhere but is necessary ( such as the example quoted by Sidney). In this case, a customer of the customer.

Failure to meet any of these is a non conformance.

[Jim Wynne]

Originally Posted by Sidney Vianna

Being somewhat pedantic {so forgive me in advance}, the ISO 9000 definition of requirement does not limit itself to explicit requirements; (implied) expectations also fall in the definition of requirements. So, in Debbie's case, if she sends a temporary employee to a client and that individual has excessive B.O. (body odor), creating a problem for the co-workers, Debbie's customer might be dissatisfied and might generate a customer complaint, even though he might not have originally specified an "odorless electrical engineer with 5 years of experience in designing high voltage circuitry".
Actually, in the Service Sector, one of the challenges for the quality professionals is to anticipate many of these unwritten expectations those "pesky customers" tend to come with.

Good point.

[WEHTTAM]

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Hi

Does anyone have a non conformance SOP specifically for the gas utility market?

Many thanks