Corrective Action vs. FMEA Occurance, Detection, Severance

[Avogel]

To set the stage, I work for a small co. We are tier 2 on the automotive pyramid.

I have a number of things to discuss, I hope I came to the right place.
I would love to pin my Root Causes to an employee. Some of my customers will take it as a root cause but most will not. For those that do they want to see mistake proofing put in place and they better not see the problem again. If it is a reoccurrence then obviously there is something wrong with the system.

However, I have a product that has been in production to the customer since 1997. There have only been a few non-conformities with this part. One in particular has occurred maybe one out of 1.5 to 2 million pcs. shipped. Not only that, but they have a very effective detection devise for this non-conformity. They will detect it, it is certain. Then there is even a question on the severity of this non-conformance. I feel as though the defect is very minor. The only way to determine this is to talk to the engineer and maybe run a few tests, but they are not entertaining that thought.

Through total investigation of this issue we found that the only way to eliminate the cause is to take the human out of the process and build a fully robotic work-cell and even then there is a chance of reoccurrence because we haven’t ruled out disgruntled employee. (If you have a mad employee out there that wants to sabotage a shipment they will find a way). The customer will not pay for the robot and will not accept a raise in product price.
Every time the customer finds this it is very expensive for us.
Are there any suggestions out there?

Another thing: Is there going to be standardization for corrective action? Some require 7 Step, some the 8D (has there been a revision to the 8D? The G8D maybe?), I am sure that there is a few more out here too.

One more: Where can I go for some poke-yoke or mistake proofing ideas?

[JRKH]

First of All let me welcome you to the cove. Many have found that it is indeed the right place to be. As to your question,


You said:
"Not only that, but they have a very effective detection devise for this non-conformity. They will detect it, it is certain. "

Is there any chance you could get ahold of one of these devices? That should take care of the mistake proofing.

Just a quick thought.

James

[Avogel]

No, it is part of their process equipment.
If this defect was present, my customer couldn't perform their testing which is done 100%.

[Marc]

JRKH said:

Is there any chance you could get ahold of one of these devices? That should take care of the mistake proofing.

That would be my thought. If they have something that will detect it, what is it and how much does it cost?

[JRKH]

Avogel

It sounds to me as though you have sorted through the problem as well as can be expected. I would suggest that it is time to sit down with the customer an put the cards on the table. You already have a process approaching six sigma, and the cost of improving the process further may simply not be cost effective. Ask the customer to visit you and review the process. How would they recommend mistake proofing? Would they be willing to purchase/build a piece of testing equipment? (that way it is their tooling, not yours)

If they continue to be stubborn about the whole thing, you may just have to refuse to renew the contract. Based on your post, I would bet that they would have a hard time beating your quality, so it might just get their attention.

James

[Avogel]

Thanks for the responce JRKH & Marc.
I have setup a meeting with the customer to discuss the issue.
Any ideas on the other two items?