4.3 Contract Review - Configured Product - Configurable subassembly

4.3.2 says:

"Before submission of a tender, or the acceptance of a contract or order (statement of requirement), the tender, contract or order shall be reviewed by the supplier to ensure that:
a) the requirements are adequately defined and documented;..."

We have a product with a configurable subassembly, which is defined per system. However, this information does not always get here before the order is entered.

We know that we can build all configurations, since the differences are only # and spacing. However, the shop cannot finish building the job without the configuration information.

Question: Does 4.3.2 a) require that this system specific documentation be given before the order is entered, or can we have a "drop dead" date where this must be entered or the ship date wil be pushed out?

Any hints on how to arrange this would also be appreciated, as ramping production seems to lead to less, rather than more, documentation.

Thanks,

AJP

[CarolX]

AJ,

Sounds like, for your purposes, you have satisfied the requirements. The requirements are adequately defined to allow you to begin production. But I would definitly add a "drop dead" date to prevent shipping the wrong produt to the customer.

Thanks Carol, any experience with setting up due dates for that sort of information? We're spending a bit too much time frantically calling the customer on or just before the ship date.

I've checked over the Work Instructions and they don't address this issue, since it's a recent development.

Thanks,

AJP

I am having a similar problem, we do not have an "official" order for our customer but we are having to forcast their requirement. This is because they never give us enough notice to complete an order before they require delivery. This is a very large scale project and we do have a letter of intent. Is building and reserving systems before having the official order allowable under QS 9000?

[CarolX]

AJ - Sorry, no experience setting up due dates, but try to calculate your minimum lead time, and perhaps pad it by a few days.

Katie - Sorry, I am not a QS person. Many that frequent here are, so check back for another response.

[Marc]

If you're working on a letter of intent be sure you can show how customer requirements are specified / communicated.