Anyone had any experience with the DaimlerChrysler's Customer Scorecards?

[Mike Smith]

Has anyone had any experience with the DaimlerChrysler scorecards? This is a critical part of our implementation process for TS16949 and it seems we are getting hit for things that should not be. For example, shipping late parts when our ship schedule has zero for parts due. There are many other examples. I was wondering if anybody else out there has had any similar experiences and how they straightened them out .

[Raptorwild]

Mike, Honeywell has a similar score card system. Our delivery profile will show a number of parts received late, when our documentation has been stamped by a Honeywell representative as being received on the day it was due. I have called to talk to them about it and get the run around. Someone on their dock places the part on a stack of other parts and receives them into their system when they get around to it. IMHO... The date it is processed in the computer is the date they consider it arrived. I have considered sending them a CAR, because this reflects on us our Quality rating with them that we work hard to keep clean. One bad egg ruins our rating for the month!
Does anyone else think a CAR is a good idea?
Paula

[Wes Bucey]

Originally Posted by Raptorwild

Mike, Honeywell has a similar score card system. Our delivery profile will show a number of parts received late, when our documentation has been stamped by a Honeywell representative as being received on the day it was due. I have called to talk to them about it and get the run around.
. . .
Does anyone else think a CAR is a good idea?
Paula

I'd hold off on CAR until I explored the situtation a bit more. I know many major customers would simply ignore a CAR directed at them.

This is a highly political situation in many organizations - the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing and then proceeds to punish all who counted on the right hand to stick up for them.

Getting a runaround when you call means one of two things:

1. the person you called did not have the authority to get you an answer
2. the person you spoke to didn't realize or care about the implications of a non-response - maybe it's even a customer's policy to "extort" concessions from a supplier

Either of these answers means you need to do some research to find a person at the customer with authority over the situation. I'd start with each of the people whose signature appears on the purchase order and work up the ladder from there. It often helps to talk directly with QM at customer and ask advice on how to proceed. (Professional courtesy still reigns in the Quality profession.)

Sad thing is, it seems it's always the biggest or most profitable customer that wields the most unfair sword. I'm thinking particularly of customers who impose fines and arbitrary discounts when they "detect" poor delivery performance by a supplier.

We once "fired" a customer because the soft cost of dealing with his hassles was more than the hard profit we made from his business.

We had a similar situation just as you described. Charged with being late when it was not the case. But, here's another: Customer visited our plant and performed an audit after his free lunch. He then issued a CAR because we didn't have a drawing that they never sent. We had an RFQ from them and it was for something we do not supply. We had the RFQ, but no drawing. We never asked for the drawing because the part number didn't exist in our database as something we supplied them with. He insisted that we should have insisted on the drawing, anyway. Their procedure says that Suppliers must maintain copies of all drawings ever supplied to them. We had to officially answer the CAR, once it was issued. After explaining everything to them, as I did here, they closed out the CAR as "Satisfactory". Go figure. But, they were 25% of the business and that was big to Management. "Don't rock the boat and do what they want."