Hi,
We are an injection molder and about 80% of our customer base is automotive. Most of our automotive customers require annual PPAP's that include a full dimensional layout on 1, 3 or 5 pieces per cavity. We estimate the total inspection time to be approx. 13,000 hours per year. The need to perform the inspection is stated in out customer manuals.
To date, we have done the inspections free of charge but we are not able to keep up and we will need to outsource some of the inspections which will end up being very costly. Unfortunately inspection criteria and charges were not negotiated up front so we are considering going back to customers and letting them know we will need to start charging. Are others doing the annual layouts free of charge? Has anyone had to go back and renegotiate? Is it common to negotiate these costs at the start of a project?
Thanks in advance for any input.
We are an injection molder and about 80% of our customer base is automotive. Most of our automotive customers require annual PPAP's that include a full dimensional layout on 1, 3 or 5 pieces per cavity. We estimate the total inspection time to be approx. 13,000 hours per year. The need to perform the inspection is stated in out customer manuals.
To date, we have done the inspections free of charge but we are not able to keep up and we will need to outsource some of the inspections which will end up being very costly. Unfortunately inspection criteria and charges were not negotiated up front so we are considering going back to customers and letting them know we will need to start charging. Are others doing the annual layouts free of charge? Has anyone had to go back and renegotiate? Is it common to negotiate these costs at the start of a project?
Thanks in advance for any input.