Interpreting Product Realization (Clause 7) in ISO 9001:2008 for Service Industry

Dear all.. in the standards (3. term and definitions) saw an interesting statement that says "wherever the term "product" occurs, it can also mean 'service'." I was wondering if it is the right way to interpret clause 7 Product Realization as "Service Realization". Because then you would not have to exclude any clause as what was commonly done for service industries. Then you would measure your services instead of the products. Design your services.. Does that makes sense?

Re: 9001:2008 for service industry

isaiah.w said:

Dear all.. in the standards (3. term and definitions) saw an interesting statement that says "wherever the term "product" occurs, it can also mean 'service'." I was wondering if it is the right way to interpret clause 7 Product Realization as "Service Realization". Because then you would not have to exclude any clause as what was commonly done for service industries. Then you would measure your services instead of the products. Design your services.. Does that makes sense?

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Isaiah,

Yes it does. If your intended products are services then they have to be designed. Rarely do customers provide you with a design for your services or the service part of your product.

Services blueprinting is a search term that results in useful information here and on the web.

John

Thx for the reply, and great article. now I need to think abt services non-conformance. we are actually a company that provide maintenance services and do sell some products as well actually although we dont actually produce the products. but the company mainly evolve around maintenance contracts.

isaiah.w said:

Thx for the reply, and great article. now I need to think abt services non-conformance. we are actually a company that provide maintenance services and do sell some products as well actually although we dont actually produce the products. but the company mainly evolve around maintenance contracts.

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Isaiah,

Do those maintenance contracts specify the amount and type of maintenance required or do they specify the performance required of the equipment you maintain in terms of its up-time or downtime?

Thanks,

John

they do both actually.. maybe I could say that the service we provide are more like how we package the maintainance contract around the equipment that we may or may not provide to the customer. customization of maintenance service maybe? may include spare parts and consumables depending on the agreements

isaiah.w said:

they do both actually.. maybe I could say that the service we provide are more like how we package the maintainance contract around the equipment that we may or may not provide to the customer. customization of maintenance service maybe? may include spare parts and consumables depending on the agreements

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Isaiah,

If the customer specifies the maintenance work and spare parts then the customer retains responsibility for the design of this service.

If the customer specifies equipment availability objectives then you are responsible for the design of your maintenance service to fulfill those objectives.

You may also design your predictive maintenance services where you recommend vibration, temperature, oil analysis and other predictive measures and then issue reports based on your analysis of the results. Indeed, these reports may then drive the design of the maintenance you provide.

Advising your customers which pre-packaged maintenance service to invest in is also your design. Customers who do not take your advice retain responsibility for design.

Best wishes,

John