8.2.3.1 NCR

[Richard Bullimore]

Good morning all,

My company had received an NCR from our CB for not having an up to date revision of our customers T&Cs of purchase on file that was referenced in their PO when committing to supply product. Long storys short - we corrected the NCR and have since been recertified following the corrective actions created.

I am now looking into ways to improve the time being spent by the sales admin on this, as this seems to be quite a lot. Currently when they are in receipt of a PO that details an additional T&Cs document, it is obtained via website or attachment etc. they are then checked for their revision status against previously accepted T&Cs, if the revision matches we do not check as it has already been done previously and we know we can conform to the requirements set, We store the most recent copy of their T&Cs in our system, or in the instance of web based T&Cs we note the revision number in notes against the account and amend when it is noticed that it has changed.

Instead of the above could we still adhere to this clause by sending a statement in our order acknowledgments stating that we adhere to their T&Cs we current have for them, for instance "Q123 Iss1" and that if this is an incorrect revision that we be notified? could this cover the clause requirements?
This way the sales admin will only need to update the automatic acknowledgement notes as and when the T&Cs are updated from customer. - I hope that all made sense.

Any advise at this stage would be greatly appreciated? as I cannot see how everyone else seems to adhere to this clause without having their admin staff spend copious time.

 

[GStough]

Good morning all,

My company had received an NCR from our CB for not having an up to date revision of our customers T&Cs of purchase on file that was referenced in their PO when committing to supply product. Long storys short - we corrected the NCR and have since been recertified following the corrective actions created.

I am now looking into ways to improve the time being spent by the sales admin on this, as this seems to be quite a lot. Currently when they are in receipt of a PO that details an additional T&Cs document, it is obtained via website or attachment etc. they are then checked for their revision status against previously accepted T&Cs, if the revision matches we do not check as it has already been done previously and we know we can conform to the requirements set, We store the most recent copy of their T&Cs in our system, or in the instance of web based T&Cs we note the revision number in notes against the account and amend when it is noticed that it has changed.

Instead of the above could we still adhere to this clause by sending a statement in our order acknowledgments stating that we adhere to their T&Cs we current have for them, for instance "Q123 Iss1" and that if this is an incorrect revision that we be notified? could this cover the clause requirements?
This way the sales admin will only need to update the automatic acknowledgement notes as and when the T&Cs are updated from customer. - I hope that all made sense.

Any advise at this stage would be greatly appreciated? as I cannot see how everyone else seems to adhere to this clause without having their admin staff spend copious time.

Good morning!

A standard practice I've seen used in the medical device industry (my world) is either a statement on the PO that the supplier must notify the customer of any changes prior to shipment, or there is a Supplier Quality Agreement in place containing a clause describing the requirement for notification of any changes to the organization. This is a broader requirement, as it usually includes name changes in the event of acquisition/merger, address changes, changes to processes, equipment, raw materials, as well as specifications, etc.

I hope this helps.

 

[Richard Bullimore]

A follow up question to this one: one of our customers states that their T&Cs of purchase are available upon request. so we request and receive them, check them against their order and process it, lovely. But 6 days later another order comes through. Are we expected to have to approach the customer again to gain current terms and conditions just in case they have changed? if we do not show evidence of checking then we run the risk of getting another NCR. I don't see how other companies adhere to the clause without consistently bothering their customers for the same document and taking a lot of their staff's time in processing orders.

 

[GStough]

This is a great reason to have supplier quality agreements in place with your suppliers. Add this as a requirement (often called a change notification clause) so the supplier must notify you as their customer of any changes to their T&Cs. I work in the medical device industry so I'm not familiar with the requirements of the aerospace industry, but it could save yourself some worry by having a supplier quality agreement in place that includes a change notification clause.

 

[Richard Bullimore]

This is a great reason to have supplier quality agreements in place with your suppliers. Add this as a requirement (often called a change notification clause) so the supplier must notify you as their customer of any changes to their T&Cs. I work in the medical device industry so I'm not familiar with the requirements of the aerospace industry, but it could save yourself some worry by having a supplier quality agreement in place that includes a change notification clause.

Thank you for your reply, it is greatly appreciated. Unfortunately in the instance of my problem we are the supplier and not the customer. it is our customers T&Cs that are referenced in their POs that we are struggling with in regard to the 8.2.3.1 & 2 clauses as they are referenced to be available upon request and we have then show evidence of checking them for every order.

 

[Kronos147]

I like the solution of adding the specification revisions to the acknowledgement.

FWIW, I send out a list of customer specs and revisions annually to ask our customer if we are current. This may also happen during contract review, where in our organization, quality is to check all specs.

 

[Golfman25]

A follow up question to this one: one of our customers states that their T&Cs of purchase are available upon request. so we request and receive them, check them against their order and process it, lovely. But 6 days later another order comes through. Are we expected to have to approach the customer again to gain current terms and conditions just in case they have changed? if we do not show evidence of checking then we run the risk of getting another NCR. I don't see how other companies adhere to the clause without consistently bothering their customers for the same document and taking a lot of their staff's time in processing orders.

I don't think you have to check for an update on each and every order. But some type of schedule to review their terms and conditions for changes probably should work. So every three months, 6 months, or a year (at a min).

 

[Richard Bullimore]

Thank you everyone for you assistance in this. it is very much appreciated. I am still fairly new to the Quality world and people like yourselves are really helping in my development and understanding of the standard.