Kelley said:
My small company manufactures almost 1500 products and I'm looking for a good plan (SOP) for managing customer notification for processing or raw material changes.
Anyone know how I should start?
Are your products custom-made to
customer's design or
off-the shelf (where the same product may go to more than one customer?)
In the first instance (customer design), you ought to negotiate with each customer as part of contract review on what the customer requirement will be.
In the second instance (off-the-shelf), the form, fit, and function are the primary criterion, not your process.
If you (for example) made fasteners, changing the material (not the source of the material) might be important, but it should also trigger a part number change.
Similarly, if you made threaded fasteners, customers would probably not care whether you cut threads or rolled them if your tolerances remained the same and the physical strength characteristics of the product remained the same.
In some instances, even if your products are off-the-shelf, some customers may have esthetic or political reasons for wanting to know raw material sources. However, they don't have a right to ask or demand unless you agree as part of the contract.
If this doesn't resolve your question, give us more details to work with.
(Automotive? Aerospace? Medical? Type of products? Materials?)