Do Machine Service Contractors Need to be an Approved Supplier?

[Thirsty Thursday]

We just went through our Stage 2 ISO 9001:2008 registration audit the other day and received a Minor Non Conformance for not having our Machine Service Contractors on our Approved Supplier List; referring specifically to the contractors we have perform our annual Preventive Maintenance on our CNC machines.

Now I know this is an easy fix. I can get them qualified, add them to the list and even specifically reference machine service contractors needing to be approved in our procedure and retrain.

However,... Is this a specific ISO requirement? I believe a company performing PM or repairing a CNC machine is not directly affecting product realization. Does the same apply to our distributors that supply our coolant, oils, end mill, taps? Service on our air compressor? Our delivery truck's oil change company?

Any thoughts would be much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Tara Monson]

Preventive maintenance and/or repair on equipment used to produce materials for your product sounds like it impacts product quality to me, which was probably the basis of the nonconformance.

Did you state your reasoning to your CB? If you can prove they do not impact product quality, I'm sure you won't be required to have them approved. But based on what you stated above, it sounds like they do?

Good luck!

 

[Ninja]

Howdy Thirsty,

Do you care if those vendors are doing a good job?
Instead of looking for whether ISO requires it, look instead at what is good for your business. I think that recognizing whether the machine service is acceptable or lacking has a direct impact on your ability to make parts...even if it has little effect on part quality itself.

Your business is making parts and shipping the right quantity on time.
If machine downtime has no effect on part quality, surely it affects timeliness, no?
If the machinery breaks repeatedly due to poor PM, how can you ship on time?

IMO, The vendor is supplying a service deemed (by you) necessary to operate your business (else you wouldn't pay them)...and thus should be an approved supplier.

 

[John Broomfield]

Thirsty,

It seems reasonable to me. You depend on those machines to fulfill customer requirements including their requirements for on-time delivery.

John