I spoke with my client's SQA - one Dana Snelgrove - and he was typical Ford. Bottom line is I couldn't get the question in and I doubt, now that I think about it, that he would know. He's Quality Manager of Transportation Services - so there are a number of Q1 aspects which don't fit into the transportation end of things.
I will be at a meeting at Ford in Detroit this Friday and I'll see if I can get any more information then.
If you have a pdf file of the assessment it's in, post it in a reply and I'll have a looksie. I have the QOS Assessment, but not the Q1 Assessment. I'd like to see it.
But I think what is probably being said is if you drop-ship (as I mentioned earlier), you have to determine how any 'specified' characteristics are checked in your control plan and
FMEA. I remember from QS you had to have everything from receiving to shipping in your control plan and FMEA. This is an instance where you have to address the issue of another company actually producing something which they 'drop-ship' directly to the customer. It may be an operation after your processes which you sub out and your supplier ships directly to your customer. Or, it might be a distributor type arrangement. Or, it may be where another company manufactures something under your company's name. The bottom line is it doesn't pass through your facility for you to be able to check the characteristic - it is shipped from another company to your customer.