How to maintain all customer requirements?

[Wyatt13]

***I think this question has likely been addressed already but it's difficult to narrow down throughout the different threads***
The company I work for makes individual components for most industries(Aero, Medical, Auto, Oil & Gas & Off Highway) Our current process for maintaining customer specific requirements is to have them listed in an excel sheet for each customer. For some of our customers the "Master Document" they have all of their requirements flown down on is Rev controlled and that Rev is flown down on their PO. That makes it simple to keep track of the rev and the Quality department records their interpretation of the requirement in the excel sheet so the customer service rep processing the order can verify our notes are up to date and valid. Unfortunately, we have plenty of customers that do not flow down their requirements so nicely and our process isn't really effective since the second we publish the excel with the requirements it is more or less out dated.
What I am looking for is how other companies organize these requirements and are able to keep up with them. We have such a large customer base and variety of customer types that maintaining this has not been efficient or effective.
Thank you in advance! (Sidenote: I am in school right now and learning the proper lingo/processes. Everything I have learned up to this point has been on the job, which can be good and bad )

 

[Ronen E]

Hello,

In my opinion the issue here is not the tool or the technique. It's more about state of mind.

Requirements and specification can be dynamic, but they can't float around with no boundaries. When a quote is issued (or an offer is made, e.g. via a catalogue or website), it is to a given set of specifications. When a PO is received, it is to a given set of specifications, which goes on to manufacturing, inspection, logistics etc.

Some people have a hard time accepting the above. Hence the "once the specification is issued, it's practically already obsolete" mentality. No, once the PO is issued, the specification is locked in, unless the supplier (your company) agrees otherwise! Without establishing this in your org culture, and with ALL your clients, the problem can't be solved. At most, it might be mitigated/managed, or the likes - but that's not my specialty so I can't help with that.

What you might need is a good configuration management system/tool. A large collection of Excel files is not the best way to manage a large collection of diverse clients with dynamic requirements. When you have such a system, it's clear what each config includes (requirements) and which config was quoted/offered, ordered, manufactured and supplied.

Cheers,
Ronen