IATF 16949 Clause 8.7.1.7 Nonconforming Product Disposition - Scrap Rendered Unusable

[batteryguy]

Excellent point.

I actually asked an auditor this question yesterday in preparation for our stage 1 audit. He said just showing our auditor the contract with our recycling company would be enough to satisfy the requirements of this clause. We don't render our scrap product unusable prior to shipment to our recycler, as the additional cost and time associated with doing so would be an enormous burden to us.

 

[AndyN]

I wish all auditors were as practical. One I'd heard wanted the client to follow the scrap/recycler's truck to their yard...

 

[Sebastian]

Working place where nonconforming parts were made is somewhere in the plant, parts are there somehow separated and protected against unauthorized handling. Then they are moved somewhere else and wait for picking by recycling company, How are they there separated and protected against unauthorized handling? Then recycling company is picking them so how do they control them before final disposition?

There is FAQ #11 related to this question. Few questions were asked there and serious answers were given.
It is also example of outsourcing, so auditor can ask about second party auditing, etc.

It can be laughable for Tier-2, ... organizations, but Tier-1 have to treat it seriously.

 

[IvanHF]

Have you spoken to your registrar about this? This is one of those automotive "you have to be kidding!" issues. Then again I guess it could be a use case aspect. How is the washer used? Is a failure critical, and if so in what way? I bring this up because I have seen registrars back off on a few things where the requirement was obviously stupid.

A reply from a curernt IATF 16949 auditor here would be appreciated.

We are in the process of working on IATF 16949 certification and we haven't determined exactly how we're going to deal with the destruction requirement yet. We don't know the applications of 99% of the washers we make, just that they're used in automotive applications by many different manufacturers. We've never had any information on safety critical features or requirements flowed down to us. We're a tier 2 supplier at best, we sell to the fastener manufacturers who sell to the OEMs.

 

[AndyN]

Doesn't say "destroy"! I wish that people would slow down, take a breath and READ what it says! It says "rendered unusable". If I pull the ignition key out of the lock and take it away, I've rendered the car unusable. If the part is made wrong, it's likely unusable (by the next process). Once in a while you may have to damage the thing (in the widest meaning of the word). Please don't run away with the idea that "destroying" is even close to being needed. Doesn't matter what the auditor says must be done!

 

[Golfman25]

Doesn't say "destroy"! I wish that people would slow down, take a breath and READ what it says! It says "rendered unusable". If I pull the ignition key out of the lock and take it away, I've rendered the car unusable. If the part is made wrong, it's likely unusable (by the next process). Once in a while you may have to damage the thing (in the widest meaning of the word). Please don't run away with the idea that "destroying" is even close to being needed. Doesn't matter what the auditor says must be done!

How do you render a washer unusable? I would think you need to cut it half. Even bending it, it still can be "used."

 

[Golfman25]

Working place where nonconforming parts were made is somewhere in the plant, parts are there somehow separated and protected against unauthorized handling. Then they are moved somewhere else and wait for picking by recycling company, How are they there separated and protected against unauthorized handling? Then recycling company is picking them so how do they control them before final disposition?

There is FAQ #11 related to this question. Few questions were asked there and serious answers were given.
It is also example of outsourcing, so auditor can ask about second party auditing, etc.

It can be laughable for Tier-2, ... organizations, but Tier-1 have to treat it seriously.

It's less about the Teir, and more about the product in question. Many of us make "automotive parts" that in and of themselves have no indication that they are for an automotive application or any application for that matter.

 

[IvanHF]

How do you render a washer unusable? I would think you need to cut it half. Even bending it, it still can be "used."

That's why I used the term "destroy". Short of shredding the parts or melting them down there's no simple way to render them unusable. The majority of the nonconformances we see would not render the part unusable.

 

[AndyN]

What's non-conforming about them?

 

[Marc]

What's non-conforming about them?

It comes from this:

We make washers and every setup, every material coil change, and every time we stop the press we clean out and scrap parts to avoid contamination reaching the customer. These parts are considered "process scrap"