Is a CAR addressed to your customer the best way to communicate with?

[LesPiles]

Hello everyone,

We are a small EMS (Electronic Manufacturing Services) and we assemble cards on behalf of a client.


An internal resource of our sales dpt. asked me for coordinates of the customer?s quality resource to send a request for corrective action (CAR).


When I asked why, this person said that there is a mistake in the customer's instructions, causing us a lot of rejects. It has already reported the issue to the client but nothing has ever happened (instructions were still unchanged). Our sales person then has decided to send a CAR directly to the customer.


The question I have is this: "Does a CAR is the appropriate way to communicate to the customer in such a case??


Thank you in advance!

Les Piles

 

[Helmut Jilling]

Hello everyone,

We are a small EMS (Electronic Manufacturing Services) and we assemble cards on behalf of a client.


An internal resource of our sales dpt. asked me for coordinates of the customer?s quality resource to send a request for corrective action (CAR).


When I asked why, this person said that there is a mistake in the customer's instructions, causing us a lot of rejects. It has already reported the issue to the client but nothing has ever happened (instructions were still unchanged). Our sales person then has decided to send a CAR directly to the customer.


The question I have is this: "Does a CAR is the appropriate way to communicate to the customer in such a case??


Thank you in advance!

Les Piles

It is "legal" to send a corrective action to customer, but might be unwise... A few customer might accept it and respond appropriately, and many customers will unleash the wrath of God...I would advise you and your colleague to talk to an upper manager in your company for some guidance and advice....

 

[somashekar]

Hello everyone,

We are a small EMS (Electronic Manufacturing Services) and we assemble cards on behalf of a client.


An internal resource of our sales dpt. asked me for coordinates of the customer?s quality resource to send a request for corrective action (CAR).


When I asked why, this person said that there is a mistake in the customer's instructions, causing us a lot of rejects. It has already reported the issue to the client but nothing has ever happened (instructions were still unchanged). Our sales person then has decided to send a CAR directly to the customer.


The question I have is this: "Does a CAR is the appropriate way to communicate to the customer in such a case??


Thank you in advance!

Les Piles

No CAR please...
You have a gap in your ISO9001 clause 7.2.2
You should have done this (Review of requirements related to the product) prior to your commitment to supply.
Nothing is lost. Hold back your supplies and resolve the requirements and maintain records.
You must rather strongly make an internal corrective action in your customer related process ...

 

[dataplate]

No CAR please...
You have a gap in your ISO9001 clause 7.2.2
You should have done this (Review of requirements related to the product) prior to your commitment to supply.
Nothing is lost. Hold back your supplies and resolve the requirements and maintain records.
You must rather strongly make an internal corrective action in your customer related process ...

CEM (Contract electronic manufacture) can be complex and during contract review many unforeseen problems cannot be predicted or identified. I would suggest instead of raising a non-conformance on your customer, create and use a system of "Drawing / Design Data Clarification Request". This can follow similar steps as an 8D etc

 

[Big Jim]

Hello everyone,

We are a small EMS (Electronic Manufacturing Services) and we assemble cards on behalf of a client.


An internal resource of our sales dpt. asked me for coordinates of the customer?s quality resource to send a request for corrective action (CAR).


When I asked why, this person said that there is a mistake in the customer's instructions, causing us a lot of rejects. It has already reported the issue to the client but nothing has ever happened (instructions were still unchanged). Our sales person then has decided to send a CAR directly to the customer.


The question I have is this: "Does a CAR is the appropriate way to communicate to the customer in such a case??


Thank you in advance!

Les Piles

If, and only if, the problem is so outrageous that you are ready to fire the customer and that is your last chance in saving the relationship. Combined with something we do not wish to bid for projects that end up costing us more than we make due to customer errors.

That would be pretty much a death statement for your relationship.

 

[Ninja]

Four replies in a row saying "This is dangerous to do".

Please let me make it 5 in a row.
Many customers would see a CAR as "We will only sell to you if you clean up your act".

I doubt this is the tone of relationship you want to have with your customer.
If I were the customer receiving it, I wouldn't be too happy with you as my vendor.

While "The customer is always right" isn't true...it is typically safer for the relationship to keep the saying firmly in mind.

 

[hogheavenfarm]

What we do in these cases, and we have had a few, is send the customer a Drawing Change Request (DCR) which outlines the technical issue and asks for approval of the change. If nothing else, this usually gets the ball rolling without creating a defensive atmosphere right at the start. We also note that future production will be Rev level (next) which we keep on file internally, even if they refuse the change. This can provide a bit of leverage for some negotiation.

 

[iamtroll]

As a plating supplier to a broad range of customers, we would never send a CAR to the customer unless we were planning on stopping business with them. On the other hand, if at the PO/engineering/quality review we find missing or incorrect information, we routinely refuse to proceed until the documentation is corrected. The majority of our customers are medical and aerospace, so we are perfectly within our rights to stop processing until everything is in order and we do.