Is the customer always right? Personally, I strongly disagree.

[pthareja]

Customer is the most important person on our premisis

Re: Is the customer always right?

[Quote: ]
Originally Posted by Claes Gefvenberg

The customer is always right.[/Quote: ]
[Quote: ]

Of course not -- unless your customer is God.
__________________
Mike S..[/Quote: ]

In Hindu Mythology both Guest and Customer were considered as God!
But that was in good old days; when The culture of Total Quality people was epiced.

Mahatma Gandhi tried to be more practical. Honestly! the path is difficult. may be enthuses one to renounce worldly pleasures. but the rewards are high!
He understood the requirements of his customers. and planned processes strategically for his customers' objectives.

 

[labboypro]

We don't see alot of this, but we do see it and it is ridiculous and disgusting!!! Especially the FOB part! Partial shipment lost/damaged, and WE are expected to make the claims and replace the parts and possibly take a negative hit in our delivery performance, and probably get a SCAR for something the truckers did.

New guy popping in to stir the pot...

So is there anything that we can do from a process improvement perspective to take control of the situation? That is, instead of dusting our hands and pointing to the FOB as backup, how do we drive improvements to increase delivery performance even when we hand it off to somebody else?

 

[energy]

It's been tried, I'm sure!

New guy popping in to stir the pot...

So is there anything that we can do from a process improvement perspective to take control of the situation? That is, instead of dusting our hands and pointing to the FOB as backup, how do we drive improvements to increase delivery performance even when we hand it off to somebody else?

Short of finding a carrier who really cares, nothing! Keep firing them and you will soon run out of carriers that will take your order. Go "Brown" for the little stuff. Try new companies who promise you the world. You may get lucky! JMHO

 

[Mike S.]

New guy popping in to stir the pot...

So is there anything that we can do from a process improvement perspective to take control of the situation? That is, instead of dusting our hands and pointing to the FOB as backup, how do we drive improvements to increase delivery performance even when we hand it off to somebody else?

Welcome, "new guy".

A tough issue. But, in my experience, it is usually an issue of damage, not loss or late delivery, that is the source of complaint after it leaves the factory. In that case you can try to beef-up your packaging a bit, and try to have reasonable discussions with the customer to try to come up with a joint agreement on how to solve the problem -- the best scenerio.

 

[Raptorwild]

Hi, all.

One thing that throws a wrench in all of this, IMO, is the trend towards some big customers charging a unilateral fee whenever they want to claim some sort of damage (SCAR). Sometimes even for things like damage in transit, though the contract says FOB producer's plant, and its their trucker.

This is on top of demanding the lowest price, which already squeezes margins. Instead of a partnership, this is a tyranical, dictatorial, relationship. Some of them we need to let swing in the wind.

Is the customer always right? Absolutely not.

Our main customer is pressuring us to sign a two year LTA which would require that we give a 5% discount every time our approval rating dips below 95% (such as on time performance) and if our PPM goes above 2,000 that is another 5% discount rate for the entire year. We have a niche in the business and the volume of parts they purchase is so low that one nonconformance could set us back for the year. Our quality is great, I am concerned about the on time delivery. We deliver the parts on time and they stamp the packing list with a received date and by:, we keep that document, our parts sit on the receiving doc for a couple of days and is received into their computer when they get around to it. Which makes our parts late in their eyes. What to do, what to do? They have no physical record that the parts arrived on time! We do. We would like them to revise the contract but I don't think that is going to happen. If we sign it, and our quality rating takes a dive because of the issues I have stated above, then I feel my only choice is to issue corrective action requests to my customer.
We have talked this over and over with our buyer, he said it is not his job and does'nt know or care who's it is! Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Paula

 

[WALLACE]

We deliver the parts on time and they stamp the packing list with a received date

Wow! They stamp with a received date. This just has to be a part of your customers receiving process. Does your customer have a formal QMS in place.
I would run all over that issue if I were auditing this facility.

They have no physical record that the parts arrived on time! We do.

Here's another large gap in your customers receiving processes.

I would take the "We would like to help you" approach to your customer's quality function. Suggest that you write a receiving process and procedure that can be verified by both parties.
Wallace.

 

[Mike S.]

Paula,

Another bonehead customer, huh? It takes restraint not to want to go over there and whack them over the head with a shipping box! How about just raising your price 10% and saying, sure, your idea sounds great!

 

[mshell]

Welcome New Guy

In that case you can try to beef-up your packaging a bit

Most packaging companies will offer free assistance with a packaging analysis if the packaging is an issue. They will educate your organization on proper palletization methods and proper carton selection (based on application).

mshell

 

[The Fixer]

Add Doc Rec Date

Paula,
During your LTA negotiations, see if the customer will add a "Dock Receive" date field to their receiving screen. That will accomplish two things. You can measure Ship to Dock Receive Time (which is the actual reflection of your performance) and it will allow you to measure the gap between Dock Receive and System Receipt.
You can help both companies that way. I suspect your customer has someone in a big office upstairs that doesn't know that your parts are sitting around waiting to be checked in. A nice little shot of metric would fix that I bet.

Glenn

 

[Raptorwild]

Thanks for the response... Negotiations? The only negotiation they are doing is when will we sign the LTA. I would love to suggest to our customer to add that field but no one wants to take ownership of their program. I called the person who is in charge of assigning passwords and user names. I asked how to modify the information on the report she referred me to our buyer, and well now we know where that got me.
Our supplier is the one who required us to become AS9100A registered. I am not sure if they have been through their transistion or not, but I sure wish I could put a bug in the ear of their auditor!

ISO like systems in the hands of BIG tyranical companies just make life **** for the (small) suppliers that can't afford to "fire" their customers...

Aint that the truth!

Another bonehead customer, huh? It takes restraint not to want to go over there and whack them over the head with a shipping box! How about just raising your price 10% and saying, sure, your idea sounds great!

Paula