I am in the process of implementing this clause at our headquarters since they have taken over all of the sales and customer service responsibilities in our company. They do not feel it is necessary to review all incoming purchase orders for the requirements listed in Clause 8.2.3 for repeat customers. I believe it is necessary to do this for every PO with the exception of those customers that have a contract in place, since the requirements could potentially change from one PO to another. Am I correct with this approach?
ISO 9001:2015 Clause 8.2.3
- Thread starter jf128
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geoffairey
Involved In Discussions
If you supply Standard Off the Shelf Products (i.e. it’s not a custom requirement for the customer) then C, D and E should have been considered in the creation of the product e.g. clause 8.3.
So it’s only if there’s any special requirements or someone in the order acceptance team can check whether it will meet the customer’s needs.
If you’re offering bespoke products then there is a requirement to check them. Just because someone’s a repeat customer, doesn’t mean that they’re automatically ordering the same things, or their needs may have changed, This is where your company provides their experience.
I suppose it depends how confident you are that you’re meeting the customer’s needs. How many complaints do you receive that an order is wrong and when investigating it’s down to something which could have been avoided by a check at order receipt time?
So it’s only if there’s any special requirements or someone in the order acceptance team can check whether it will meet the customer’s needs.
If you’re offering bespoke products then there is a requirement to check them. Just because someone’s a repeat customer, doesn’t mean that they’re automatically ordering the same things, or their needs may have changed, This is where your company provides their experience.
I suppose it depends how confident you are that you’re meeting the customer’s needs. How many complaints do you receive that an order is wrong and when investigating it’s down to something which could have been avoided by a check at order receipt time?
We have a mix of standard and custom products. The labeling on the products varies by customer and the packaging can also vary. The information required on the label and the requirements listed on the PO trigger testing and documentation requirements. Ideally much of this would have been addressed when the customers were new but this type of detailed review was not in place when the customers were new. While in general there are not many customer complaints based on the volume of orders some of the customers do not understand the what is required based on the information on the their PO's and labels and I am not confident that what we are supplying actually covers all that is required.
geoffairey
Involved In Discussions
If the order acceptance team won’t accept what you’re saying, I’d perform a risk assessment with the relevant manager of what may happen if the orders are not meeting the requirements (Explicit or Implicit) then let them make a decision based on the outcome of the Risk Assessment.
if the risk is above the tolerable level and they still refuse, the risk should be raised to the appropriate level for their information.
“You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.”
Tagin
Trusted Information Resource
Would it be feasible to create a form for the customers to fill out and accompany their PO, so that the customers are prompted to think about and provide all needed information? If not, could this form be given to your sales people so that they can fill it out on behalf of the customer (and ask the customer for any missing information not on the PO), as a means to ensure capturing all the customer requirements?
Doesn’t PO’s have expected delivery dates? That’s a critical aspect for order fulfillment and customer satisfaction. If your potential delivery dates conflict with customer expectations, the issue should be addressed prior to “PO acceptance”.
The customers act essentially as distributors typically serving maintenance and repair. Specifications and requirements are added based on what they see other suppliers doing to remain competitive without understanding what is required of the specifications. I am trying to make sure that even if the customer doesn't completely understand, as a company we are doing what is required to minimize our risk.
geoffairey
Involved In Discussions
Because they don‘t always. Sometimes the product is complex. sometimes, the product looks correct, but maybe there are different gradings of quality e.g. a wall fixing to hold a certain weight, there may be 30KG, 20KG and 10KG models.
Sometimes the customer needs the Supplier to intervene and have a conversation to add their expertise and guide the customer. ISO 9001 expects this to happen where the Supplier can reasonably see that the customer may be making an uninformed or incorrect choice.
Right now the only review occurring is product, price, and date. The PO is acknowledged with the date we can provide the which is often later than the requested date without first discussing with the customer.