And after all the great answers you already got:
1). The customer is always right, and when he is wrong it is still your
fault because you did not educate him properly. Ehhhh............. you
cannot fill a leaky vessel.
2). When you are making a product for a customer you and he are partners in
the same product line. (Emphasis on "partners".)
Sounds like you are working with one of those hard-nosed buyers who does not
know the difference between a circuit board and a pound of sugar, yet is
going to save the company by buying the boards at discounted sugar prices.
Have a nice Friday,
Ahne.
PS: As a contrast, this reminds of a boss I had way back, who asked if we
were paying enough for a given component. He did not want to give the vendor
an excuse to stop selling it to us.
-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of H. S. Miller
Sent: Thursday, July 15, 2004 22:17
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [TN] Death by Lethal Customer
My company has found itself ensnared in a frivolous attempt of extortion on
behalf of one of its newest "partners" cum customers.
The purpose of this message is to get as many people to respond with "what I
would do....." feedback to the following questions (I have structured the
survey in a multiple choice format for ease of use; only 5 questions):
a. Your customer hands you three different design packages for one PCB; one
version in Gerber and two versions in CAM350 (one is for manufacturing and
the
other is a previous revision for reference only) and tells you that the
GERBER and CAM350 versions are the same and to release the requirement to
manufacturing. What do you do?
1. Believe them because the customer is always right.
2. Verify through a comparative analysis if both designs are identical.
3. Blend both formats and see what comes out of the oven.
(We did number #2 and were punished for the delays it caused, even though
the
two design packages were different and we were later told to ignore the
Gerber version)
b. Your customer then tells you to ignore the Gerber version, and instructs
you to use the CAM350 version only and to release to manufacturing
immediately
(because of the time lost in matter outlined in item #a). When asked, "but
we might have design related questions that need clarification......", the
customer responds with "There should be no questions, this has been
manufactured
many times with no problems......"What do you do?
1. Believe them because if our competitors can build it, what is our
problem?
2. Conduct a proper DFM/DRC review to determine if their are any design
conflicts requiring resolution.
3. Take out your wallet and hand it to your customer.
c. We did number #2, and problems were found with the design. Our customer
then proceeded to inform us of our engineering incompetence and asked why we
didn't compare the previous revision (the CAM350 file that was marked for
reference only) to the current revision because all the "answers" are there.
What
do you do?
1. Tell the customer that you are sorry for your incompetence and explain
to
him that your company is only use to receiving one PCB design for one PCB
manufacturing requirement.
2. Do a comparative analysis between the old revision and new revision to
see if differences exist and seek the "answers".
3. Explain to your customer that ISO, IPC and industry standards mean very
little to your company and that although we experienced some difficulties in
manufacturing one PCB from four PCB designs this time, tell him that your
internal targets are to be able to manufacture one PCB from 12 PCB designs
by year's
end.
(We did numbers #1 and #2 and it proved to be "strike 3" in the customer's
eyes. Our incompetence is unprecedented. Both designs contained the
identical
problems/conflicts)
d. Our stated leadtime was X after all engineering questions have been
answered and production A/W has been approved; our "incompetence" lead to a
missed
delivery (but product was delivered within stated leadtime after all
prestated
conditions were met). What do you?
1. Apologize for your incompetence, and explain that the parts were
delivered under the agreed upon conditions.
2. Fire your entire engineering department because your customer clearly
knows more about this industry then they do.
3. Offer your customer an advisory position in your engineering department
to spearhead the "Build 1 PCB from Many PCB Designs" initiative to be rolled
out later in the year.
e. The total value of the purchase order is 3200 (Production + Tooling);
your customer wants a penalty of 9000 (the cost of quickturn boards to make
up
for our incompetence) + FREE PCB's + FREE TOOLING + FREE TRANSPORTATION.
What
do you do?
1. Offer FREE PCB's + FREE TOOLING + FREE TRANSPORTATION, not as an
admittance of guilt but in the spirit of partnership and the expressed
willingness to
"take one for the team" and hope for breakeven on the backend.
2. Agree to pay the full extent of the extortion amount and then
immediately
seek a testimonial letter from the customer.
3. Agree to pay the full extent of the extortion, and ask the customer for
references to individuals that do business the way he does; because the
economy, offshore competition, and rising material costs has "lost its bite"
and you
are looking for a new challenge.
I know that I have used a dose of levity to explain an otherwise very
serious
situation.
I am attempting (in an off color manner) to show the customer the "follies"
of their posturing and hope that the industry can assist me in telling them
what is wrong with this situation and behavior.
EVERYONE PLEASE CHIME IN
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Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives
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