Machinist's Corner: Show customers you care

How do you treat your customers? I’m not talking about a customer who places an order and then you don’t hear from him until another order is placed. I’m talking about a customer who received an order and has a problem with it. Maybe you shipped the wrong part or made a part according to an old revision. How do you handle the situation and appease the customer?

Obviously, you want to correct the situation no matter what. This includes reworking the part, making a new part or, if the part has only a finish problem, for example, offering a price discount the customer accepts. You must satisfy the customer, which includes explaining what went wrong.

But how do you prevent a similar issue from occurring in the future? I’ve found that the best way is to begin by documenting the issue in a digital format, such as in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. This document should contain all relevant information pertaining to the case, including:

•  the date of the complaint;
•  the name of the person who took the complaint;
•  the customer’s name and contact information;
•  customer-provided documentation about the part;
•  a thorough summary of the problem;
•  the part number and description;
•  the part quantity;
•  the return authorization number; and,
•  if possible, a problem category.

Then assemble a team to address the issue. It should consist of at least one representative apiece from quality, engineering, plant management, purchasing, sales and customer support. The team may vary, depending on the issue, but should meet as soon as possible once a complaint is received. Time is of the essence. You want to promptly provide the customer with a preliminary acknowledgment that an investigation has begun and who is involved.

In addition, give a target date of when you will complete the investigation to all stakeholders. Hold participants accountable for their portion of the investigation.

Next, conduct the investigation. The quality representative typically begins an investigation and reaches out to other team members as needed. The goal is to establish the root cause as soon as possible. Drilling down to the root cause will help determine what corrective action(s) to take. Was it a supplier issue? Was it a drawing issue? Was the wrong tool applied? No matter the reason, it needs to be identified quickly to prevent the problem from happening again.

Could this problem be happening elsewhere in the shop? During your investigation, you may be able to determine if a voluntary recall is necessary.

Maintain a log of what you find during the investigation, and save all collected documentation. When you finally conclude the investigation, tell your team and the customer what the corrective action(s) will be.

Hopefully, you receive few customer complaints. But when you do, first satisfy the customer. Then investigate to determine the root cause, share the results and institute a corrective-action plan. Your customer will appreciate it. Long-term relationships develop when customers know that you take their issues seriously.