Decide and Tell

By Wednesday afternoon the lot is tagged and the alert is out. Now two people want something from you. Production wants bolts by Thursday. And Dunmore doesn't know yet.

Choices for a bad lot

Disposition means deciding what happens to the nonconforming material. There are five choices, and each has a cost:

1. Return it. The supplier takes it back and replaces it. Clean, but the replacement takes time.
2. Sort it. Someone gages every piece, and only the conforming pieces are used. It works when the bad share is small enough that sorting is quicker than waiting. Someone must pay for the labor, and the supplier usually should.
3. Rework it. Fix the pieces so they conform. It needs an approved method and a recheck of every piece. For a rolled thread on a bolt it is rarely practical.
4. Use it under a deviation waiver. Engineering approves limited use of material that does not meet the requirement.
5. Scrap it. Right when the parts cannot be sorted or reworked, or sorting costs more than the parts are worth.

Who decides depends on your plant, but the choice that affects fit, form or function is never made by receiving alone. Engineering weighs in on use as is. Purchasing owns the conversation about who pays.

What a waiver is, and what it must carry

A deviation waiver is permission to use nonconforming material for a stated quantity, under stated conditions, until a stated date. It is not a way to make a problem go away. A useful waiver names the part, the lot, the exact nonconformance, the quantity, the conditions of use, the approver and the end date. A waiver with no end date turns into a standing exception.

Here the cell asked to use 600 of the bolts as they were. Engineering said no, because a bolt that will not accept the go gage may not thread into the mating part. The decision: Dunmore ships a sorted replacement lot by Thursday, and Receiving gages 600 pieces from lot 55102 tonight. Pieces that accept the gage conform and can be used. The rest stay tagged.

Sometimes the right use of a waiver form is to record a no. A written denial stops a verbal approval from drifting into practice.

Tell the supplier the same day

Call if you need to, but send a written notice the same day. It goes to the person who can act at the supplier, with a copy to your purchasing contact. It should say:

1. Part, lot and quantity.
2. What is wrong, in numbers: 6 of 32 reject, thread go gage.
3. What you have done so far: held, tagged and sorted.
4. What you need and by when: a marked, sorted replacement lot and a check of their own stock.
5. One name on your side, and when a SCAR will follow.

Keep it factual. The notice is not the place for blame. It is the record that says when they were told, what they were told and what you asked for.

The mistake to avoid

Telling the supplier by phone only. A call leaves no record, and their memory of it won't match yours. Follow every call with a written notice.

Open the printable Monday Board

The supplier, the part, the lot and the people in this book (Dunmore Fastener Co., FB-8120, lot 55102) are a made-up example. The tool sidebars show ShopFloorOps tools, which I make and sell. Every chapter teaches the step itself, so you can use your own forms.