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SCAR submitted to us by our customer's customer????

Discussion in 'Supplier Quality, Audits & Other Supplier Issues' started by Nikki, Oct 9, 2015.

  1. Nikki

    Nikki Well-Known Member

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    Hello All -

    A little help please with this one.

    Our customer (Customer A) ordered some material from us. We charged them for the work and material, they paid the bill.

    Now their customer (Customer B) has contacted us directly and is submitting a SCAR to us to complete because they are not happy with the material.

    I do want to mention that Customer B, is actually a customer of ours as well - but not in terms with this specific product / project.

    What are your thoughts on this? I would think they would go through Customer A, and then Customer A would submit a SCAR to us, not directly from Customer B like what is going on right now.

    Thanks,
    Nikki
     
  2. Nikki

    Nikki Well-Known Member

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    Are we obligated to respond to this SCAR?
     
  3. Somashekar

    Somashekar Well-Known Member

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    Lets not build walls ... Lets build bridges.
    Forward to A with a copy to B and assure a proper investigation.
    You and A discuss and if you need to go to B, go together. :):):)
     
  4. Nikki

    Nikki Well-Known Member

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    Thank you Somashekar!!
     
  5. hogheavenfarm

    hogheavenfarm Well-Known Member

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    It is not normal procedure. maybe customer B feels they will not get anywhere with customer A and wants to get something resolved, or thinks that A will not notify you. Make the best of it if you can. First determination of course, is the issue traceable to you, or something customer A did to the material? I have had this happen before when our immediate customer put a chemical on a material that is not compatible, then their customer claimed our material was defective. So first, assess the issue accurately and then follow it up. Somewhere along the lines I would work in a friendly "you really should have contacted A first"....
     
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  6. Nikki

    Nikki Well-Known Member

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    Thank you HHF :)
     
  7. Reluctance

    Reluctance Member

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    Thought I could add my 2 cents.

    I have been in this situation many times. We are a second level supplier to a company that is very involved with its suppliers. More often than not we end up responding to corrective actions from our customer's customer and not actually from our customer. Or if it is from our direct customer it is merely a copy/paste from their customer. The same goes for change notifications and PPAP submissions.

    The benefit in our particular situation though is that the end customer is actually better to work with than our direct customer. We do need to continually keep our direct customer apprised of what is going on, but they are more than willing to allow their customer to work with us directly. This has strengthened our relationship with the end customer and helped us in some of our negotiations with our direct customer.

    Depending on your particular relationship with Customer B right now this could be a great opportunity. The way in which you handle this could turn into direct business with Customer B and better margins!
     
  8. GStough

    GStough Member

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    An excellent perspective, Reluctance! :cool:
     
  9. RoxaneB

    RoxaneB Moderator Staff Member

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    If you do decide to respond to Customer B, is there an issue with cc'ing Customer A on the response? Especially if there are any actions outside of your control and more inline with Customer A's responsibilities.
     
  10. Nikki

    Nikki Well-Known Member

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    Thank you Relcutance. Customer B is a customer of ours already. Its just that in this particular situation, the material was purchased directly from another customer - it was then shipped to Customer B to extrude into tubing.
     
  11. Somashekar

    Somashekar Well-Known Member

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    Understanding your business connections, when in this instance, you are connected to B through A, keeping A informed is always in good business relationship. Who knows, someone somewhere in A may have a solution to the problem.
     
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  12. Tom Waite

    Tom Waite Member

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    I have experienced this same issue, more with a pass through work that customer A has with us and Customer B, but also with value added product through A to B. I have tactfully pushed back a little to explain that the stream of communication needs to be clearly followed to make sure everyone is in the loop. Most of the time it has been received well because they would expect the same treatment. However, when I have gone to customer A and explained to them that customer B sent a SCAR directly to me, I have had customer A jump in and really take the lead in correcting customer B. It's a tricky situation but in the end satisfying the customer chain is the critical piece.
     
  13. MCW8888

    MCW8888 Well-Known Member

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    I agree with all the above answers. At the present time we are TIER2 supplier to customer B through Customer A. We do PPAP for customer B through Customer A. If there is a customer complaint from B, We look at our Control Plan and follow the process through a detail RCA. We talk to Customer B and copy customer A as well.