4.1 Outsourced process - clarification required

Does deploying contract manpower for Manufacturing process amount to outsourcing a process? And if that be the case, does the Organization need to demonstrate their control in the lines of 7.4 over the agency to which the process has been outsourced? Particularly, does the Organization need to demonstrate the criteria for selection, evaluation, performance rating, etc in the case of agency that supplies Manpower?

 

Absolutely!! From my standpoint of just being a quality focal point there will be no change to section 7.4.

 

It seems you would certainly be outsourcing at least a portion of your HR function, and processes involved there would need to be 'transferred' to your 'supplier'.

 

The agency does not train them, but we do. It so happens that on any given day, few trained guys do not turn up and we need to run the show with the available guys. Therefore, the agency's overall performance does have an impact on our Product Quality. This is my real case scenario. I am trying to enforce some sort of control over them.

 

I don't think I know exactly what's going on, but do you think the agency would fall under an Approved Supplier/Vendor List? If so you could use whatever requirements you have there as a metric, maybe you could adjust your requirements to better fit what they are providing and what you expect of them.

 

Strange. If Operator training has an impact on Product Quality, why not the agency that supplies Operator have anything to do with Quality. If I have to find out why this happens as it happens and fix it, is it something other than PDCA, the God methodology of ISO at least to my knowledge. I am increasingly getting a feeling that we tend to underestimate Service providers in the Manufacturing environment. Service providers seem to be not getting due focus, as much as a product supplier does.

 

If Processes used for "Provision of Resources" is outsourced, it is well within the realm of 4.1 according to its Note. Why is this Corrective action internal and not subject to be audited?

 

They are not in our approved Vendor list. But I am certainly thinking in that lines.

 

I agree with Andy and Somashekar. Your temporary employees not showing up for work is no different than you regular employees not showing up for work. Do you chide your own HR department for this? Do you open a CA for them? The agency you use has about as much control over their contractors as your HR has over permanent employees. People either show up, or they don't.

When they do get there, regardless of the path they took, they need to know what to do. You train them, and they work in your facility for you. This is definitely not outsourcing.

It's possible that you might consider it to be outsourcing HR activities. But, I think even that is a bit of a stretch. Surely your organization passed to them the requirements for the job. Is that any different than posting those same requirements in a local newspaper help wanted ad or an online service?