We are fast approaching the end of the year. Thank you to all who have participated in the newsletter this year. Your feedback, responses, and ideas have helped to make it what it is today. I look forward to the new year and to all that lies ahead.
For this issue, we will focus on a choice that all contract manufacturers must make.
Inherent to this industry is the challenge of managing documentation and assemblies designed and controlled by outside organizations. Contract Manufacturers must efficiently track and manage changes made by the customer. This makes assembly revision policies an important topic for manufacturers.
According to the last survey, 56% of you set your internal assembly number revisions to match that of the customer. However, 87% of you change your internal revision whenever the customer changes their own, and 50% of you change your internal revision with each internal product modification even if the customer does not change their assembly revision.
Many, if not all, of you have had instances when customer changes created confusion and may have cost your company or that of your customer significant profit from simple mistakes.
For that reason. we will focus on internal product number revisions. It is a subject that many treat almost as an afterthought, but one that can have lasting impact (both positive and negative) on your business.
As always, we look forward to your participation and feedback as you gain new insights and become a more effective provider of Electronic Manufacturing Services.
Sincerely,
David Sharp
ManEx, Inc.
Business Case - Inventory Control
Assembly Revision
North Eastern Company* (N.E. Company) recently shipped the first article for assembly PCA-8596 Rev S and the customer quickly notified NE Company that the assembly did not match the specified revision. NE Company used a manufacturer that had been removed from the AVL.
By policy, NE Company numbers their assemblies to match the customer's assembly number and revision. Therefore, NE Company produced their internal part number 910-PCA-8596 Rev S. Initially, they suspected that the customer accidentally ordered the Rev S and was trying to blame NE Company for producing the wrong revision. However, upon further investigation they realized that this assembly had gone through three updates, but no revision changes, in the last quarter and the most recent update wasn't applied.
This customer was infamous for frequent changes to their products and often failed to update their own product revision with each change. It was common for NE Company to receive four or five revision updates before the customer finally changed their revision. This made it very difficult for NE Company to manage the changes and ensure the product was shipped according to the customer's specifications.
Although NE Company had documentation to support the configuration they produced, they were not interested in arguing with their customer. This was a profitable relationship and NE Company wanted to provide the value added service of allowing those changes, while controlling the product. They needed a method to allow them to track the customer's changes, and ensure that they produced the most current and correct version.
How can N.E. Company allow for product changes and ensure they produced the most correct version? Do they need to change their policy and not try to match the customer's assembly number and revision? What impact will these changes have on their production and how will it affect their communications with their customers?
* Company name has been changed.
Business Case Solutions
In a contract manufacturing environment, there are three main approaches to managing internal assembly revisions...
"Both [our] customer rev and ManEx (XOS) match revisions - always.
[When a customer changes their product but not their revision] we use a [] wild card to make the changes: i.e. customer rev. A, XOS rev. A[1], next change by customer XOS rev. changes to A[2], etc. [while the] customer revision remains [at] A. Doing this lets everyone know that a [] within the Revision is not part of the customer revision."
- Nick, TX, US
We do set our internal assembly to match the customer's assembly revisions.
We don't change the assembly revision if the customer doesn't change their assembly revision, but I think we should.
"With variant assemblies of the same product or rapid new revisions we are finding it hard to ensure we are building to the correct spec. The only revision level we can rely on is the customer's own but unfortunately many do not bother with one!"
- Peter, Telford, UK
"[We] utilize our own internal revision process, so that we can track changes even when a customer does not change their revision."
"We have found more benefits with the utilization of internal revision control.
"The other part of using an internal revision process is to facilitate internal ECO changes, changes driven by [us], but not necessarily the customer where a customer revision may not change."
- Correen, NH, US
We set our internal assembly revisions to match the customer's assembly revision.
"The benefit is showing what we have built in the past. it helps when looking for a product that the customer is asking about."
- Nick, PA, US
We set our internal assembly revisions to match the customer's assembly revision.
"We are consistent that we are always working from the same page and we cannot get into conflict with the customer who might find that 'you are not on the same rev level that we are'."
- Wayne, OR, US
We do not set our internal assembly revisions to match the customer's assembly revision.
"We change the revision to reflect all product changes to be assured we are making what the customer orders."
- Shep, IN, US
Make YOUR Mark
Please share your ideas and insights on a topic below. Use the questions to direct your response. You can submit your thoughts to mym@manex.com by clicking the topic title. Where appropriate and space permitting, we will post responses in a future newsletter so all may benefit.
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