How To Successfully Appeal PRRs
We have all been there…you know that you have put “X” amount of parts on the skid each time and labeled it correctly and all of a sudden you get the phone call that says you are getting a PRR because the skid has the wrong label on it or there were not enough pieces on the skid or some parts are scratched or a host of other reasons.
You think this is a bum rap, but the plant is three states away and without eyes on site, you have no chance to avoid the PRR. But with a Customer Quality Rep (CQR) system we found we can successfully appeal a good percentage of PRRs. Here’s how…
First, our CQRs live nearby and can be at the plant within an hour or two. Once in the plant, he or she does an investigation into the root cause of the problem. They will ask questions such as, “Is it even my part? Is it my skid? Has the customer “dropped the skid? Has this skid been in the back of the warehouse for 2 years??” Based upon the result of the investigation and analysis, the CQR will accurately document the actual problem and root cause, which is then reported to the customer.
Often the investigation reveals that the actual problem did not lie with my product, but with faulty material handling at the customer’s site or some other reason that did not involve my company or product. If this is the case, the PRR is appealed and often deleted.
In one year alone we appealed almost a third of our PRR’s and were able to get almost two thirds of those deleted. This resulted in 17% less PRR’s than would have occurred with out the CQR System.
One of the side benefits of our process as described above, was the customer now strictly followed their own internal processes before issuing a PRR, since they knew we would immediately appeal any incorrect PRRs. This resulted in fewer incorrect PRRs in the future.
The following attachment shows the actual results of our CQRs in getting PRRs appealed and deleted in 2002.
Continuous Quality Fire Fighting
Chet was a very busy man as the Director of Quality Engineering at a large automotive component manufacturing plant, with a staff of over 50 Quality Engineers at three different locations. Chet knew his staff was always......PRRs & Controlled Shipping
My company was in a world of hurt in quality. We had just launched 3 new car line products and our PRR's were out of control. We were paying out hundreds of thousands of dollars in quality sorts and there didn't seem to be an end to it...
