Your task
A supplier proposes a process change for sensor component C. The component specification is unchanged, but the supplier has revised a manufacturing step and internal test method. The finished-device manufacturer holds existing stock and plans production next month.
Suggested time: 30–40 minutes. No enrolment, fee or membership is required.
Step 1 — list the decisions
Identify the decisions required before the changed component can be used: notice acceptance, information review, product-impact assessment, testing, treatment of existing stock, production release and update of retained records.
Step 2 — assign the information
Use the supply-chain responsibility record. For each decision, name who provides information, who reviews it, who approves the decision, how the result is communicated and where the record is retained.
Step 3 — find the handover gap
Assume the commercial contact receives the notice but the quality contact is not copied. Record how the notice reaches the responsible reviewer, how receipt is acknowledged and what prevents use before the decision.
Worked answer
The supplier provides the change description, affected items and supporting information. The finished-device manufacturer decides what is needed to assess effects on its product and release process. “No specification change” does not remove the need to record that assessment.
A complete matrix also names the owner for existing stock, the date after which changed components may arrive, the status used while review is open and the record that closes the change.
Self-check
- Did every decision have one approval owner?
- Did you separate information supplied from the decision made?
- Did you address existing and changed stock?
- Did you state how a late or incomplete notice is handled?
- Did you avoid using the worksheet to rewrite legal or contractual duties?