ISO 9001 – Customer Property

In paragraph 7.5.4 ISO 9001, we find requirements for consumer property management. As stipulated in this section, the organization must take steps to manage the consumer’s property while it is under the management or use of the organization. This section also examines the organization’s responsibility to identify, verify, protect and maintain consumer property, as well as to inform the consumer of any identified problems or problems.

What is the property of the client?

A client’s property is any property owned (or provided) to the client. Simply put, customer property can be seen as anything that does not belong to you and which is provided by the client for your use. Such a product may be the direct property of the supplier or other interested party.

Examples of customer properties can be found in ISO 9004: 2000, including:

Ingredients or ingredients intended to be included in the product;
A product supplied for repair, maintenance or upgrade;
Packaging materials are delivered directly to the customer;
Material processed by service providers, such as storage;
Services provided on behalf of the customer, such as transporting the customer’s products to a third party; And
Intellectual property such as specifications, design and sensitive information.
Excerpt from ISO 9004: 2000, Quality Management Systems. Recommendations to improve efficiency.

Therefore, based on the recommendations above, we may consider this type of ownership as all materials, parts, components, etc. provided by the customer for inclusion in the organization’s product. We may also include any property used by the organization, such as equipment, tools, hardware, and software supplied by the customer.

Intellectual property may also fall under this requirement if a refund is required at the end of the project. However, if it is provided free of charge (e.g. public information), this requirement does not apply.

Customer property identification

Identifying customer properties is an important part not only of identifying properties, but also a necessary step to prevent unauthorized use or accidental removal. Identification must be done through a method, the appropriate organization, the products being processed, the requirements for use and/or instructions for the specific consumer. Identification methods may include labels, tags, containers, physical markers, or other appropriate methods.

Confirm the client’s ownership

The client’s property must be checked to determine the condition of the property provided by the client, including compliance with all these requirements. These checks may include quantity, physical condition and other characteristics, as well as identification or measurement of chemical, physical or other properties. This verification process is usually performed when received and is usually performed in accordance with the process set by the organization to verify the purchased product.

These verification activities should be kept in accordance with the organization’s record management procedures, and if inappropriate products are identified, a notification should be sent to the consumer (see below).

Protecting customer property

Appropriate measures must be taken under the organization’s control to protect the consumer’s products from loss, damage and/or degradation. These measures usually follow the process of organizing the protection of their assets; with any additional customer requirements that may apply (several international standards are also available to address this topic). As part of these measures, a periodic assessment schedule for the property should be established, which will be in operation for a longer period. The specific interval of this assessment and the evaluation methods used should be based on a specific type of product and various other factors, including product shelf life, storage environment, specific customer instructions, etc.

Retain the client’s property

In cases where maintenance may be required (e.g. equipment, tools and/or materials), the organization must ensure that there is a clear agreement and responsibility for ongoing maintenance before accepting consumer ownership. And repairs. Specific terms and conditions should be set between the customer and the organization to determine the types (and timing) of the service required, including who is responsible for the service, and to establish guidelines for emergency actions, such as repairs due to equipment failure. .

As with maintenance and repair work performed by the organization on its own equipment, records must be conducted in accordance with the organization’s record management procedures.

Report problems

Requirements in 7.5.4 cover not only verification of the client’s ownership, but also reporting to the client when any problems are identified. Any problem or problem, such as loss, injury or defect in connection with such an item, should be immediately reported to the owner in accordance with the procedures of the non-conforming product control organization, changed by the consumer’s special instructions. As this remains at the discretion of the client, further processing should be suspended until the customer makes a decision.