ISO 9001 Customer Property Procedure Template

Introduction

When you study the quality management system standard ISO 9001, one of the leading themes that emerges is the importance of delivering products and services that make your customers satisfied. In accordance with ISO 9001, therefore, it is vital to ensure that not only do your products and services match your customers’ expectations, but you also take care of any items provided by them, or on their behalf, to you for use in the delivery of a product or service. ISO 9001 Customer Property Procedure Template plays a critical role in ensuring that you are able to achieve this goal.

Understanding the Concept of Customer Property

Before moving on to discuss how you can ensure that you take proper care of customer property, let us first examine what ISO 9001 actually says regarding what constitutes customer property and the importance of managing it.

What is ‘Customer Property,’ According to ISO 9001?

Customer property refers to any item, material, or intellectual property, or data provided by a customer or on the customer’s behalf that is to be used by your organization to provide a product or service, for instance, raw materials, goods or components provided to form part of an output, tools and equipment, including testing and calibration equipment provided for use with or on outputs, and intellectual property in the form of designs, customer data, or specifications.

Note that although these items will be under the control of your organization, they still belong to the customer.

ISO 9001 standard, clause 8.5.3 – Property belonging to customers or external providers.

Clause 8.5.3 of ISO 9001 therefore says that when the customer or external provider’s property is under the control of the organization or is being used by the organization, the organization must identify, verify, protect and safeguard the customer or external provider’s property. It must also report any loss, damage or evidence that the property is or may be inappropriate for use to the customer or external provider, and retain documented information as to what happened.

So what is the importance of a documented procedure for dealing with customer property?

Why Have a Procedure for Customer Property?

Having a documented procedure for managing the handling and use of customer property is vital not just in order to comply with the ISO 9001 standard – it is also good business sense. Failure to have appropriate controls in place for managing customer property could entail a range of issues, including:

• The property being lost or deliberately damaged or destroyed, which could result in extra costs and production delays for both the customer and the organization.
  
  

• Loss of goodwill among customers, through failure to provide proper handling of tools or materials provided by the company.
  
  

• If the property being lost, damaged or destroyed is an ingredient or component provided by the customer, this may directly result in non-conforming product or delivery delays.
  
  

• In the specific situation where customer property constitutes data or intellectual property, the loss, damage, or destruction might have serious data security implications.

By having a procedure for managing customer property, therefore, you can make sure that instead of being a potential hindrance or even risk to your product or service quality, the property will instead contribute positively to the quality of your output.

In addition, by ensuring that you provide suitable handling of customer property, you are demonstrating your commitment to customer satisfaction.

ISO 9001: Customer Property Procedure Template Overview

An ISO 9001 Customer Property Procedure Template is a document that provides a detailed framework for managing and controlling customer property. It should contain various sections, as listed below.

Let us take a closer look at the main elements of the procedure.

Purpose and Scope

The aim of the procedure (Purpose) will generally be to describe the methods that an organization uses in accordance with ISO 9001:2015 clause 8.5.3 for controlling customer property to the required standard. The Scope will define what types of property the procedure will apply to and which processes within the organization it should cover.

Definitions

This section provides definitions of terms that will appear in the procedure, for example, customer property, non-conforming property, verification, etc.

Responsibilities

The responsibilities section lists the roles and responsibilities of various types of staff involved with implementing the procedure. Some people to consider including are receivers, production/operations staff, quality department, management, etc.

Detailed Procedure

This is the main section of the procedure, which describes the step-by-step activities to be undertaken when controlling customer property. The detailed procedure is likely to comprise the following key steps:

1. Receipt of the Customer Property

The first activity to be undertaken in managing customer property is receiving the property – how the property is received will constitute a key element of your procedure. As the property is received, it is important to document information such as what was received, and the quantity.

In addition, the receiver should visually inspect the property for obvious damage or problems.

2. Identification and Verification

In this step, identification involves assigning a unique identification code to the customer property so that, at every stage of its life cycle within the organization, the property can be tracked to identify where it is and what it is being used for.

Verification involves verifying that the quantity of property received conforms to the quantity specified, and that any quality requirements, where specified, are also met. You may want to carry out a more detailed inspection or test to ensure that the item or items meet the quality standard.

Note that the procedure should also cover how to verify any customer equipment or tools received.

3. Safeguarding and Protection

In this activity, we turn to the element of safeguarding and protection of customer property. This would involve storing the property securely and in such a way that the item or items cannot be lost, damaged beyond repair, or become impaired in some other way so as to affect their intended usage.

Any relevant safety and security measures should be included here.

4. Maintenance and Calibration (if Applicable)

If the property involves any machinery, tools, or other equipment that will require maintenance or calibration while in use, then include instructions for the required maintenance or calibration procedures in the procedure.

5. Return of the Property

The process of returning the property should also be detailed here, including how the property is to be returned or disposed of in accordance with appropriate instructions (e.g., returning tools to the customer or disposing of packaging waste).

You should include details of what the final inspection on return involves, and what to do in case the customer property is found to be non-conforming.

6. Non-Conformance

The final activity to be detailed in the procedure involves outlining the specific methods that you will use to deal with any non-conformance in customer property. This is likely to include: separating the property from general use (isolation), documenting the non-conformance (for instance through the use of a non-conformance report), investigating the root cause of the non-conformance, and ensuring suitable corrective actions to prevent recurrence are taken.

In addition, you should outline what actions need to be taken to obtain customer disposition in case the property is found to be lost, damaged, or unsuitable, and what the steps are for communicating with the customer about this.

Related Documents and Records

The related documents section identifies any related documents, such as documentation on non-conforming outputs, management of documented information, etc.

The records section should identify what records need to be generated and retained as per ISO 9001 standards, for instance the following:

• Details of receipt of customer property.
  
  

• Verification results.
  
  

• Reports on non-conformances raised concerning customer property.
  
  

• Any communications with the customer regarding their property.
  
  

• Documents on the return of customer property.

Benefits of Using an ISO 9001 Customer Property Procedure Template

So what benefits does the use of a template to design your procedure offer?

Well, first of all, using a template speeds up the development of the procedure dramatically, as it should already cover all the requirements of clause 8.5.3 of ISO 9001.

In addition, using a template will minimize errors and omissions in designing the procedure, as it will likely follow a standard outline which has been field-tested and proven to help organizations efficiently manage their customer property.

How to Implement and Customize Your Procedure Template

In order to put your procedure into action, it needs to be customized according to the specific needs of your organization. Remember that each organization is unique, and your procedure therefore needs to reflect your unique context and address your specific needs and concerns in relation to managing customer property.

To that end, you should customize the procedure, consulting with key stakeholders and staff to ensure that the procedure is realistic and can be implemented effectively.

Moreover, all relevant staff should be trained or informed about the procedure, ensuring knowledge and awareness.

Conclusion

Thus, a procedure is an important element in supporting your ability to comply with ISO 9001 clause 8.5.3. By developing a thorough procedure using a procedure template, you are taking important steps towards demonstrating that your organization is capable of satisfying the requirements of the ISO 9001 standard relating to customer property.