What Does ISO 9001 Clause 8.5.3 Property Belonging to Customers or External Providers Mean?
ISO 9001 Clause 8.5.3, "Property belonging to customers or external providers," focuses on the responsibility of an organization to ensure the proper care and control of customer or externally provided property. Here's an explanation and an example:
Explanation of Clause 8.5.3
Property Identification: The organization must identify, verify, protect, and safeguard customer or externally provided property. This property could include materials, components, tooling, samples, drawings, credit card information, or equipment provided by customers or external partners.
Traceability and Documentation: If traceability is a requirement, the organization must establish and maintain procedures to ensure the identification and traceability of customer or externally provided property.
Care and Maintenance: The organization is responsible for exercising care with customer property while it's under its control. This includes ensuring that customer property is adequately maintained, preserved, and, when necessary, safeguarded.
Reporting of Loss or Damage: In the event of loss, deterioration, or damage to customer property, the organization must report this to the customer and maintain documented information.
Manufacturing Company Example of Cluase 8.5.3
A manufacturing company that produces customized machinery for industrial clients. In this context:
Customer-provided Components: If a customer provides specific components or raw materials for the machinery, the manufacturer must carefully identify and segregate these items in its inventory.
Traceability: The machinery may have critical components provided by the customer, and traceability is crucial. The company establishes a system to trace which customer-provided components are used in each unit of machinery.
Maintenance and Safeguarding: If the machinery requires testing or calibration using customer-provided equipment, the company ensures that these tools are regularly maintained and calibrated to guarantee accurate results.
Loss or Damage Reporting: If, during the production process, any customer-provided components are damaged or lost, the company follows documented procedures to report these incidents to the customer promptly.
ISO 9001:2015 Clause 8.5.3 Property Belonging to Customers or External Providers
Clause 8.5.3 of ISO 9001, Property belonging to customers or external providers, highlights an organization's obligation to guarantee the appropriate protection, handling, and management of property that is provided by customers or third parties.