HIT-N-RUN
Plastic
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2021
Need some advice. Been doing a particular job over the course of 15 years. Job came back this year. Process never changed. My customers QC have always passed these parts through to end user. Recently I got an email complaining one of the welds failed at their customers site. These are 1/2" to 3/8" 110 copper terminal lugs that are silver brazed together. There was some cavitation issues due to tight fit up and high temp flux gassing up top lug creating cavitation. It failed. We never had a history of failure with our process of these parts.
This new batch they ordered, the issue was addressed. Parts made, parts delivered, parts accepted, parts rejected out of fear these would also fail. Come to find out, after all these years, they want a 1/4" fillet around the joint... fillet weld symbol is on the drawing without filler size call out, no weld process or filler metal call out on drawing in the fish tail of weld symbol. The engineer has no clue what process is to be performed, they just want a 1/4 fillet around joint... ok. I request an updated drawing with a weld process call out. Crickets.
Next day, we have a meeting, QC/Purchaser/QC director and an engineer. I address the issues the part failed from and let them know I was confident I could re-work them and or replace them with a new FAI report. I offered them a vast array of solutions without excuses. They agree to it. 2 days later, their customer cancels the entire order over $35K worth of parts and my customer is now requesting a credit memo for this job they haven't paid for yet. I'm honestly fine with the fact their customer cancelled the order because they didn't want to use my parts, I'll take accountability for the ones that failed and at the same time it's huge relief I won't have to re-work those parts, there's a lot of hours invested into them already.
I do feel I need to be compensated for at least my costs of raw materials, hardware and tin plating process, about $9K worth. I don't feel it's right to take a total loss on the job after my customer made an agreement allowing me to redeem my work.
Any thoughts, suggestions and opinions would be appreciated. This is my first time hitting a wall like this with our business. Been pretty lucky over the years to have a lot of good customers who appreciate us as a small business that provides them with quality work and we stand behind our work, especially when it's not satisfactory. I also understand the position I may have put their reputation on the line.
Thanks for reading.
This new batch they ordered, the issue was addressed. Parts made, parts delivered, parts accepted, parts rejected out of fear these would also fail. Come to find out, after all these years, they want a 1/4" fillet around the joint... fillet weld symbol is on the drawing without filler size call out, no weld process or filler metal call out on drawing in the fish tail of weld symbol. The engineer has no clue what process is to be performed, they just want a 1/4 fillet around joint... ok. I request an updated drawing with a weld process call out. Crickets.
Next day, we have a meeting, QC/Purchaser/QC director and an engineer. I address the issues the part failed from and let them know I was confident I could re-work them and or replace them with a new FAI report. I offered them a vast array of solutions without excuses. They agree to it. 2 days later, their customer cancels the entire order over $35K worth of parts and my customer is now requesting a credit memo for this job they haven't paid for yet. I'm honestly fine with the fact their customer cancelled the order because they didn't want to use my parts, I'll take accountability for the ones that failed and at the same time it's huge relief I won't have to re-work those parts, there's a lot of hours invested into them already.
I do feel I need to be compensated for at least my costs of raw materials, hardware and tin plating process, about $9K worth. I don't feel it's right to take a total loss on the job after my customer made an agreement allowing me to redeem my work.
Any thoughts, suggestions and opinions would be appreciated. This is my first time hitting a wall like this with our business. Been pretty lucky over the years to have a lot of good customers who appreciate us as a small business that provides them with quality work and we stand behind our work, especially when it's not satisfactory. I also understand the position I may have put their reputation on the line.
Thanks for reading.
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