Customer needs

For examination of X-Ray images the customer needs standard hard- and software as given in table 4 and 5. As mentioned before the directory can be customised to specification defined by the customer. 

Three forms of caustic soda are produced to meet customer needs purified diaphragm caustic (50% Rayon grade), 73% caustic, and anhydrous caustic. Regular 50% caustic from the diaphragm cell process is suitable for most appHcations and accounts for about 85% of the NaOH consumed in the United States. However, it caimot be used in operations such as the manufacture of rayon, the synthesis of alkyl aryl sulfonates, or the production of anhydrous caustic because of the presence of salt, sodium chlorate, and heavy metals. Membrane and mercury cell caustic, on the other hand, is of superior quaUty and... 

Another significant benefit of a LIMS is the improvement of the overall quaUty of the laboratory. In the case of a laboratory, quaUty is defined as satisfying customer needs in the areas of accuracy, reUabiUty, clarity, and timeliness of analytical information. LIMS can enhance quaUty in a number of ways, eg, in checking conformance to requirements, in organizing and prioritizing work to ensure timeliness, in measuring laboratory performance in areas of technical quaUty and efficiency so as to provide continuous improvement, and in helping the laboratory to communicate clearly, completely, and consistendy (16). 

In order to estabUsh this type of service, the maintenance management should meet often with their outside suppHer as weU as with their iaside customers to benefit the end user the external customers. During these meetings the foUowiag steps should be taken to assure nonstop quahty Hsten to the customers, work with customers to clarify expectations, identify measurable iadicators, exceed expectations, deUver products and services when customers need them, keep promises, design for ease of use, constandy improve, focus improvements on areas related to customer expectations, and respond quickly (5). 

Ma.na.gement. Top management usuaHy has financial or production orientation and interests in commodity chemicals. Eor specialty chemicals, top management often is entrepreneurial, versed in customers needs and dedicated to solving customers problems. 

A researcher studying a specialty chemical business or a specific specialty chemical company should pay particular attention to these nidiments innovative talents, service faciUties and performance, marketing abiUties, and responsiveness to customer needs. Of these, the last may be the key criterion in most cases. A company that frequendy is first with the solution to a customer s problem (even if the solution is sometimes less than perfect) usually holds the customer and a dominant market share against future competition. 

Applications Research. Specialty chemical producers devote a larger share of their time and costs to appHcations research than do producers of most commodity chemicals. As noted earHer, the most successful specialty chemical producers have been those companies that ate able to respond quickly to customer needs and problems under the conditions found in the customer s plant. This entails having, at the specialty chemical plant, equipment and procedural knowledge which closely approximate those found among customers. Tests can then be mn and a solution to the problem or need may result. If successful, even in part, it can be brought to the customers and tried there. In practice, of course, each customer s plant has some variables which make a single answer or product quite unlikely. Fortunately, slight modifications by the suppHer will often solve the next customer s problem. 

Maintaining external awareness. Beyond understanding customer needs, a set process monitors external threats and opportunities from a variety of sources. 

TLis information is taken from CFR 49, issue of October 1, 1992. Tbe table is intended to be illustrative of tbe use of CFR 49. It sbould not be used as tbe basis for cboosing a drum or other type package. Eacb package and product requires specific analysis to identify tbe container wbicb meets customer needs and compbes fully witb U.S. DOT and UN regulations. 

All these standards have since been adopted by the member countries as their national standards, fully or in slightly modified forms, to suit their own requirements and working conditions. These standards define and clarify the quality norms and aim at in-house quality disciplines, to automatically and continually produce a product, provide a service or programme to the stipulated specifications, quality norms and customer needs. They guarantee a product or service with a minimum quality. The envisaged quality systems thus aim at a work culture that pervades all those involved in different key activities or processes, to achieve the desired goal through carefully evolved systems. 

Marketing identify I customer need and express this in their terms-the marketing brief... 

Before setting about the task of developing such a model, the product development process requires definition along with an indication of its key stages, this is so the appropriate tools and techniques can be applied (Booker et al., 1997). In the approach presented here in Figure 5.11, the product development phases are activities generally defined in the automotive industry (Clark and Fujimoto, 1991). QFD Phase 1 is used to understand and quantify the importance of customer needs and requirements, and to support the definition of product and process requirements. The FMEA process is used to explore any potential failure modes, their likely Occurrence, Severity and Detectability. DFA/DFM techniques are used to minimize part count, facilitate ease of assembly and project component manufacturing and assembly costs, and are primarily aimed at cost reduction. 

Elliot, A. C., Wright, I. C. and Saunders, J. A. 1998 Successful NPD in Engineering Design meeting customer needs. In Proceedings EDC 98. Bury St Edmunds Professional Engineering Publishing, 391-398. 

Overall a customer needs to know under what circumstances it is best to use either the electron-beam techniques of EDS and WDS or the X-ray technique of XRF for an analysis problem. If both are equally available, the choice usually resides in whether high spatial resolution is needed, as would be obtained only with electron-beam techniques. If liquids are to be analyzed, the only viable choice is XRF. If one s choice is to use electron-beam methods, the further decision between EDS and WDS is usually one of operator preference. That is, to commence study on a totally new sample most electron-beam operators will run an EDS spectrum first. If there are no serious peak overlap problems, then EDS may be sufficient. If there is peak overlap or if maximum sensitivity is desired, then WDS is usually preferred. Factored into all of this must be the beam sensitivity of the sample, since for WDS analysis the beam current required is lO-lOOx greater than for EDS. This is of special concern in the analysis of polymer materials. 

Clarify standards not related to legislation, such as those related to human comfort, guidelines, codes of practice, and custom needs. 

Ascertain the requirements of laws, regulations, and standards related to legislation, processes, and equipment, and compare them with customer needs, f course, before this step, needs of the end user—for example, economical boundary conditions—are identified. At this stage the tentative target levels have also been selected. 

A product which possesses features that satisfy customer needs is a quality product. Likewise, one that possesses features which dissatisfy customers is not a quality product. So the final arbiter on quality is the customer. The customer is the only one who can decide whether the quality of the products and services you supply is satisfactory and you will be conscious of this either by direct feedback or by loss of sales, reduction in market share, and, ultimately, loss of business. 

Any feature or characteristic of a product or service which is needed to satisfy customer needs or achieve fitness for use is a quality characteristic. When dealing with products the characteristics are almost always technical characteristics, whereas service quality characteristics have a human dimension. Some typical quality characteristics are given in the table below. 

Differences in design can be denoted by grade or class but can also be the result of poor attention to customer needs. It is not enough to produce products that conform to the specifications or supply services that meet management s requirements. Quality is a... 

Quality of design is the extent to which the design reflects a product or service that satisfies customer needs and expectations. All the necessary characteristics should be designed into the product or service at the outset. 

Establish whether the organization s proposed product or service possesses characteristics which will satisfy customer needs. 

Design products and services with features that reflect customer needs. 

Build products and services so as to reproduce faithfully the design that meets the customer needs. 

Verify before delivery that your products and services possess the features required to meet the customer needs. 

Find less expensive solutions to customer needs because products and services that satisfy these needs may be too expensive. 

Make your operations more efficient and effective so as to reduce costs, because products and services that satisfy customer needs may cost more to produce than the customer is prepared to pay. 

Discover what will delight your customer and provide it. (Regardless of satisfying customer needs your competitor may have provided products with features that give greater satisfaction )... 

Quality products are products that meet customer needs and expectations but, as has already been said, quality does not happen by chance. A quality system is the means by which organizations produce products that meet customer needs and expectations. Even if that system is not formalized, it is the combination of processes, resources, and organization that will deliver quality products. All ISO/TS 16949 does is define a minimum set of requirements which if met will enable an organization to satisfy its customers. It is a kind of framework for achieving product quality. 

Auditors need to appreciate that suppliers may choose to design a quality system for a purpose other than meeting automotive customer needs. 

Where a supplier has a quality system that covers the whole business, the audit plan must not include elements that are not implemented for automotive customer needs e.g. elements of Human Resources, Accounting, Finance, IT, Legal, Marketing, Sales, Public Relations may not serve automotive customers needs but company needs. 

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