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Posts: 6
Join Date: May 2008
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My fellow MAPP members,
I would appreciate your feedback on the following. Over the years here at Master Industries we have considered the process we developed to get a mold to operate and produce the right quality and quantities for on-time delivery to be proprietary production information. Not that these processes and procedures could not be recreated by another good molder, but it did take Master some effort and since customers are never willing to pay for getting the job up and running they did not automatically get the processes and or quality check methodology when and if they choose to move the mold. However, you can see in the redacted communication below, that this customer does not understand that out of 18 suppliers MI is the FIRST to not release the information.
My question to MAPP, did I miss something along the line somewhere? Have things changed so drastically that there is there NO process, procedures or molding expertise that belongs to us as molders and it is our obligation to hand everything over to the customer if they demand it? Particularly when the customer is not interested in retaining and building new business with you? I’m I that out of touch that I don’t know we are supposed to give everything away to the customer. Please help me understand. How would you respond to this customer? What do you think is yours to keep and what do you think the customers have a right to even though they did not pay for it.
“What would it take for Master to allow the process procedure and quality checks to move with a mold, if the mold did move out of Master? The reason I ask, I have had 18 Metals and Plastic suppliers respond and Master is the first company that said the process procedure, quality checks, and/or any other manuals stay with the supplier. I am not arguing, just trying to understand so I can explain to my Manager, and Corporate Purchasing.
Does Master feel there is some propriety info in the manuals, or is their some other reason for Master to not release the manuals? Is there some way, Master can agree to let the manuals leave with the molds? Is there a portion of the manuals that Master can black out or remove, then allow the manuals to leave with the molds?
I AM NOT planning on moving molds out of Master. XXXXXXXX is trying to plan for the unforeseen. As I stated in my e-mail about the Canadian molder, XXXXXXXX was given a VERY short notice about closing. We had a 2nd tier plastic supplier close today Friday 2/27/09, with 3 days notice to us. I know of another 2nd tier plastic supplier that is closing next Friday
3/06/09, plus we have had a couple of 2nd tier metal suppliers close in the last couple of weeks. I AM NOT SAYING XXXXXXXX EXPECTS MASTER TO CLOSE.
XXXXXXXX is asking all suppliers for the same info, for two reasons. 1st, we do not have a good list of where our older tooling is, sometimes it takes us a couple of hours to figure out who the supplier is, when we receive a service part order from ZZZZZZZZZZZ. 2nd, we are trying to be prepared, if we get notice a supplier is closing.. That is why I am not singling out anyone supplier or group of suppliers, Right now I am in the process of getting the same info from 48 suppliers.
Again, not arguing or disagreeing, just explaining where I am coming from and want to understand where Master is coming from, so I can explain to Upper Management and Corporate.”
Jim Brogden
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