Akshat Autoline Pvt. Ltd. — Customer Complaint Handling — Dashboard Report
Overview
Live snapshot of complaint status and SOP timeline compliance
Customer Complaint Register
Doc. No.: AAPL/QA/FT/03 • Rev. No./Date: 00/03-05-2024
Customer Complaint Rejection MIS Data
Month-wise dispatch, rejection & yield tracking against annual budget/target
🎯 Budget / Target —
📅 Month-wise Data
| Month | No. of Customer Complaint | Rejected Qty | Total Dispatch Qty | Good Qty | Total Rej. % | Total Rej. PPM | Yield % |
|---|
📊 Summary Report — (Till )
Customer Complaint Handling — SOP Criteria
Doc. No.: AAPL/SOP/QA/03 • VDA-Aligned Revision • IATF 16949:2016 Clause 10.2.6
1. Purpose
To establish a systematic method for receiving, classifying, investigating, resolving, monitoring, and closing customer complaints — ensuring timely containment, root cause analysis, corrective and preventive action, effectiveness verification, horizontal deployment, and final closure per applicable Customer-Specific Requirements (CSR) and IATF 16949:2016. The procedure defines a risk-based classification of complaints as Critical, Major, or Minor to drive appropriate priority, escalation, and response.
2. Scope
Applies to all customer complaints received via email, telephone, customer portal, customer visit, audit, written communication, or any other approved channel. Covers receipt & registration, severity classification, customer acknowledgement, containment, investigation & RCA, corrective & preventive action, effectiveness verification, customer feedback & closure, horizontal deployment, lessons learned, and trend analysis & management review.
4. Complaint Severity Classification
Every complaint is evaluated against: Safety/Regulatory Impact → Functional Impact → Customer Production Impact → Field Impact → Extent/Quantity → Recurrence. Where more than one classification applies, the higher severity is assigned, and the reason is recorded in the Complaint Register.
| Classification | Criteria / Parameters | Typical Examples |
|---|---|---|
| 🔴 Critical | Safety or regulatory requirement affected; potential injury/hazard; customer production/line stoppage; vehicle breakdown; recall/field action risk; critical characteristic failure | Safety failure, regulatory non-compliance, line stop, serious field failure |
| 🟠 Major | Product function/performance affected without immediate safety risk; significant specification failure; repeated complaint; customer sorting/rework required; significant quantity affected | Functional failure, resistance out of specification, repeated defect, customer sorting |
| 🟢 Minor | No safety or functional impact; limited customer impact; isolated cosmetic, packaging, identification, or documentation issue | Minor appearance issue, label error, packaging/document discrepancy |
6.1 Severity-Based Response Timeline
| Activity | 🔴 Critical | 🟠 Major | 🟢 Minor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Complaint Acknowledgement | ≤ 4 Hours | ≤ 12 Hours | ≤ 24 Hours |
| Initial Containment | ≤ 24 Hours | ≤ 2 Days | ≤ 2 Days |
| RCA + Corrective Action Plan | ≤ 5 Days | ≤ 10 Days | ≤ 10 Days |
| Preventive Action & Final Closure | ≤ 30 Days | ≤ 45 Days | ≤ 45 Days |
| Management Escalation | Immediate | As required | Trend based |
7. Process Flow
| Step | Activity | Responsibility | Output |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Complaint Receipt & Registration | Customer Care / QMR | Complaint Register |
| 2 | Severity Classification | QMR / Quality | Critical / Major / Minor |
| 3 | Customer Acknowledgement | Customer Care | Acknowledgement |
| 4 | Immediate Containment | Concerned Dept. / QMR | Containment Report |
| 5 | Investigation & RCA | Concerned Dept. / QMR | RCA Report |
| 6 | Corrective Action | Concerned Dept. | CAPA Record |
| 7 | Preventive Action | Concerned Dept. / QMR | Prevention Record |
| 8 | Effectiveness Verification (3 Months) | QMR | Verification Report |
| 9 | Customer Feedback & Closure | Customer Care / QMR | Closure Confirmation |
| 10 | Horizontal Deployment | QMR / HOD | Deployment Record |
| 11 | Trend Analysis & Management Review | QMR / Top Management | MRM Minutes |
3. Terms & Definitions
- Customer Complaint — Any customer-reported dissatisfaction related to product, process, delivery, packaging, documentation, quality, performance, or service.
- Containment Action — Immediate action to isolate the affected product/process and prevent further customer impact.
- RCA — Systematic analysis to identify the actual cause of a problem.
- Corrective Action — Action taken to eliminate the identified root cause and prevent recurrence.
- Preventive Action — Action to prevent similar/potential failures in other products, processes, or locations.
- CAPA — Corrective and Preventive Action. CSR — Customer Specific Requirement.
- Customer Closure — Formal acceptance of closure by the customer, or internal closure as permitted by applicable CSR.
5. Roles & Responsibilities
| Top Management | Review Critical complaints, provide resources, review complaint trends, ensure horizontal deployment |
| QMR / Quality Head | Monitor complete complaint cycle, verify classification, ensure timelines, CAPA effectiveness and reporting |
| Customer Care / Sales | Receive, register and acknowledge complaint; maintain customer communication |
| Concerned Dept. Head / Process Owner | Containment, investigation, RCA, corrective/preventive actions and implementation |
| All Employees | Immediately report any observed customer-related nonconformity |
8.5–8.7 — Root Cause Analysis, Corrective & Preventive Action
- Occurrence Root Cause — why did the defect occur?
- Escape Root Cause — why wasn't it detected before reaching the customer?
- 5-Why
- Fishbone / Ishikawa
- Is / Is Not
- 4M/6M Analysis
- Process Verification
- PFMEA Review
- Control Plan Review
- 8D (if CSR requires)
- Process Modification
- Method Improvement
- Standard Revision
- Poka-Yoke
- Training
- Drawing/Spec Review
- Work Instruction Revision
- PFMEA / Control Plan Update
- Incoming/Process Control
9. Effectiveness Verification — 3 Months
Implemented corrective actions are monitored for 3 months after implementation, starting the month after the complaint receipt month. During this period, effectiveness is verified based on: no recurrence of the same/similar complaint for the same part, lots and quantity dispatched, and customer rejection quantity reported against dispatched lots. The action is considered effective when no same/similar complaint or rejection is observed for the part during the 3-month window. If an issue recurs, the CAPA is considered not effective and the RCA/CAPA is reviewed and revised.
11. Horizontal Deployment & Lessons Learned
QMR and concerned departments evaluate whether the root cause or corrective action applies to: similar products, similar processes, similar failure modes, similar machines/tooling, other product families, other customers, and supplier processes (where applicable). PFMEA, Control Plan, Work Instructions, and inspection standards are updated wherever required, and records are reviewed during audits and MRM.
12. Review & Trend Analysis
QMR monitors complaints monthly, considering: total complaints, Critical/Major/Minor split, repeat complaints, customer-wise and product-wise trends, defect-wise trends, closure performance, and overdue complaints. Repeat complaints and adverse trends are reviewed for additional corrective action and presented at the Management Review Meeting (MRM).
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