Process of Handling Customer Complaints at Baltic Bearing Company – Riga

Baltic Bearing Company – Riga is one of the most modern bearing manufacturing plants in Eastern Europe. The company’s products are in demand in the European Union, the United Kingdom, the USA, Latin America, Africa, as well as Eastern and Asian countries.

The main focus of BBC-R’s strategy is on the customer, achieved through motivation and engagement of all employees, a process-based approach, and continuous improvement. The use of all the above-mentioned components of the QMS ensures that customers receive products and services of consistently high quality.

One of BBC-R’s advantages is its well-developed and integrated quality management system, fully compliant with ISO 9001 and ISO/TS 16949 standards. An important requirement of these standards is the implementation of a system for reviewing customer complaints and analyzing the causes of nonconformities, followed by the development of corrective measures.

The main tool for handling complaints at Baltic Bearing Company – Riga is the “8D Report” methodology, which regulates the procedure and deadlines for complaint handling, nonconformity analysis, and the development and implementation of corrective and preventive actions in eight steps.

All actions under this methodology are documented in a report, which consists of 8 stages and serves as evidence that can be presented to the customer as proof of the proper functioning of QMS processes.

The goal and primary objective of this QMS tool is to increase end-customer satisfaction by ensuring component quality and continuously improving technological processes.

This goal is achieved by solving the following tasks:

• implementation of containment, urgent, corrective, and preventive measures by suppliers within established deadlines when nonconformities are detected at any stage of the production process;
• evaluation of the effectiveness of the measures taken, preparation of an 8D report, and informing the customer;
• accumulation of a database and use of experience when similar problems arise.

Every complaint is initially registered in the Quality Control Department of Baltic Bearing Company – Riga. From that moment, the work of the 8D team is initiated.

When forming the 8D team, the necessary specialists are drawn from production units and departments involved in the design, development, manufacturing, and acceptance of products, taking into account the identified symptom as well as the existing distribution of authority and personnel competencies within the organization.

The results of the 8D team’s work are presented in a report containing the following stages:

1. Detailed description of the nonconformity – Establishing a common understanding of the problem between supplier and customer.
2. Analysis of similar products – Identifying other similar products where the same issue could occur.
3. Preliminary analysis – Identifying potential causes of the problem in the manufacturer’s process chain, up to product delivery.
4. Plan of urgent, containment actions – Implementation of immediate measures (e.g., within 24 hours) at the supplier’s site to prevent defective products from reaching the customer.
5. Final root cause analysis – Determining the main causes of the problem in the manufacturer’s process chain. Mandatory tools: 5 Whys, Ishikawa diagram.
6. Plan of final actions – Developing and implementing final measures to eliminate and prevent recurrence of the root causes.
7. Effectiveness analysis of final actions – Confirming the effectiveness of the actions taken. Objective evidence may include process capability indices (Cp, Cpk, Ppk), control charts, internal audit results, test protocols, process reproducibility coefficients, defect statistics, etc.
8. Control of implementation and knowledge retention – Standardizing and capitalizing on the experience gained to prevent recurrence of nonconformities in similar processes or products.

Additionally, the 8D team may develop further measures for implementation or modification, such as:

• introducing Poka Yoke (error-proofing techniques),
• revising maintenance plans,
• changing production layouts,
• modifying logistics conditions, etc.

The 8D report allows for structuring the complaint-handling process and streamlining the work of departments and workshops in this area. Complaint handling under the 8D system helps reduce the overall number of claims by developing corrective actions that eliminate both the causes of occurrence and undetected nonconformities, thereby increasing end-customer satisfaction.

A systematic approach to problem-solving is the main principle of the quality control specialists at Baltic Bearing Company – Riga.

R&D Director

Baltic Bearing Company – Riga, Ph.D.

1. Nosenko