Manufacturer helps client with urgent order by supplying differently specced parts at client's agreement, client still makes official complaint because the parts weren't to normal specification, manufacturer delays their orders thereafter in retaliation

After a manufacturing team helped a client resolve an urgent supply problem, the client lodged a formal complaint against the manufacturer for the solution, which led to the delivery of their parts at the last possible moment thereafter.

The golden rule: treat others as you'd want to be treated. And, unsurprisingly, if you don't treat others well, others might not have much time for you at all and will give you the same in return. 

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  • "Ask us to do you a favour and then complain? We can work to rule."

    I (F33) used to work for a company that, among other things, made a particular product that was sold in reasonable quantities to a number of customers. These products were quite large and expensive, but had a (relatively) short service life,
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  • Manufacturing employee assembling precision parts for a client order in a high-tech workshop environment.
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    The image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • This worker detailed how they worked for a manufacturing company that provided specialized parts to two main clients. Which, if I had to hazard a guess, were probably car manufacturers. Being that a certain high-end car company has orange colors associated closely with them, and another company has a name that sounds quite a lot like the other placeholder name they have provided. When the “Orange” client needed parts quickly and desperately, the manufacturer was able to supply parts from the other company's order, with the agreement being made that the client accepted that the parts had already been made to the other client's specifications. The client accepted, but then once all was already said and done, lodged a formal complaint against the manufacturer, flagrantly turning a blind eye to the terms of their deal.

  • so there was a predictable trend to when customers would order replacements. Let's call the customers in this anecdote Lombard and Orange. The products for each company were slightly
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  • different, so we had to change some tooling and machining processes when swapping between the two. Furthermore, as part of the manufacturing process, we painted the products. Orange's were, unsurprisingly, orange but Lombard requested we left the products unpainted. This was due to some form of copyright issue with their paint swatch, but it wasn't a
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  • We had a minor issue when Lombard placed an order on behalf of a subsidiary company they were starting up - it wasn't anybody's fault in particular, but the subsidiary company wanted products painted yellow, whereas the first few batches we completed were accidentally left unpainted,
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  • big deal as they were happy to paint the products themselves. Lombard was a larger company than Orange, and their orders used to outweigh Orange nearly 2:1. The product lifecycle was well- established at this point, so we knew roughly when orders would be placed, and could tailor manufacturing to suit.
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  • assuming it was a Lombard order. Because of the way the products were made, we didn't have the ability to paint them once fully assembled, so we just left them in storage pre-empting another Lombard order, and re-made the products for Lombard Jr. No problems.
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  • Orange got in touch one day, and said they had an issue where they'd got their paperwork wrong or something, and urgently needed a (smaller) batch of products as soon as possible. Our contracted lead time for the product was 12 weeks;
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  • however because the contracts were so mature, we could generally get that down to about 4 weeks (as we'd start manufacturing ahead of an official order being placed). This particular issue with Orange came up whilst we were in the middle of manufacturing components for Lombard, so we didn't have an easy way to stop production and switch to the Orange tooling.
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  • We gave Orange two options. Option one was to pay a 33% premium and we would start manufacturing straight away, which would technically take 12 weeks but realistically would be about 6 weeks. Option two was to take from the unpainted Lombard stock
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  • we'd previously made at the normal price, available immediately, but we would also supply the add-on bits (at a minimal cost) that they would have to swap themselves, and then paint if they wanted to.
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  • Orange took option two. No issues so far, we still had a small amount of Lombard stock left and Orange were happy to sort out the extral work from their side. Everybody wins, right?
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  • Well, that's what we all thought. A short while later, our senior management organise a conference with us. We turn up for this conference, expecting to be congratulated for appeasing a customer in a tricky spot, or at least given some form of acknowledgement for reducing stock.
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  • Instead, we were given a dressing down because the seniors from Orange had complained to our management that the last order they received was wrong, and wasn't in their colours. They'd written as such in their official customer satisfaction reports, which were open across the
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  • industry as part of ethical practices. So, any company that wanted to order from us would now be able to see that Orange had received unpainted products in the wrong configuration.
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  • To say we were ped off would be an understatement. The general feeling was quiet, simmering rage - the kind where you know everybody is absolutely livid, and wholly displeased at what should have been a positive outcome. The management listened to the explanation and took notes of the screenshots we shared
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  • (of emails agreeing to taking the Lombard order). They sympathised with us and confirmed we'd done nothing wrong, even going as far as to say that they knew this particular process worked well and had therefore left us alone, so they were surprised to hear of an issue. Technically yes, we were breaking our contract by supplying non-conforming parts, but as this was a rush
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  • order, they (our management) appreciated. we'd done our best to help Orange, even if they threw it. back in our faces.
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  • It was actually our management's idea for malicious compliance - going forward, everything ordered by Orange would be 100% to specification. Including lead time. They told us to keep doing what we were doing, but instead of sending orders to Orange, send them to our warehouse down the road. They could hang onto them until the 12 week deadline and then deliver them on the last day possible.
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  • Once we got back to our facility, we had a surprise message from our foreman. Whilst we were at this conference, Lombard's management had got in touch with our management to reiterate that they were very happy customers, as reflected by their customer satisfaction reports, and that the team (us) were a pleasure
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  • to work with. I assume this was to try and prevent any changes to the process, which was working well for Lombard, but we were very grateful nonetheless. Our management, who hadn't seen the message until they got back themselves, forwarded it to us as well the next day.
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  • Anyway, now maliciously compliant, we got back to work. Nice and friendly with Lombard, our regular calls being a pleasant mix of social and business - whereas with Orange, we didn't even bother replying to "How are you?" type questions. Strictly business, strictly professional, no flim-flam.
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  • A few weeks go by and Orange place their usual order. Of course, they'd told us in the weeks leading up. that they'd be doing so, but we just said "we'll wait for the official order". This timeframe coincided with Lombard letting us know they wouldn't be ordering for another few months, with their subsidiary following a similar timescale.
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  • So, we got the Orange order complete sooner than expected and sent to the warehouse, 2 weeks into the 12 week lead time.
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  • Remember I said we could normally complete orders in about 3 weeks? In week 3, Orange asked when they could expect to receive their order. We told them the lead time was 12 weeks. "Of course", says the guy from Orange, "but you know that's just what the contract says. When can you actually get those parts to us?"
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  • "12 weeks from the order date." was the response. Week 4, Orange had got back in touch to say they were getting close to their limit with their original units, so they needed the replacements as soon as possible. Once again, the reply was that the lead time was 12 weeks.
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  • Week 5 and Orange were getting desperate. They asked if we could focus all attention on getting their units manufactured, to which our reply was a curt "production is scheduled to complete on [week 12] as per the contract." A similar conversation occurred in week 6 and twice in week 7.
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  • Week 8, and Orange had said their original units were expiring this week so if we could not deliver this week then they would be taking their equipment out of service, as they don't work without this particular product. There was more than a little glee in my fingers when I replied, "production is on track to complete in [week 12], we are confident in meeting our contracted delivery date."
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  • The following week, I'm made aware of another meeting with our senior management. Unsurprisingly, Orange have complained, so the management want to get copies of all of our paperwork to show we've adhered to our contract. The management
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  • The subsequent weeks go by with more chasers from Orange, with the lorry finally delivering the components to Orange at 16:56 on the day of the 12-week deadline. One of the factory guys who had a commercial driving licence had volunteered to drive the lorry and was happily sending us WhatsApp images of him. sat at a café near the Orange facility an hour before he had planned to finish the delivery.
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  • also let me know that Orange had ended up taking one of their largest products out of service for three weeks, which would have cost them an easy 6 figures in lost revenue.
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  • I wasn't present at the seniors meeting but apparently, Orange were preparing to go to the press, but deflated "immediately and visibly" when our management passed a copy of the contract under their nose, with the pertinent points highlighted. A 12 week lead time was agreed contractually, the product
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  • had been delivered within that 12 weeks, so any and all issues were nothing to do with our company, as we had performed 100% to our agreed deliverables. Our management also noted that one of our legal team was present to take notes, should any defamatory statements
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  • be made to the media. Orange had no angle where they could make us look like we'd failed and our - management reiterated that after the issue surrounding the rush order and subsequent public complaint, this is how we would be conducting business in future.
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  • On a side note, after the meeting one of the Orange team studied the paperwork we'd given them a copy of, which included inspection reports for the units. He was quite upset when he noticed they were dated 10 weeks prior to delivery - so realistically they could have. had them in week 2. This was
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  • raised off the record in one of our weekly meetings (without senior management), to which we smiled and reminded Orange of the 12 week lead time.
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  • I worked at that company for nearly another 2 years. It became standard practice to send Orange units to our warehouse, where they'd then be delivered in the 12th week. Lombard and their subsidiary continued to receive their units as fast as we could make them. When I left, this was still the case.
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  • Orange had to continue to order 12 weeks in advance, which soon became the norm. Customer satisfaction scores remained average for Orange, but with Lombard Jr now established and ordering enough to qualify for public customer satisfaction scores, their glowing review easily offset the average one from Orange.
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  • TLDR - company requests an urgent order, we can make them or provide not-to-spec spares. Company agrees to take the spares, then complains they're not to spec. We therefore take as long as we can on their next order and cause them to shut down that particular product for 3 weeks.
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  • Employee working on client engine parts in a manufacturing workshop.
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    The image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • The "golden rule" is a lesson that is hammered into us from a young age. It's usually applied in the context of playground disagreements, "Make sure to share your toys," But it also underlines a surprising amount of the relationships that we have throughout our lives, especially professional ones, where, somewhat cynically, no one owes you anything outside of matching what you're bringing to the table. 

    And it really does pay (sometimes literally) to be understanding and not to jump to conclusions and not to be in too much of a hurry to point the finger. Especially when the finger you're pointing is directly at an important business partner. You see stories like this every now and again in manufacturing and similar industries, where suppliers have close relationships with their clients, with the two companies essentially being completely reliant on one another for their continuing existence. Once you sour that relationship, people aren't quick to forget. I sometimes think that “Once bitten, twice shy” actually severely underestimates just how long people will be wary of you afterward.

  • BtyMark 9 out of 10, almost perfect. The icing on the cake would have been someone not so subtly mentioning that "after last time, we reviewed our procedures to ensure that we meet the letter of the contract".
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  • CoderJoe1 Orange you glad you had all that documentation to back you up?
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