June 8, 2009

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By Donald R. Kornblet

For product safety personnel charged with responsibility for risk management in their areas, the matter is simple: to be prepared, or not to be prepared, that is the question.

There are many reasons to be prepared for the hopefully never-to-occur product recall crisis. You’ll be able to better manage it if you have a plan. You’ll be able to have other people in your company and supply/distribution chain respond if you have a plan. Your insurance company will reward your preparedness with lower rates in many cases. And last, but not least, you stand a better chance of protecting both your customers and your company if you’ve taken the time to be prepared.

The opinions expressed in this piece are the author’s and do not necessarily represent those of Product Safety Forum. Product Safety Forum is a free service of Product Safety Letter. Its mission is twofold: to promote frank and open airing of product safety issues and to provide advice and guidance from top experts in the field. Do you have an idea or article you think would make a great piece for Product Safety Forum, including commentary or reaction to this one? Then email Publisher Sean Oberle to discuss it.

But what does it mean to be ‘prepared?’ For veterans of the product recall ‘battle field’, being prepared is second nature. Once you’ve been through a recall, the experience stays with you. You know what questions to ask, where the potholes in the road may be, and how to create the right project management team to get into and out of the recall world.

Here are a few basic principles to follow if you haven’t been down this road before and want to be as prepared as possible:

1. Be prepared to put together a temporary project team. The team of people you pull together will help manage the process of identifying where the recalled products are, how to notify the distribution chain, how to handle the response from consumers and distributors, and how to assure that the appropriate remedy is provided to consumers. Even if you have a designated product recall manager, it takes more than that to plan, launch, and run a recall. There are technology issues, data base development and marketing issues, customer service issues, and production issues. You need the right people in the right place at the right time to help guide your company through the recall process.



2. Don’t expect cleanliness. Product recalls are not clean; they’re messy. The data doesn’t always come together easily. The timelines aren’t always what you would like. It takes time to educate people within your company about what the recall is and what they need to be to fill their responsibilities. The demands of government agencies may stretch you beyond what you feel is reasonable. The important thing to remember is that product recalls are a form of ‘reverse marketing’; they don’t send product out into the market, they bring product back from the market. This is not what companies plan for, or are good doing. Be prepared for missteps and mistakes when you undertake reverse marketing.



3. Don’t expect answers to questions before it’s time. You’d like to know how many consumers will respond to your notice letters. You’d like to know how many replacement products to have ordered so that you have sufficient supply on hand. You’d like to know how many of the products in the distribution chain have reached consumer hands, and therefore require the approved remedy. Answering these and other questions takes time. Don’t assume any answers, as the wrong assumption can waste many dollars. If you have 30,000 units in the field, order 20,000 replacement products or parts, and get 10,000 responses requiring fulfillment, you’ve just cost your company needless expense. Manage the flow of a product recall like you would an unfolding experiment. Let each step help direct your activity and decisions for the next steps.