The Right Way to Disappoint A Customer

My December 2014 Circuits Assembly article actually started out as a rant about a furniture store with a bad inventory tracking system. However, it turned out to be one of the most popular articles I’ve written in terms of comments generated. The bottom line is that it is never if you will disappoint a customer. Instead, it is how can you best resolve things when something goes wrong. This article looks at the right way and wrong way to handle things. And, yes, I did finally get the couch–it wasn’t the one I originally ordered but by the time it showed up in mid-December, it was one I was happy with and I felt that the salesperson was as invested as was in resolving the issue the right way because we had gone from a relationship of non-communication and disappointing surprises to one where she was calling me with shipping updates almost weekly.

Don’t Miss The Supply Chain Conflict Minerals Compliance Session at This Year’s SMTAI Conference

Don’t miss the session that PMCI co-organizes with Circuits Assembly Magazine at this year’s SMTA International Show

Supply Chain Conflict Minerals Compliance 

Chair: Susan Mucha, Powell-Mucha Consulting, Inc.

Co-Chair: Mike Buetow, UP Media Group

Wednesday, October 1, 4:00pm — 5:30pm Room 51

In the wake of the Dodd-Frank legislation mandating reporting of minerals mined in war-torn regions like the DRC, several initiatives and templates for defining and reporting use of these elements have been developed by worldwide organizations, including the Conflict-Free Tin Initiative, the EICC Conflict-Free Smelter Program, and the IPC Conflict Minerals Due Diligence Guide. This session looks at where these programs intersect, best practices for compliance, and some of the tools for compliance.

• Contract Manufacturing and Conflict Minerals: Creating a Workable Compliance System

John Sheehan and Allen Abell, SigmaTron International

• Lessons Learned from AIM’s Participation in the CFTI

David Suraski, AIM

• Panel Discussion

Aidan Turnbull, Ph.D., ENVIRON International

Chris Nowak, Actio

Conference details are available at: http://www.smta.org/smtai/at_a_glance.cfm.