Neither our Customer Support Manager nor our Manufacturing Operations Director wants accountability for our Warranty Claims and Product Returns seat, leaving disputes unresolved and cash tied up in scrap. How do we place and assign a seat that neither department is willing to own?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When critical work falls between two departments, it creates an operational black hole. Customer Support blames Manufacturing for shipping defective units, while Manufacturing claims Customer Support authorizes illegitimate warranty returns. Because neither seat wants the administrative headache and customer friction, inventory accumulates and cash is trapped in unresolved disputes.

In EOS, you never let work float unassigned. If an accountability exists in the business, it must live in exactly one seat on the Accountability Chart with one name attached to it.

Follow this process to break the stalemate:
- Anchor accountability to the primary outcome. Ask which department's primary scorecard metrics are most damaged when warranty returns fail. The core purpose of warranty processing is product quality feedback, root-cause isolation, and physical inventory disposition. That belongs downstream from customer contact, directly inside Operations.
- Define five specific roles for the seat. If the seat sits within Operations, the roles should cover claims intake verification, technical evaluation, supplier warranty recoupment, inventory disposition, and scrap reduction.
- Elevate the visibility of the seat. Unwanted seats are often avoided because they are viewed as low-status administrative dumps. Elevate the seat by giving it a dedicated measurable on the weekly Scorecard, such as warranty cycle time or recovered salvage dollars.
- Assign single accountability. One leader must own the seat. They can delegate the physical tasks or use automation tools to process return claims, but their name must sit in the box.

If neither internal candidate has GWC to run the function properly, consider hiring a specialist or outsourcing the warranty recovery process to an external partner.