Control of non-conformities

I am afraid I cannot agree with you. Gather a group of people, that know the company and its operations, and give them a challenge within a question: What can go wrong in our work?

Perhaps:

• mixing more than one grade of coal
• moving the wrong grade of coal
• contaminating coal with other materials
• moving the wrong amount of coal

If clause 8.7 would not be applicable, then clause 8.6 and 7.1.5 would not be applicable too.

The following material will provide you more information about product non-conformities:

- What clauses can be excluded in ISO 9001:2015? - https://advisera.com/9001academy/blog/2015/07/07/what-clauses-can-be-excluded-in-iso-90012015/2015/
- Enroll for free course - ISO 9001:2015 Foundations Course - https://advisera.com/training/iso-9001-foundations-course/
- Book - Discover ISO 9001:2015 Through Practical Examples - https://advisera.com/books/discover-iso-9001-2015-through-practical-examples/

I am talking about clause 8.7 as there is no outputs no products just handling of material and that too with identification and traceability. There is no provision of mixing. That's it. In such cases where you highlighted some points. The other type of nonconformities will have a process to manage it, but product based nonconformity is not here. That's the only point.

Consider the following picture:

Clause 8.7 is not about product non-conformities specifically, that is why the standard uses the word output and not the word product or the word service. So, perhaps what you classify as “The other type of nonconformities” are outputs where clause 8.7 applies.
 
Clause 8.7 applies always, whatever the organization is. What can be very different is what is meant by output.