Documented Procedures: Control of Non-Conforming Product

May 2003

Non-conformance could be identified in one of the following ways:

1. Through routine inspections
2. Through routine tests
3. By operatives during the course of their work
4. At final test
5. By customer complaints

For Inspection and Testing procedures see Section 3 of the Works Instructions.

Any non-conformance identified by operatives is referred to the Technical Director.

Customer complaints are passed to a Sales Engineer who will assess the complaint. He may decide to take action himself, depending on the nature of the complaints, or pass the complaint to the Technical Director for action. Whether or not action has been taken, all complaints are raised at the management review meetings for recording and analysis. The Customer complaint procedure is described in the Corrective Action page.

Non-Conformance Procedure

If a non-conformance is found which cannot be immediately corrected, the quality assurance person who is aware of the non-conformance immediately tags the non-conforming items with a reject label (see Work Instructions 7.2) to prevent them from progressing through production. A Non-Conformance Report (Work Instructions 7.2) is made out and passed to the Technical Director.

The course of action to be taken is discussed with the necessary technical personnel then recorded on the Non-Conformance Report. A copy is sent to the person who is to carry out the corrective action.

The Technical Director places the original Non-Conformance Report in an "open" file so that he can control the action required.

If the required action is to scrap the non-conforming items, the "SCRAP" label (Work Instructions 7.2) is affixed to them unless the items are taken directly to the scrap container.

Normally the non-conformance will be immediately corrected and recorded on the production card.

Non-Conformity Review and Disposition

Before filing the Non-Conformance Report, the Technical Director analyses the problem and records it for inclusion in the Management Review Meeting. Any long term corrective action is identified on the Non-Conformance Report. See the Corrective Action page for details.

Concessions

Requests for concessions for non-conforming product or changes in specification are processed in accordance with this documented procedure. It must be agreed with the purchaser.

To ensure that the requests are clear and accurate a concession form (Work Instructions 7.2) is completed detailing:

1. Customer Name, Address and Order Number.
2. Our Acknowledgment Number.
3. Order quantity and concession quantity if needed.
4. Deviation from specification.
5. Reason for deviation.
6. Recommendations or comments.

The form will be sent to the customer for their approval or disapproval and invites their comments or suggestions for alternative action. Authorisation from the customer must be received before any goods can be despatched.

Concessions are kept on file by the Technical Director. The reason for the concession request will be reviewed at the monthly quality meeting.

Back to Documented Procedures

Clause 10.2.1, 10.2.2