Identification of Inspection and Test Status

In previous Internal QS9000 Audit it was found a Deviation:
It was found some boxes in scrap area (close to production lines)without identification of inspection and test status. The floor is marked with "scrap" next it was a material (tape). According to QS9000 4.12 section "NOTE: Location of product in the normal production flow does not costitute suitable indication of inspection and test status.
Is it a no-conformace?

[Marc]

Part of this would depend upon your traceability system, but typically if the immediate area is marked SCRAP and it is 'obvious' (such as tape on the floor outlining a 'box' on the floor) there is no need to tag the boxes. They are scrap. The key here is the auditor appears to be telling you your scrap area is too near the production material - an opinion. I would not write you up - in my opinion as long as it is 'obviously' a scrap area (tape of floor and SCRAP painted on floor) it is not a nonconformance. The NOTE about location applies to material in the process flow. I believe it was intended to stop companies from having boixes sitting at a station with no evidence that it had gone through appropriate processes and inspections/tests.

The concern of the auditor is will someone use these scrap parts - which is a 'What if...' situation - and What Ifs can go on forever. At best many, many are the auditor's opinions. My question would be has this led to a problem in the past. Auditors will, at the least, tell you they are offering Opportunities for Improvement.

[Roger Eastin]

We've been through this before, too - mark the box/pallet or the area? We mark the area unless, as Marc has pointed out, the scrap area is too close to the production flow. In this case, we mark the product or pallet.

[Laura M]

And ask alot of different people/different shifts if they know "what" the material is. Does everyone "know" it's defective. I always get concerned when it has to be obvious to the auditor even tho its obvious to everyone involved.

I had an auditor write an N/C for a reject basket because, due to construction on a raised bathroom, was moved out from under the sign which hung from the ceiling (floor of the bathroom). EVERY GOOD PART IN THE AREA WAS 'STACKED'IN TRAY OR ON RACKS. This was a large basket of scrambled product that was about 10 feet from where it belonged and I had to write a BullS*** corrective action. You couldn't find anyone in the area that didn't know it was scrap, temporarily moved from under the sign that said "scrap."

What did we learn/improve? Make sure you don't fix broken toilets during an audit

Marc?

[Marc]

There are a lot of possibilities. I have seen locked rooms, locked cages, open cages. One client had very big product. They had plastic tape they draped across the items. There was no designated scrap area in the plant. Depends upon what a company makes and how they make it. As much as I hate to use the word any more, it's a risk function. What's the probability nonconforming product will be used in production / product inadvertantly or on purpose.

[This message has been edited by Marc Smith (edited 14 June 2000).]

[Jim Biz]

We like many other places I've seen use - color coded tags to address two requirement issues.

1) positively identify "the product" /part number
2) Indicate inspection status" - no matter where it is located in the plant

Green is useable - Red is not... White "has passed final inspection" and is acceptable for shipment ... We allow only one colored tag on each load to avoid confusing the workforce ...

This gives us "Visual status confirmation" even if you can't read.. most folks (even If color blind) can tell the difference.

There's a lot of other ways to go about it but this works for us...

Regards
Jim