Clearing or Dispositioning NCRs (NonConformance Reports)

[Karen-Dawn]

I'm back and I need help again. This time it is related to our NCR system. I have reviewed just about every article stored here in the coves and everyone seems to want to know how to initiate a system and not how to get rid of these pesky things. Yes, corrective action and root cause are the true paths but what to do in the meantime:

We assign NCRs at every stage of production where an in-process QC does not meet spec, we also assign NCRs when incoming product and final test results do not meet spec. We have a well designed form and an NCR database for tracking, we also use Visual for all our part and stock inventories and Visual will not release stock until the NCR is cleared. The interim practices for releasing an NCR is generally based on Engineering's call as to what if anything is affected and an inspection/rework campaign to fix. I should also mention we are not a large company and resources for corrective action and or NCR clearing is very limited. We have found ourselves handcuffed where we are feeding shipping with product to meet demand only through the Logistics Mgr running around and beating people over the head with open NCRs.

There has got to be a better way? How do you out there track, close and process your NCRs and how do they affect shipping? Your is muchly appreciated.

Please and Thanks,

Karen-Dawn

 

[Jen Kirley]

I'm back and I need help again. This time it is related to our NCR system. I have reviewed just about every article stored here in the coves and everyone seems to want to know how to initiate a system and not how to get rid of these pesky things. Yes, corrective action and root cause are the true paths but what to do in the meantime:

We assign NCRs at every stage of production where an in-process QC does not meet spec, we also assign NCRs when incoming product and final test results do not meet spec. We have a well designed form and an NCR database for tracking, we also use Visual for all our part and stock inventories and Visual will not release stock until the NCR is cleared. The interim practices for releasing an NCR is generally based on Engineering's call as to what if anything is affected and an inspection/rework campaign to fix. I should also mention we are not a large company and resources for corrective action and or NCR clearing is very limited. We have found ourselves handcuffed where we are feeding shipping with product to meet demand only through the Logistics Mgr running around and beating people over the head with open NCRs.

There has got to be a better way? How do you out there track, close and process your NCRs and how do they affect shipping? Your is muchly appreciated.

Please and Thanks,

Karen-Dawn

The mental picture of this hapless fellow running around, whacking people with open NCRs made me laugh...

You say you have a database to (assign numbers, I suppose?) and track NCRs. This sounds like a programming issue as well as notification.

You use Visual? I'm not sure I know what you mean, a program built in-house with Visual Basic or a piece of proprietary software called "Visual"?

Do you have engineering meetings, where material is decided upon--after that, can there be even a phone call or an e-mail to someone who can alert the tracking system?

Do I understand you right that Visual is only being used for stock control, and that there is another program for NCR tracking? If this is so, was it written in-house?

I don't know about programming, but I would think it's possible to write code that red flags batch numbers or invoice numbers of product until a box is checked ("NCR Cleared") by the engineer in charge or another assigned person.

If it's not practical to change the software, then an extra physical step might be demanded before release of shipping, to ensure there is no outstanding NCR. Perhaps the shipping department/person could have a read-only access to the database, in which I trust an NCR is linked to a batch or invoice number that shipping can reference.

 

[Sidney Vianna]

There has got to be a better way? How do you out there track, close and process your NCRs and how do they affect shipping? Your

is muchly appreciated.

Please and Thanks,

Karen-Dawn

I am sorry, but I think you are asking the wrong question. The question to ask is how to AVOID NCRs. Without more information it is impossible for us to offer any meaningful response. But let me give you a hint. If you pareto your dispositions and the majority of the times you have UAI - Use as is - it is a pretty good indication that your acceptance/rejection criteria should be re-evaluated, a common problem in the Q world.

 

[Wes Bucey]

Let me expand on Sidney's response.

I make a distinction between a Nonconformance Report (NCR) and a Corrective Action Report (CAR.) Do you make such a distinction?

In my mind, NCR merely indicates "suspect" material. Suspect material is quarantined until final determination. If it isn't suspect enough to be quarantined, it isn't suspect enough to merit an NCR. In my organization, all NCRs go through a Material Review Board (MRB) [a cross-functional committee which meets as needed.] The MRB may call upon any outside help necessary, including the customer, to determine whether the material is

• conforming,
• nonconforming, but can be used as is, (may require a signoff from customer)
• nonconforming and must be reworked, (goes back through the system)
• nonconforming and must be scrapped (positively confirmed)

MRB makes a separate determination whether CAR should be generated with root cause investigation and action/no action returned by a certain date.

Significant plateaus:
When MRB makes ruling, NCR is closed. A separate CAR may be launched even with conforming material determination to examine why material was considered "suspect" - do tools or techniques in place make adequate determination? can they be improved to reduce or eliminate false negatives?

• NCR is resolved or material sits on floor in quarantine.
• Every NCR does not generate a CAR.
• Only customer or MRB can generate a CAR (request), everyone else is limited to generating a NCR (a suspicion), which can only be closed by the MRB.
• MRB is charged with determining whether too many "false negative" NCRs are being generated and to create some corrective action to reduce the number.
• Confirmed NCR "may" trigger a CAR (not always - why not always is topic for another thread)
• CAR results may or may not be shared with customer, depending upon contract requirements
• Every CAR must be closed.

In a busy contract machine shop, we rarely saw more than 1 or 2 NCRs a month, about evenly divided between customer-generated and internally-generated. Rarely did we ever have duplicates (once a year.) If you are seeing more than this and many are duplicates, your organization should be paying much more attention to CAR and implementing suggested actions to reduce the number of NCRs.

If you have a lot of unresolved NCRs, the process for generating and resolving them needs to be revamped.

 

[RoxaneB]

I make a distinction between a Nonconformance Report (NCR) and a Corrective Action Report (CAR.) Do you make such a distinction?

My organization does not. We have used a Nonconformance Report in the past which allowed us to address nonconformance issues (quick wham-bam-let's-get-back-to-shipping-the-good-stuff), CARs and PARs - including sections for root cause analysis, action plans, verification plans, results and sign-offs. The template was one page. Granted, the completed record was often substantially more. But the NCR was great at one-stop-shopping...something that we are very keen on in my organization.

To have an NCR trigger a CAR meant extra paperwork and with limited resources (i.e., manpower and time availability), the less time we spend on paperwork the more time we have to focus on addressing the situation and getting back to making the good stuff.

We are now evolving to a Failure Analysis Report. The template is two pages and does a better job at addressing failures with product, process and system-based issues. It can be used/initiated at all levels - including the shop floor where computer access is limited.

From the FAR database, we will be able to track recurring root causes which will potentially evolve into Quality Improvement Stories and/or Improvement Projects.

We assign NCRs at every stage of production where an in-process QC does not meet spec, we also assign NCRs when incoming product and final test results do not meet spec. We have a well designed form and an NCR database for tracking, we also use Visual for all our part and stock inventories and Visual will not release stock until the NCR is cleared. The interim practices for releasing an NCR is generally based on Engineering's call as to what if anything is affected and an inspection/rework campaign to fix. I should also mention we are not a large company and resources for corrective action and or NCR clearing is very limited. We have found ourselves handcuffed where we are feeding shipping with product to meet demand only through the Logistics Mgr running around and beating people over the head with open NCRs.

There has got to be a better way? How do you out there track, close and process your NCRs and how do they affect shipping? Your is muchly appreciated.

As Jennifer suggested, meetings are good tool when resources are limited. In fact, the policy at my organization is that no Nonconformance Report or Opportunity for Improvement Report can be closed until it has been presented at the Department Key Indicator Meeting and all have seen what was done (or not done in some cases). There must be concensus on closing the report - usually easy to do as people who are not involved in the issue (and/or do not fully understand the issue) are pretty good at letting the experts discuss the paperwork and whether the problem was truly and effectively addressed.

At that point, a note is made in the meeting minutes that NCR ### was closed and after the meeting, a designated individual goes into the Log an closes the NCR.

I'm afraid I don't clearly see the relationship between your question of tracking and closing NCRs and shipping product. As long as there is an open nonconformity on a product it is not shipped, unless there is evidence of a Customer concession.

 

[BadgerMan]

The question to ask is how to AVOID NCRs.

Yes

If you pareto your dispositions

I good first step........should show you where to focus your efforts.

It does not seem like a wise use of your resources to develop a highly efficient system for dealing with a large number of nonconformances. Instead, try to get management to focus on the real issue.

 

[Jim Howe]

ncr's

Excellent responses so far. I would like to add that in a MIL-Q-9858A environment we looked at the disposition of the non-confromance. If the non-conformance could be reworked to drawing (85 to 90% of them could, ie test failures, missing parts, etc) then the NCR was written and dispositioned to do just that with a step by step process written on the NCR to bring the unit back to drawing spec's (rework). We called it a preliminary disposition. When the unit was reworked the NCR was signed off by the inspector certifying the rework and copies were distributed to MRB and QA records. QA records analyzed for trends. Any removed bad parts were attached to the MRB copy.
If the unit could not be "reworked to drawing" then the unit and the NCR was sent to MRB.
Word of caution on rework dispositions please be sure you are not "repairing", all repair dispositions must come out of MRB with Customer approval.

 

[Karen-Dawn]

Thank you all, they are great responses but I guess I can say I knew all that.

The best response came from Badgerman who said try and get management to focus on the real issue...
I believe that is the real issue. As mentioned we are a small company competing with some real big boys and even though we pareto and know where our problems are our Engineering staff is so busy and so wrapped up in process projects just to keep the stuff coming off the line that they don't have time to 'disposition' resulting NCRs or work on pareto projects. Management has been 'firefighting' for so long they don't seem to know how to take that step back and get out of the loop. So now the guy who has been beating people with NCRs gets the president's ear and in a continued firefighting mode, the president says if NCRs are holding up shipments there is something wrong with the NCR system, fix it...
Back to me, and time to rephrase my question. How do I get management to focus on the real issue and does anyone else struggle with the resource issue but still manage to do what's right without constantly living in firefighting mode? Who should be on our nonconformance review board, who should be responsible for dispositioning NCRs and who should be working on eliminating the NCRs and if they are basically the same people how do they prioritize all this with ongoing work just to make product?

Thanks,

 

[BadgerMan]

Management has been 'firefighting' for so long they don't seem to know how to take that step back and get out of the loop.

Amazing!

I uttered almost the same words this morning during a discussion with a friend who also happens to be one of our Engineering Managers. We are fighting the same types of issues. I think it is a recurring theme around the world these days. We keep adding management staff but instead of managing from a systems perspective, they get caught up in micromanaging schedules and individual tasks instead of developing the system to effectively handle the load. It’s like everyone has blinders on these days!

How do I get management to focus on the real issue

A simple management level pareto analysis works well, especially if you can find a way to attach dollar signs. Management Review is a good forum.

who should be working on eliminating the NCRs

Effective problem solving is the key and I consider myself (as a QE) to be a champion in our organization. It sounds cliché but we never have time to do it (solve problems) right, but we always find time to do it twice.

Best of luck. I sure can empathize with you!

 

[Cari Spears]

...Who should be on our nonconformance review board, who should be responsible for dispositioning NCRs and who should be working on eliminating the NCRs...

These have to be the people who are technically qualified to determine whether the product can be reworked or repaired. Here's my procedure for control of nonconforming product - it may give you some ideas.

We do not use NCRs, we just use our red tag. I keep a log of red tags so I can track common causes for possible corrective action - we do not require corrective action for every red tag. I pareto diagram costs and causes for rework/scrap so we can determine when and where we want to implement corrective action.