Control Plan - Multiple Process Steps

[leftoverture]

Hello Everyone,

We have many parts we produce (as tier 2 or tier 3) that have two or more process steps. We used to produce one control plan to cover everything from start to finish, but we found this does not work well in our system. Further, because we are a job shop and at the mercy of how our customers' make/align their prints and part numbers, making one single control plan often was very confusing to our customers as well. About two years ago we made the decision to separate our control plans and have one control plan for each process step. Many of our suppliers were already doing this, so it seemed like a best practice to me. I will mention that our control plan is not a paperwork exercise, we actually use them to control our processes.

Frankly, since we made the switch things have worked quite well for us and we have had zero concerns from our customers (until now) and I consider our decision to be a significant process improvement and a good step towards keeping things lean. But I now have one customer (major customer) who is asking us to revert to one control plan that covers all process steps. (Two years ago they were one of the customers who seemed to frequently be confused by our old way!) My first reaction is to push back on their request but before I do, I wanted to get feedback from others on what you are all doing and what you are accepting from your suppliers.

Thanks!

 

[Miner]

Could you not continue what you are currently doing and simply collate the relevant process steps for their product into a single document upon request?

 

[Golfman25]

Take each of your control plan pages, staple them together. Now you have a muti-process control plan. Good luck.

 

[Steve Prevette]

When I was in a torpedo maintenance shop in the Navy, we had a master flow chart which then told you an order of procedures to accomplish on the torpedo, depending upon the type of torpedo and what needed to be done. Ought to see if you can have an overarching procedure that says - for this customer and product, do Task 2.68 then 5.06 then 1.21.

 

[leftoverture]

Could you not continue what you are currently doing and simply collate the relevant process steps for their product into a single document upon request?

Indeed we can, if you mean scanning each separate control plan into a single pdf. But if you mean creating a single master document, it would not be that easy since each step is numbered and collating into a single document would require renumbering all the steps (for control plan, PFMEA, and process flow since they require all three). It also seems undesirable to create such a document when it would essentially be a meaningless paperwork exercise that I would then have to rev control for the duration which would, of course, not be a lean practice.

How do you do control plans in your organization?

 

[leftoverture]

Take each of your control plan pages, staple them together. Now you have a muti-process control plan. Good luck.

That is, in essence, what some of my suppliers do. I have come to appreciate the simplicity of it!

 

[Miner]

Indeed we can, if you mean scanning each separate control plan into a single pdf.
How do you do control plans in your organization?

This is what I meant.

We maintain them at the process step level. Fortunately, our business model is such that individual customers do not have the leverage to demand that we do things their way. We do what makes sense.

 

[leftoverture]

This is what I meant.

We maintain them at the process step level. Fortunately, our business model is such that individual customers do not have the leverage to demand that we do things their way. We do what makes sense.

Thanks. I always appreciate your input!

 

[leftoverture]

Just a follow up for anyone else facing this same question....we did end up scanning all the separate control plans into one pdf and our customer was fine with that approach. Success!