Correction - Corrective Action - Preventive Action

[Clarence.L]

Hi all,

Confused~ I am really confused in the correction, corrective action & preventive action~ can anybody help to provide the definition & explaination of the terms.

Besides, I got a simple example, please kindly help to provide the correction, corrective action & preventive action for solving the problems.

Example: Customer ordered 500 Product A, but customer feedback that there is some Product B mixed into the batch and shipped them, it is because Product A & Product B are similar. And there are still 200 Product A in our stock. let's say, root cause is due to insufficient identification of the finished product and got mix in the storage area.

For me,

The correction will - countercheck our stock and ensure there is no mixed product. Besides, go to customer side and perform sorting if possible.

The corrective action will - establish WI for product identification, let's say, identify the differnent product with the independent label, to ensure no mix.

The preventive action will - ??


^.^ Many thanks.

 

[Claes Gefvenberg]

The correction will - countercheck our stock and ensure there is no mixed product. Besides, go to customer side and perform sorting if possible.

Yep, fix the current problem.

The corrective action will - establish WI for product identification, let's say, identify the differnent product with the independent label, to ensure no mix.

Yep, that could be one way of making certain it doesn't happen again.

The preventive action will - ??

Prevent it from ever happening in the first place.You cannot prevent something that has already happened, but there may be other similar risks for mix-ups. Perhaps you can prevent them?

You are not the only one getting confused. We have been over this subjet on numerous occasions. Here are but a few links to similar threads:

Corrective Action vs. Preventive (Predictive) Action - A Definitive Discussion
I need help creating a practical preventive action process
Continual Improvement & Preventive action
Preventive Action Documentation

/Claes

 

[sal881vw]

Hello Clarence.L
I agree completely with what Claes has just gave you, maybe the following saying may help you understand better between CA and PA.
PREVENTION IS BETTER THEN CURE

I define cure as corrective action that is correcting (putting right) what has gone wrong.......and since as the saying goes "prevention is better then cure".........it follows that prevention is doing something in order not to take the cure (corrective action)

Hope I've been of some help

 

[DDaenen1]

The correction will - countercheck our stock and ensure there is no mixed product. Besides, go to customer side and perform sorting if possible..

You might want to call this containment to avoid confusion.

The corrective action will - establish WI for product identification, let's say, identify the differnent product with the independent label, to ensure no mix.

Establishing working instructions is probably not the best example for a robust corrective action as the target is to secure the entire system that it won't happen again ruling out human error as much as possible.

The preventive action will - ??

Ensure that with future developments, this is considered during product/process design. For example, you might want to update your Design/Process FMEA's so you catch it next time and can mistake/error proof it in the product and process development.

 

[Swagg - 2009]

Corrective action finds you. (An event has happened / you must re-act)

You find preventive action. (No event, you are pro-active)

 

[peterd]

I've had lots of trouble with this one over the years. I tend to think that the wording in the original ISO9002:1994 didn't help and hasn't got any better in the 2000 version.

Preventive Actions are what you do to prevent something from happening. This should be in the standard as part of Planning and Management Review etc.

Once you have been produced your Product or Service things can go wrong. Corrective Action is what you do to put this right.

I would suggest thinking of splitting Corrective into two parts containment and corrective.

What have you done to contain this problem and to meet the customer need. This would be sorting parts, reworking or replacing what was wrong.

Once you have contained the problem then you can look at correcting the root cause.

IMHO the wording in the next ISO9001:2012, or whenever it arrives should make this disctinction as this does cause a lot of problems. The description of the corrective action currently uses 'prevent recurrence' in its description of the corrective action which causes confusion. We need to clearly seperate the two.

Don't know whether you agree?

Peter

 

[Peter Fraser]

Preventive Actions are what you do to prevent something from happening. This should be in the standard as part of Planning and Management Review etc.

Dead right - and this is what many folk don't appreciate (including the folk who wrote the standard?). PA is risk management / process design / sensible tendering / recruitment policy and practice / induction and training ...

Once you have been produced your Product or Service things can go wrong. Corrective Action is what you do to put this right.

Nope: putting it right is "Correction" - you sort out the customer's problem. Corrective Action is identical to Preventive Action APART FROM the fact that what triggers CA is that something HAS gone wrong, and PA is triggered by you realising that something COULD go wrong. What you do is the same. CA and PA are sorting out YOUR problem before it becomes the customer's problem.

The standard doesn't help by implying that CA and PA are different.

 

[Clarence.L]

The description of the corrective action currently uses 'prevent recurrence' in its description of the corrective action which causes confusion. We need to clearly seperate the two.

Don't know whether you agree?

Peter

Exactly why I was confusing after went through ISO standard.

 

[Clarence.L]

Understood~

You are not the only one getting confused. We have been over this subjet on numerous occasions. Here are but a few links to similar threads:

/Claes

Got it, thanks Claes

 

[peterd]

Peter

I think we actaully agree. What you say is correction is what I call containment - making sure the customer's problem is sorted.

As you say the actions you take for preventive and corrective are the same although they can have different emphasis. Investigating something that has already gone wrong can be full of negative conotations whereas preventive actions are more positive in outlook.

In an organisation where the culture is good this isn't an issue.

Peter