Corrective Action vs. Countermeasure

[TacitBlue]

Hi All,

What is the difference between a corrective action and a countermeasure?

 

[Jim Wynne]

Context, please.

 

[Bev D]

Context is essential here. Too many people ascribe their own meanings to words and so our input may not be helpful.

But I’ll give you *my* understanding based on my experience in several industries.

A corrective action is a permanent solution that acts against the causal mechanism to prevent recurrence of a Problem.

A countermeasure is a temporary solution that doesn’t necessarily work against the cause but rather counters the defect itself. Think of a shim for something that is too short or small rather correcting the reason the thing is too short or a deburring action rather than fixing the thing that causes the burr…

Please keep in mind that I have heard others use these same terms with different meanings in mind.

 

[Pancho]

A few companies use the term "countermeasure" for corrective action. One example I remember is a case study on Danaher (HBS 9-708-445), where they use that term to "eliminate root causes", and Danaher is one terrific example of a company that did take quality to heart.

 

[Bev D]

That makes a lot of sense historically. Danaher is a Toyota Production System devotee. My experience with the term countermeasure as a corrective action / root cause term is with Japanese TPS type of companies. The root fo the word is western interpretation of the Japanese phrase’ Not always a precise translation… so it really comes down to what your organization ascribes as a meaning…

I would also add that I think countermeasures that aren’t against the root cause are still valuable as an interim or short term fix. The key - from a quality / cost perspective is that we should rarely stop at a ‘countermeasure’ that doesn’t work against the root cause.

 

[Sidney Vianna]

The word countermeasure is absent from the IAQG dictionary IAQG Dictionary

That means what has already been posted above: it's usage and meaning is not defined to the extent the term corrective action is.

 

[Enghabashy]

*The same concepts of corrective action ;the action plan or the countermeasure ,-- the automotive customers may use their own form

*more organized details which are commensurate with the root causes , the scheduled actions taken steps & the relevant assessment of the effectiveness by the planned time ; response/tasks -- , anyhow it’s still the same concepts as the IATF 16949 standard requirements