Conforming vs Nonconforming Materials
Conforming as you might imagine, means the material being manufactured meets the requirements, this is what we all want. Nonconforming means the material does not meet the requirements, and manufacturers who fail to recognize and control non-conforming defects can seriously damage the businesses they are working with. Which is why is it vital for a manufacturer to perform the necessary audits on not only the nonconforming materials, but also the MRB Procedures, including matching physical location, description, disposition, history record keeping.Identifying Nonconforming Locations:
A nonconforming product created during the processing stages may need different identification and segregation methods than a defective finished product or a returned material. The mentioning locations procedures should include instructions on how to process the nonconforming materials. Location stages where a defect can be identified:- Receiving Inspection
- In Process Defects
- Finish Good Defects
- Returned Material Defects
Labeling and Segregating
In the receiving inspection stage, a manufacturer needs to oversee both conforming and nonconforming materials. They obviously don’t want them all going to the same place, so defective materials must be labeled and then segregated into a separate group of pallets and bins, away from the conforming materials. Many MFGs store their nonconforming materials in a hold cage until their pending disposition. When looking for a PC manufacturing partner, businesses should be aware of the length of the inspection period and quality control timetables. At Premio, for example, we pride ourselves on same day IQC turnaround for nonconforming materials. All nonconforming items found at IQC are sent back to the supplier the same day, preventing any chance of a nonconforming material flush into our MFG. Documentation for process defects also includes systems that are not performing to their requirements. A manufacturer should tag out / lock out these systems with a “Reject Tags Defect Description” until the system is fixed. At this stage, because the disposition use wasn’t determined by a customer or MRB team members, it must be documented in a MRB log along with the customer deviation record. Properly tagging products not only keep the defective materials away from the good, they also warn MFG and their customers of potential safety hazards caused as a result of the defect. Regardless of where the Product Defects occurs (in the manufacturing process, after the process was finished, or nonconforming material that were returned by a business), manufacturers need to label nonconforming products and segregate them away from the conforming materials. While that may sound simple, this process is pretty in-depth and should include:- Placing the material in a hold MRB cage with detailed descriptions and a reject tag to alert the team that it is pending disposition
- Removing defective items from the production line and taking them to repair station with reject tag symptom
- The SFC repair system should then automatically log the nonconforming until repair is completed; the same method should apply to MRB log as well
- Materials returned by customers must be separated from MFG products.
- Disposition as Recycle/Scrap/UAI
