Non-Conformance Reports
A non-conformance report records a problem that needs a decision and, often, an investigation. It is more than a failed inspection: it names what went wrong, who it is against, what it is costing, and what is being done with the affected goods. NCRs can be raised from an inspection automatically, or by hand for problems that never touched an inspection at all.
Raising one
| Route | When |
|---|---|
| Automatically | A lot is rejected or an inspection fails, and Raise an NCR is on in General settings. The NCR records which inspection and document it came from. |
| New → Non-Conformance Report | Anything else — a customer complaint, something found on the floor, a supplier problem noticed outside an inspection. |
The fields
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Title | Required. One line that says what the problem is. |
| Source | Inspection, Customer Complaint, Internal / Process, or Supplier. |
| Against | Nobody, a supplier, or a customer — who the problem is attributed to. |
| Severity | How serious it is, used for sorting and reporting. |
| Item / Batch / Quantity | What is affected. The screen tells you when the quantity is already on quality hold. Quantity cannot be negative. |
| Raised On / Disposition Due | The due date defaults from Days to Disposition an NCR in General settings. |
| Owner | Defaults to the Quality Manager. |
| Containment | What was done at once to stop the problem spreading, before anybody worked out why it happened. |
| Defects | Rows from the catalog with how many were found. |
| Scrap Cost / Rework Cost / Other Cost | What this non-conformance cost. These three add up to the Cost of Poor Quality on the Overview. |
The lifecycle
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Open | Raised. Only an open NCR can be edited. |
| Under Review | With the review board, who decide the disposition. |
| Dispositioned | A decision has been taken on the goods. |
| Closed | Finished. |
| Cancelled | Withdrawn — it should not have been raised. |
Dispositions
The disposition says what happens to the affected goods. Six are available:
| Disposition | Means |
|---|---|
| Use as is | Accepted despite the non-conformance, on record. |
| Rework | Fix it and check it again. |
| Scrap | Write it off. |
| Return to supplier | Send it back. |
| Sort / 100% inspect | Check the whole quantity and separate the good from the bad. |
| Downgrade | Keep it, but not at the grade it was meant to be. |
Dispositioning needs Usage Decisions and Dispositions permission. With electronic signature on, the user re-enters their password and the audit trail marks the step as signed.
From NCR to CAPA
A disposition deals with the goods in front of you. It does not stop the problem happening again. When it needs to stop, open a corrective or preventive action from the NCR; the two stay linked, and the NCR shows where its investigation went.
An NCR past its disposition due date is counted as overdue on the Overview. That is what the Days to Disposition an NCR setting is for — set it to the response time you actually promise, not an aspiration.