From Lean Enterprise: A Comprehensive Overview, one-day workshop presented on 12 February 2003

• Central role in driving continuous improvement
• Assure project closure
• Standardize the change; hold the gains
• Best practice deployment

1. We cannot overemphasize the importance of following through on every problem and proactive improvement project.
• Corrective action is required by ISO 9000.
• Lack of follow-through will undermine employee confidence in the program.
• Example: TOPS-8D gets to 2D or 3D
• Follow-through on every project will encourage employee participation.
2. Many events can initiate a corrective action or proactive improvement.
• Quality: scrap, rework, or field failure
• Equipment downtime
• National Semiconductor, Ford River Rouge: no such thing as a "minor" equipment stoppage
• ISO 9000 nonconformance
• Employee-initiated hiyari (scare report). A hiyari can apply to anything an employee or self-directed team doesn't think is right.
• Quality
• Safety
• ISO 9000 (potential nonconformance)
• Employee-initiated proactive improvement
• Kaizen blitz
3. Any appropriate procedure may be used.
• Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA)
• Six Sigma DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control)
• The modern Ford Motor Company's TOPS-8D (Team Oriented Problem Solving, Eight Disciplines)
• I recommend this as more versatile than Six Sigma's DMAIC. It can be applied to almost any improvement activity.
• TOPS-8D's containment step (3) can be omitted for proactive improvement projects.

"The QAR incorporates all types of Quality issues (Customer, Vendor, In-Process, Safety, Quality Audit, etc.) into a closed-loop system that requires action from all appropriate personnel."
"The QAR tracks the following steps; Initiation, Notification to the Responsible Party, Disposition of Materials, Disposition Sign-off, Root Cause Analysis, Corrective Action Definition and Sign-off, and Verification of Corrective Action Effectiveness."
Specific benefits:

Issues cannot "fall between the cracks."

Information sharing between management and the shop floor

Elimination of paperwork

Corrective Action and Tracking System

• "CATSweb is a Web-based Corrective Action Tracking System designed to solve problems faster and maintain ISO 9000 standards."
• "Use CATSWeb for any number of applications, such as tracking and managing manufacturing nonconformances, customer complaints, supplier returns, audits, accident reports, chemical spills, health & safety issues, etc."
• "Extensible to Suppliers, Customers, and Business Partners."
• Customizable forms
• It makes sure issues don't "fall through the cracks."