AS9100 Root Cause And Corrective Action
Root cause corrective action for nonconformance’s has long been a requirement in theaerospace industry as stated in the AS9100 standard. It is a process of determining the causes that led to a nonconformance or event, and implementing corrective actions to prevent a recurrence of the event. The requirements for corrective action have been imposed on the aerospace industry for decades and while not new, may not have been aggressively enforced.
Corrective action begins with clearly defining the actual problem. While this may seem simple,many recurring nonconformance’s result because the wrong problem was solved, only the result was fixed, or only one problem was corrected when there were really two or more problems. In order to fix a problem, it must be clearly and suitably defined. Frequently, the nonconformance identified is not really the problem, but the symptom of the problem.
The best ways to arrive at the true root cause of a nonconformance is collect and analyze data that will support your conclusions. There are many tools and methods to collect data that can aid in problem identification. Among these tools are software solutions which can collect and graph information for ease of analysis. AS9100 software applications can help your organization clearly and accurately identify the root cause of a problem, so that you can implement corrective action that will resolve and prevent the problem from reoccurring in the future.
It is not unusual when reviewing Procedures Manuals to find procedures that do not relate to a process and seem to be unrelated to any activity within an Organization. These are procedures of expediency, something written hastily to satisfy a non conformance related to a unique incident.
The inherent problem in the process or system is not properly addressed unless an in depth analysis of the process is made to reveal the weak points that cause what seemingly may be unrelated non conformances. Once the root cause is identified the corrective action becomes more rational, clearer, simpler and easier to implement.