Non-Conformities

Any quality management system requires deviations to be documented and their handling to be provable. What gets audited is not the absence of incidents (every company has them) but that they are detected, dealt with and closed against a criterion.

Each non-conformity carries its origin, its owner, its deadline and its corrective action, with the later verification of whether it worked. That last step is the one most often skipped when this is kept in a spreadsheet, and it is precisely the one the auditor asks for.

Because it lives in the same system as work records, service incidents and suppliers, a non-conformity can originate where it was actually detected and carry its context, instead of being typed up separately from whatever somebody remembers a week later.

What gets audited

What gets reviewed is not the absence of incidents

This is a common misunderstanding. A quality auditor does not expect to find a company without deviations (there is no such thing) but to verify that deviations are detected, handled against a criterion and closed on the record.

That is why a non-conformity is a case file, not a note. Each one carries:

Its origin: an internal audit, a customer complaint, a supplier, an issue spotted during a service.
Its description and classification, so recurring patterns can be grouped later.
Its owner and deadline, which is what turns an intention into a task.
Its corrective action, with what was done and when.
The effectiveness check: whether the action solved the problem or it happened again.

That last step is the one most often skipped when this lives in a spreadsheet, and it is precisely the one that gets asked for.

Where they come from

Raised where they are spotted, with their context attached

The difference between having this inside the management system and in a separate quality tool is where the information comes from.

A non-conformity can originate from an issue logged by a technician on a work order, from a complaint that arrived as a ticket, from received material that did not meet spec, or from an internal review. In every case it carries its context: which customer, which machine, which supplier, which document.

Written up separately, that same non-conformity gets typed a week later from whatever somebody remembers, without the work order or the photos, losing exactly what made it useful for finding the cause.

What keeps repeating

Closing incidents one by one improves nothing

A company can diligently resolve every non-conformity that appears and still have the same problem three years running. Improvement does not come from closing them, but from looking at the similar ones together.

With a classified history you can see which causes repeat, which supplier concentrates the deviations, which process generates the most complaints, and whether the actions taken made any difference. That is the review you take into a quality meeting with a figure rather than an impression.

And for the audit, the documentation is complete without preparing it: every file with its date, its owner, its action and its verification.

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Clearing things up

Frequently asked questions

Answers to what we get asked most.

What exactly does a quality auditor review?

Not the absence of incidents, because no company is without deviations, but that they are detected, handled against a criterion and closed on the record. That is why each non-conformity carries its origin, owner, deadline, corrective action and the check on whether it worked.

Where can a non-conformity originate?

From an issue logged by a technician on a work order, a complaint that arrived as a customer service ticket, received material that did not meet spec, or an internal review. In every case it carries its context: which customer, which machine, which supplier.

What is the effectiveness check?

Checking, after some time has passed, whether the corrective action solved the problem or it happened again. It is the step most often skipped when this lives in a spreadsheet, and precisely the one the auditor asks for.

Can I see which problems keep repeating?

Yes, with a classified history you can see which causes repeat, which supplier concentrates the deviations and which process generates the most complaints. Closing incidents one by one improves nothing; looking at the similar ones together does.

HR and time tracking

Time records, shifts, holidays, payroll preparation, contracts and training in one place, with an employee portal and everything documented for an inspection.