Kevin Winters, Quality Engineer

The Continuous Improvement process is a management process whereby delivery (customer valued) processes are constantly evaluated and improved in the light of their efficiency, effectiveness and flexibility. One way we at Bauer track our efforts to continually improve our products is through our Quality System. This system allows our employees to identify problems or potential problems and follow through until the issue is addressed and corrected. The use of Corrective Action Requests (CARs), Preventive Action Requests (PARs), and Non-Conforming Products (NCPs) provides traceable, documented proof of our commitment to our quality objectives.

A great thing about using CARs is that anyone at any level can initiate a CAR. CARs are identified in one of two ways. The first way is through our audit system where our Auditors go through our procedures and obtain enough evidence that our Quality System is functioning effectively. If not, the Auditor issues a CAR to correct the observed issue. The second way CARs are identified is by any employee who may notice a process is not working or while following a procedure, they notice an error. After a CAR is identified, our process is simple: the individual who identified the area of concern gets together with the Quality Engineer who fills out the proper paperwork, assigns it a tracking number and then delivers it to the proper department. Once the item is completed, the paperwork is delivered back to the Quality Engineer who then observes the issue to ensure any changes made are working. Once there is enough objective evidence obtained to show that the corrections made from the CAR are working, the CAR is then closed.

The PAR is related to the CAR, but there is a bit of a difference. The PAR, as the name implies, is to prevent something from happening within our system. Think of the PAR as brake lights on a vehicle. You see the lights come on in the vehicle

ahead of you and you know you need to apply your brakes to avoid an accident. A PAR works similarly to the brake lights. It helps to identify that there may be a check or balance missing within our system and needs to be addressed before something happens. The key word here is "preventing". Initiating the PAR lets us take a look at our process and improve on an area that may have been previously overlooked.

The NCP is somewhat different than the CARs and PARs, though a NCP and a CAR can cross paths. NCPs are products that do not meet the requested requirements or specific measurements called out. Identifying the NCP is narrowed down to a few people as it is more job specific. The Inspectors, Receiver, Purchasing and Quality Engineer are mostly responsible for identifying the NCP, but anyone identifying a piece of equipment that is not to the required specification can initiate the NCP. Now how do the NCP and CAR cross paths? Well, let's use the scenario that we have identified a part that does not fit into the final product. During the investigation on the NCP the part is re-inspected with the print that it was manufactured from. We find that the part is made to the print. Next the investigation brings us to look at when this part was last manufactured. We then go into our records of the last job and find that changes were made to the drawing and it is discovered that the print was never updated. This finding would, in turn, start a CAR to discover why the print was never updated.

We here at Bauer are proud of all the Corrective and Preventive Actions that we identify. Yes, you read this correctly, we are proud of them. Why? Because finding problems in our processes and procedures allows us to correct the issues quickly. This continually improves our processes and procedures, leading to better, higher quality end products. Better products result in more satisfied customers.