With hundreds of project parties, hundreds of pieces of different equipment and thousands of suppliers, it's not surprising that there are some non conformances on industrial sites and projects. Although there are some proactive forms and processes in place to try to preempt non conformances and prevent mistakes and defects, it's inevitable that some slip through the cracks.
For these non conformances, we have project quality forms, documents and processes. And one of the most important and powerful quality tools which a company or team has at its disposal is the non conformance report or NCR.
A non conformance report documents the details of a non conformance identified in a standard process review or quality audit. These non conformances involve a product, process or procedure falling outside of project spec - and the report is intended to provide all project parties with an unambiguous and concise definition of the problem so that the necessary corrective action can be initiated.
Non conformances vary in size and seriousness, from small installation issues or an inspection instrument past its calibration date to major equipment or supply failures.
But all non conformances are critically important to the success of the project, as they all have an impact on the quality of the asset delivered at the end of the project.
The typical flow of a non conformance report is as follows:
So now that the purpose of and sequence of events predicating and following a non conformance issue are clear - what's an example of a non conformance report?
There are a few key sections of a non conformance report which can't be missed, not filled in or ignored. Because non conformances are contractual documents, how they are created, maintained and completed is very important for project management.
Firstly, as with all of your documents, your NCR will need some basic record keeping fields including:
These details are critical for your own record keeping, and ensure all of these documents are properly organised and easily searchable in the event of a dispute or issue.
The next part of the non conformance is focused on the who. In this non conformance report template, there are sections for contractor information and supplier information. These tables enable you to clearly define who was at fault - which will then inform what the corrective action needs to be and who is required to 'front the bill'.
After this, your NCR will need to clearly and concisely define the what.
What is/was the non conformance. This report example gives you a description section for clearly defining the non conformance, as well as a photo and video upload section. The important of this evidence can not be understated. Not only do photos and videos provide the best form of proof and clarity, they are the 'objective' and indefensible element of an NCR. No contractor or subcontractor can argue with video proof of a non conformance which can be referenced against drawing specs.
Supporting evidence is so important - and companies have been burnt so many times - that management will often not accept a non-conformance report which does not provide it.
The next portions of your non conformance report needs to be focused around getting acceptance on the non conformance, signatures to acknowledge that all parties agree there has been a non conformance and agree to who was at fault, and then a corrective action and/or proposed preventative action.
