Compliance Quest - Nonconformance & Cost of Conformance Software

With CQ Nonconformance Management Solution, you can capture, triage, investigate and disposition all nonconformances in a timely and effective manner.

Identifying and managing product and process Nonconformance and eliminating its cause is critical to an organization’s quality system. This is especially pertinent in the stringent FDA and ISO compliant environments, where a non-conforming product, material, or component could lead to costly rework, or worse, a product recall. Our primary goal, in addition to reducing CoQ, is to capture and act on a nonconformance before it leaves the organization and reaches a customer.

Poor quality can happen at any stage of the product lifecycle, from engineering to production, and this will have direct impact on the cost of quality. Additional costs can be incurred from any of the following: Loss of time and costs associated with analyzing nonconforming goods or services to determine the root causes; retesting products after reworking on them; scrapping defective products and incurring additional costs to replace them; and even escalation to a CAPA. With a collaborative approach to nonconformance management, you can prevent any variance to process, parts, or equipment and ensure periodic training of your shop floor workers to align to the ever-changing quality parameters.

ComplianceQuest’s Nonconformance Management solution uses Einstein Predictive Analytics to capture nonconformance trends and draw insights from data. It helps with spotting key risks, escalate to a CAPA ahead of time and also drive continuous improvement (CI) of the entire quality management process. Insights drawn from data helps with identifying recurring errors, patterns of issues, the stage of production at which the error originates frequently, the process variation that is causing the error and so on. CQ’s Nonconformance Management Solution automates the process of finding a permanent and effective solution, with agility and nimbleness.

An unwanted recall can erode brand image and lead to revenue losses. By identifying a nonconformance before it leaves the proverbial four walls of the company, you can reduce the overall cost of quality, prevent a potential injury for the end user, avoid unnecessary penalties/fines and protect brand image. Having an end-to-end automated EQMS can ensure that any quality issues are identified before dispatch and addressed in a timely manner before it reaches a customer.

Improve customer delight by ensuring the quality of your products, with robust process control to reduce quality gaps and conform to product specifications. Even minor variations can cause customer dissatisfaction and allow the customer to start looking for alternatives. Minimize variability of materials, waste, and rework to reduce lead times and increase production yield. With an integrated, enterprise-wide quality management system, gain visibility into quality processes across the entire lifecycle to increase customer satisfaction.

FDA’s 21 CFR 820.90(a) defines nonconformity as any nonfulfillment of specifications that applies to both products and processes and provides specific guidelines to different industries. It requires manufacturers to establish and maintain procedures to control product that does not meet the specified requirements by identifying, documenting, evaluating, segregating, and dispositioning the nonconforming product. According to ISO 9001, nonconformity can occur at any level in an organization, quality control and manufacturing to personnel procedures and categorizes them as minor and major issues. CQ’s EQMS automates ISO- and FDA-compliance, using a risk-based approach to prioritize nonconformances and initiate corrections to meet the specifications. This can improve customer satisfaction, boost employee morale as well as reduce cost of quality. Most importantly, CQ’s EQMS has a pre-built environment to make it efficient for quality leaders to design quality workflows for ISO and FDA compliance.

Nonconformance due to internal failures can lead to delay in product delivery, rejection of product, rework, spiraling operational costs and regulatory noncompliance. Catching it on time and identifying the root cause can prevent recurrence as well as effect continuous improvement and innovation. CQ’s Nonconformance Management Solution, with an integrated Risk Management Module, automates nonconformance management workflows to identify, document and prevent nonconformances, with a specific focus on high-risk nonconformances. It also enables periodic training of employees to reduce human errors and initiate root cause analysis for the critical issues.