A Corrective Action Request for Quality Acronyms

There’s one term that can clarify all the others

So, you think you’ve got them all figured it out, and then, bam! Somebody else comes up with a new quality acronym to throw you off your game. But don’t give up too soon. Acronyms are confusing, but they all boil down to continual improvement. The trick is to decide, along with your company, which acronyms you really want to use.

If you have been in quality for as long as I have, and have seen as many industries, you’ve no doubt seen the following acronyms, but you might not know what they stand for. What follows is a brief summary of each as well as an explanation of the one, single acronym that can do away with all of your quality confusion.

…

Want to continue?

By logging in you agree to receive communication from Quality Digest. Privacy Policy.

Create a FREE account

Forgot My Password

Comments

CAR titling

To Miriam Boudreaux,

I highly enjoyed your article and indeed, it would certainly help anyone confused by the various acronyms used in the quality field.

Regarding CARs, I thought early on that "Corrective Action Request" is confusing and inadequate to the task. That is why I define a CAR as a Corrective Action Report, which encompasses the whole process including reporting, root cause definition, planned corrective and actions to address the nonconformity and prevent recurrence, monitoring to judge CPA effectiveness and closeout when the process/problem is resolved.

I suppose that a Corrective Action Request might be appropriate in a large organization, but would only add another layer of forms that could be a portion of a Corrective Action Report.

Ill defined forms lead to incorrect useage: I have had Corrective Action Requests from Customers, when what I should have received would be a Supplier Corrective Action Request.

Anyway, thanks for the great article and the chance to respond.

Cordially yours,

Robert Bolton, QA Mgr Unitek Instruments