Part of the problem with corrective actions has long been the proliferation of requests for things that just don’t meet the criteria. Significant progress toward selecting the problems that warrant corrective action has been made in recent years. This has improved the image of corrective actions and the effectiveness of the results. Many folks have gone from viewing them as meaningless paper-shuffles to recognizing them as sources of improvement.

Just as you need to be judicious in your internal deliberations when launching a corrective action request (CAR), you must also have defined criteria when requesting similar action from your suppliers.

It’s appropriate for organizations to have a defined process for supplier corrective actions. This includes consideration for responsibility, documentation, implementation and verification of effectiveness.

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