IATF 16949: From FMEA to quality control with Cierpa Quality

This manufacturer in the global automotive industry is an inspired and experienced improver. With their improvement process already well underway, customer improvement requirements are becoming more and more sophisticated.

We received the following question: can we transfer the design and maintenance of our quality control process to Cierpa Quality and prove we comply with the IATF 16949 standard? Cierpa developed a super-smart new functionality in Cierpa Quality that makes this happen - in this and every other audit!

First things first: what is IATF 16949?

IATF 16949, also known as IATF 16949:2016, is a quality system for the global automotive industry. It's is a standard for the quality level within the industry that ensures quality and stimulates improvement. This way, quality assurance is not just the audit of your products or machine; it is also the process by which you arrive at the audit.

What customer question should this feature solve?

Our customer spent a lot of work keeping the actual audit forms in line with FMEA, the Failure Mode and Effects Analysis. It involved using several complicated Excel files. File consistency was a labor-intensive job with too many chances of error. The customer wanted to switch to digital Quality Control Planning to solve these problems.

Cierpa Quality fully supports you in your quality control, and the Quality Control Plan helps you create your plan for quality control.

 What does the Quality Control Plan do?

The Quality Control Plan is an added feature to Cierpa Quality, our accessible and result-oriented quality management software turns quality audits into effective improvement tools. Cierpa Quality has already provided you with all the features to facilitate, improve, and secure your quality control. But the Quality Control Plan goes one step beyond this: it offers you support to draw up your quality control plan too.

The Quality Control Plan helps you, even before the actual checkings, to identify error opportunities, triage them, improve them, and, if that doesn't work, automatically move on to digital quality control in the right place at the right time. 

If you can perform on-the-line digital quality control directly from the FMEA, you are guaranteed your control is sound.

 

This feature goes beyond just completing the Quality Control Plan: the quality of the plan itself is monitored as well. With automatic change registration and a smart comment function, you can instantly see which part of the plan still needs attention and when it is time for the following review. Temporary deviations from the control parameters are supported and are automatically featured on the control form. 

The software is so comprehensive that you can do on-the-line digital quality control directly from the FMEA. As our customer said: "If you can bring that relationship into these systems, you have a rock-solid guarantee that your control is sound." And it did!

Can this feature also be applied to other industries?

It sure can: it's a generic method for designing, accounting, and executing the quality control process. You can use it within any industry and for any audit!