Quality Assurance and Improvement Flashcards

What is the difference between 'special cause' and 'common cause' variation in statistical process control?

Answer: Common cause is inherent to the process; special cause is due to an identifiable external factor

Common cause variation is the natural, inherent variation in a stable process, while special cause variation is unexpected variation from an identifiable source that needs corrective action.

Which corrective action document formally records a customer complaint, root cause, corrective action, and preventive measures in automotive and industrial supply chains?

Answer: 8D Report

The 8D (Eight Disciplines) report is a structured problem-solving methodology used to document the problem, root cause, corrective actions, and prevention steps for customer-reported issues.

During a quality audit, an auditor finds that operators are not following the documented work instructions. This finding is categorized as a:

Answer: Nonconformance

A nonconformance is a finding where actual practice does not conform to a documented requirement, standard, or procedure.

In FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis), the Risk Priority Number (RPN) is calculated as:

Answer: Severity × Occurrence × Detection

RPN is calculated by multiplying Severity, Occurrence, and Detection scores (each rated 1–10), with higher RPNs indicating higher priority for corrective action.

A machinist measures the same part ten times with the same gauge and gets slightly different readings each time. This variation is due to:

Answer: Repeatability error

Repeatability error is the variation seen when the same operator measures the same part multiple times with the same gauge under the same conditions.

Which lean concept focuses on reducing setup and changeover time to enable smaller, more flexible production runs?

Answer: SMED (Single-Minute Exchange of Die)

SMED is a lean technique aimed at reducing equipment changeover time to under 10 minutes, enabling more flexible scheduling and smaller lot sizes.

In quality management, 'corrective action' differs from 'preventive action' in that corrective action:

Answer: Addresses a nonconformance that has already occurred

Corrective action eliminates the root cause of an existing nonconformance, while preventive action addresses potential nonconformances before they occur.