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Field Book · Chapter 8 of 8 · The effectiveness check, step D8

Prove It Worked

Done means the actions happened; closed means they were proven. How to write the effectiveness check up front and close the whole trail under one complaint number.

By Chris Martin, quality manager. 2 minute read. Free, no signup.

Done means the actions happened. Closed means you have proven they worked. Write the effectiveness check before the actions finish, use evidence from outside the quality office such as the customer’s incoming data, then close the 8D and the log entry and confirm the complaint number appears on every record it touched.

Three weeks after the email, every action in the 8D is done. It's tempting to close it. Not yet. Done means the actions happened. Closed means you've proven they worked.

Decide what proof looks like up front

Write the effectiveness check before the actions finish, so nobody grades their own homework afterward. For the housings, the team wrote it into the 8D the day they chose the corrective action:

  1. Zero scratch rejects at the customer's incoming inspection for the next 10 shipments.
  2. The LPA packout question answered yes at least 95% of the time over the same period.
  3. One look at a tote on the customer's dock, to see the parts as they arrive.

Each one is measurable, has a time frame, and uses evidence from outside the quality office. The customer's incoming data counts for more than your own opinion of the fix.

Then close the trail

Ten shipments later, there were no rejects, LPA compliance was 97%, and the dock check showed parts arriving clean. Now the 8D can close. D8 is recognizing the team, including the packout operator who first said the new totes felt different.

Close the complaint log entry too, with the closed date and the 8D number. Then pull the thread one last time. RMA-031 should appear on every record it touched:

  1. Complaint log: what the customer saw.
  2. 8D: the team, containment and closure.
  3. 5 Why and fishbone: why it happened, why it escaped, why the system allowed it.
  4. PFMEA: packing added and rated.
  5. Control plan: the tote check at packout and at receiving.
  6. Work instruction: the new packout steps, released and trained.
  7. LPA: the packout question, asked at every layer.
  8. Effectiveness check: ten clean shipments.

Eight steps, one number. When an auditor or a customer asks how you handled it, you hand them RMA-031 and they can follow it end to end.

The mistake to avoid

Closing on the day the fix goes in. A corrective action closed before anyone knows whether it worked is the one most likely to come back. Give it time and real data. If the check fails, the 8D goes back to D4. That isn't the team failing. It's the system working.

ON THE FLOOR MONDAY
  • List every corrective action closed in the last six months.
  • Check that each one has a written effectiveness check with evidence.
  • Reopen any that closed on the day the fix went in.
Want every tool on this trail in one purchase? The Complaint-to-Closure Trail Bundle has all ten, from the complaint log to the effectiveness tracker.

The plant, the part and the complaint in this book (RMA-031) are a made-up example. The tool sidebars show ShopFloorOps tools, which I make and sell. Every chapter teaches the step itself, so you can use your own forms.