Prevention of recurrence
Avoid repeating the same mistakes ... it pays off!
Recurrence occurs when an error occurs a second time, a third time, a fourth time?
In fact, as soon as the error occurs a second time; it is technically condidered as a recurrence or, at a minimum, a repetition of an error and this is not acceptable from a regulatory or normative point of view but also from a commercial point of view for more than one reason including:
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The non-compliance or the CAR that could result from it as well as the time and effort for its resolution
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The waste of time associated with these errors in production
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The impacts of wasting time and the delays it can cause
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The mobilization of your staff to correct a repeating error instead of continuing to operate smoothly or work on continuous improvement initiatives
In short, the proof is no longer to be done; recurrence greatly harms your operations from all points of view and it has both compliance/regulatory and monetary impacts which can become significant.
How to prevent recurrence
The establishment of programs , procedures , work instructions , etc. in order to meet regulatory and normative compliance requirements is the first essential step. All of your activities cannot take place without it.
It is then important to continue your good work and to continue to apply the applicable norms , standards and customer requirements while not forgetting all the good things that you are already doing such as:
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Your documented Start-up routines
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Respect for scheduling and sequencing
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The use of your production data via dashboards and management tools to correct the situation as you go
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General maintenance before , during and after production
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Etc.
One of the best tools to prevent recurrence is to focus on identifying the root causes of every error or non-compliance when it occurs .
Root cause analysis - "RCA"
Root cause analysis is about identifying the real and direct causes of a recurring error that is causing the recurrence. There are standard methods for this and it requires a rigorous approach.
One of the practical tools is the use of cause and effect diagrams as a preliminary step to draw up a portrait of the possible causes of an error which is repeated and which is the source of recurrence. You will find an explanation of this technique in the blog section of this site.
So, in a brief and summarized way: once the main root cause (s) have been identified (usually one or two); this involves carrying out a gap analysis and then designing one or more corrective measures necessary and sufficient to regain compliance and avoid recurrence. The last step and not the least, the implementation of preventive measures and the testing and/or validation of the effectiveness of the new measures. Everything must, of course, be documented.
We are able to help you prevent recurrence so that you are able to meet regulatory and normative compliance requirements, and those of your customers (including those stipulated in the GFSI standards). This will enable a rigorous and robust approach to to identify the root causes and avoid repeating the same mistakes. One of the positive and interesting benefits of this approach will be to avoid production stoppages, save you unnecessary costs and allow you to continue to operate smoothly .