Overview Compliance Requirements Quality Policies Quality Procedures Work Instructions Quality Records Corrective Action Requests Process Requirements Updates Standards Glossary Corrective action is the cornerstone of continuous improvement, which is ultimately the goal of an ISO 9000 compliant Quality Management System (QMS). Corrective Action Requests, commonly referred to by the acronym CAR, are controlled documents that reflect the actions taken to fix problems related to an organization's QMS. These problems can be nonconformances where the QMS does not measure up to the requirements of the standard, or more commonly, problems that have occurred as the organization produces its finished goods or services. The most common ways of uncovering these problems are through customer complaints, internal audits and quality control inspections. The most effective means of resolving CARs is to determine how the CAR system initially broke down, as a properly completed CAR will not only identify the problem, but will also address a course of action which will help prevent the problem from reoccurring. When considering recommended changes to one particular problem, it may be beneficial to step back and take a look at the whole system and how changes will affect it. View helpful tips for addressing CARs.

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