Quality Managers
Inspections recorded at the machine, nonconformances classified by severity, and 8-D corrective action, each one attached to the job that produced it.
Whether the records exist to pass an audit without assembling a binder first.
A quality manager is judged on evidence. Not on whether the shop makes good parts, which it usually does, but on whether the record that proves it can be produced on demand, against the right revision, with the inspection results and the material certification still attached. In most shops that record exists in pieces: results on a tally sheet, certs in an email thread, dispositions in a spreadsheet, corrective actions in a document someone owns. The three weeks before a surveillance audit are spent assembling it. WorkCell keeps the record as a by-product of running the job. Operators enter inspection results at the terminal, failures raise a severity-classified nonconformance, systemic issues escalate to an 8-D, and lots and serials stay linked from receiving to shipment.
The system works, the parts are good, and you still lose a fortnight before every surveillance visit pulling results, certs, travelers, and dispositions into a shape an auditor can follow. The scramble is not a quality problem; it is a consequence of the evidence never being connected in the first place.
Actions get opened with a due date that nobody is reminded of. Three months later the open list is the first thing the auditor asks for, and half of it is overdue with the original owner no longer in the role. The failure is never the analysis; it is that closure had no mechanism, so the only thing that reliably reopens an action is an auditor asking about it.
Half the records say dimensional and the other half say operator error. Nothing is tied to the operation, the part revision, or the lot, so the Pareto chart you take to management review tells you only what you already knew. Bad input makes the whole analysis ceremonial.
The operator records readings on a sheet at the machine, then someone transcribes them into a spreadsheet, usually a day later and sometimes from memory. The transcription introduces error, consumes hours, and makes the original the real record while the system holds a copy.
The cert arrives as a PDF attached to a receipt and ends up in a folder by vendor. Once the bar is cut and issued to three jobs, the connection between the heat lot and the shipped part exists only in a receiving log, which is why a containment question takes a week.
Inspection recorded where the work happens
Inspection templates define what gets checked and AQL sampling plans define how much. Operators enter results at the terminal against the operation, so the first record of a measurement is the system record and nobody transcribes anything.
Nonconformances classified by severity
A failure raises a nonconformance with a severity classification and a disposition, attached to the job, the operation, and the lot it came from. The record carries its own context, which is what makes later analysis worth running.
8-D corrective action tied to its source
Systemic issues escalate from the nonconformance into an 8-D corrective action, with the chain from the original failure intact. An auditor following a finding backwards reaches the part, the job, and the operator without being handed a second system.
Lot and serial traceability end to end
Receiving captures the lot and its certification, issues to a job preserve the link, and completions assign serials. A shipped serial resolves backward to its heat lot, operations, operators, and inspection results as a query rather than as archaeology.
Versioned BOMs and routings with effective dates
Every bill of material and routing carries a revision and an effective date, so a job built last quarter still shows the structure it was built to. Note the boundary: this is versioning and effective dating, not a change-request approval workflow.
Reports instead of a binder
Open nonconformances by severity, corrective actions by age, scrap by part and operation, inspection results by job: all queryable from live postings. The management review pack becomes an export rather than a month of preparation, and the trend you present is the same data the floor generated, not a summary of a summary.
| Task | What Changes |
|---|---|
| Put one inspection on a terminal | Pick the in-process check your operators already do on paper and move it to the terminal as an inspection template. One check, one cell. It proves whether the floor will record at the machine, which is the assumption everything else here rests on. |
| Classify your open nonconformances | Bring the open list in and give each one a severity and a disposition. You will find the classification scheme you have been using informally does not survive being written down, and fixing that now is what makes next year's Pareto chart mean something. |
| Open one 8-D on the job that caused it | Take your most recent real systemic issue and run the 8-D from the nonconformance it came from. The point is the linkage: the action, the failure, the job, and the part are one chain, so closure is evidenced rather than asserted. |
| Trace one shipped serial backwards | Pick something that left last week and walk it back to the heat lot, the operations, and the inspection results. The exercise tells you exactly where your traceability has a gap today, which is far more useful than a statement that the system supports traceability. |
| List what WorkCell does not hold | Document control, electronic signatures, gage calibration, SPC and control charts, control plans and PFMEA, training records, and supplier audit scheduling are not in WorkCell today. Decide where each stays, and put that boundary in your quality manual rather than discovering it during an audit. |
Inspection templates, AQL sampling, nonconformances, and 8-D corrective action.
InventoryLot and serial traceability from receiving through shipment.
ProductionTerminals where operators record results against the operation.
AnalyticsNonconformance, scrap, and corrective action reporting off live records.
What the standard requires and which records WorkCell keeps for it.
AS9100The aerospace extension, with configuration control and first article work.
Medical DevicesComparable record depth under ISO 13485 and device history requirements.
QualityInspections, nonconformances, and corrective action in one loop.
How long does it take to pull together an MRB package, and where does the time go?
In most shops it is days, and the time goes to finding evidence rather than deciding disposition. WorkCell raises the nonconformance against the job, operation, and lot, with the inspection results and material certification already linked, so the review board argues about the part instead of about the paperwork.
What do you do about internal audit findings so they do not just sit there?
Be clear on the boundary first: WorkCell does not schedule internal audits or hold audit checklists and reports. What it holds is the evidence a finding needs and the corrective action that closes it, with an age you can report on, so overdue actions are visible rather than remembered.
How do you improve nonconformance data quality so the analysis is worth doing?
Capture at the point of failure and force the context. WorkCell raises the nonconformance from the inspection result at the operation, so the part, revision, job, lot, and severity are recorded without anyone typing them. The Pareto chart becomes useful because the input stopped being free text.
Does WorkCell make us ISO 9001 or AS9100 compliant?
No system can. WorkCell keeps the records those standards ask you to keep: inspection results tied to operations, severity-classified nonconformances, 8-D corrective actions, versioned structures, and lot and serial traceability. Certification is granted to your company by an accredited registrar. WorkCell itself holds no certification, and SOC 2 is pending.
A supplier is refusing a full corrective action because they are ISO 9001 certified. Can I still track it?
Yes. Raise the nonconformance against the receipt, the lot, and the supplier, record the disposition, and open the corrective action whether or not they respond to it. That gives you a documented history to escalate with. There is no supplier portal or supplier audit scheduling in WorkCell today.
How do you track material certs through the shop?
The certification attaches to the receiving lot rather than to a folder, and every issue of that material to a job preserves the link. When the finished serial ships, its heat lot and certification resolve from the record, so the cert follows the material into every job it fed.
See it from your seat.
Tell us what your last audit asked for and we will show you where each record would live.