MSS407007A
Respond to a major non-conformance

This unit of competency covers the skills and knowledge required to lead a response at a team or area level to a major non-conformance which could have severe business impacts.The unit can be applied to subsections of an organisation, such as a team, area or department, or in the case of a small or medium sized enterprise (SME), to the whole organisation.

Application

This unit applies to team leaders and people with a similar sphere of influence and scope of authority and responsibility and covers the skills required to respond to a situation where people, processes, equipment or systems fail to meet requirements (there is a major non-conformance) for whatever reason, and this will have significant business consequences. The non-conformance may be anywhere in the value stream, not necessarily in the team, department or area which needs to respond. Many teams, departments or areas may need to respond. However, this unit applies to the skills needed to lead a single team, department or area response.

This unit is not primarily about identification of the cause of the non-conformance but rather about skills for appropriate responses to contain the situation, including not allowing it to accelerate or cascade. It is also about skills to minimise the adverse consequences while doing what can be done at the team, department or area level to remedy the situation.

This unit does not cover the specialist skills required to contain/remediate an emergency non-conformance such as a fire or explosion. Relevant emergency management skills from other Training Packages should be accessed for these skills.

This unit may be also applied to service organisations applying competitive systems and practices principles.


Prerequisites

Not applicable.


Elements and Performance Criteria

1

Define extent and nature of non-conformance

1.1

Identify target performance prior to non

1.2

Determine commencement and expected duration of non

1.3

Determine impact of non

1.4

Determine impact of non

1.5

Determine impact of non

1.6

Liaise with customers to determine minimum acceptable performance during period of non

1.7

Define non in terms of customer requirements and target performance

2

Determine priorities and actions

2.1

Develop possible responses appropriate to the situation

2.2

Determine possible timing of possible responses

2.3

Identify required resources for the responses developed

2.4

Evaluate possible responses and select or shortlist responses

2.5

Select responses and obtain necessary approvals

2.6

Organise resources, as appropriate

3

Identify information needs

3.1

Determine the information needs of stakeholders

3.2

Identify the sources of required information

3.3

Arrange to collect required information

3.4

Obtain authorisation to disseminate information

3.5

Report information to stakeholders, as appropriate

4

Implement response

4.1

Initiate response and establish data and information collection procedures

4.2

Analyse data and other information as it comes to hand

4.3

Determine progress of response to achieving required outcomes

4.4

Modify response, including deployment of resources, as required, to better achieve desired outcomes

5

Establish plan to return to normal conformance

5.1

Determine root cause of non-conformance and analyse to determine likely preventative measures

5.2

Develop remedial plan to eliminate root cause

5.3

Obtain sign-off from process/system owner for planned action

5.4

Implement remedial plan and establish normal conformance

6

Conclude and review response

6.1

Conduct a debrief and complete reports as required

6.2

Evaluate and review response and procedures

6.3

Evaluate and document effectiveness of the response function and its interaction/communication with stakeholders

6.4

Recommend improvements to prevent a recurrence and improve response for other non-conformances

6.5

Communicate reports in accordance with company procedures

Required Skills

Required skills

Required skills include:

undertaking self-directed problem solving and decision-making

communicating across all levels in an organisation

identifying obvious and not obvious non-conformances based on analyses of team or area key performance indicators (KPIs)

determining and prioritising business impacts of non-conformance based on analysis of key indicators, such as:

effect on error rates and defects

loss of or delay in supply of materials or components

loss or severe restriction of process capability

loss of transport from or to operational centre or process facility

unplanned increases in costs of materials or services

increases in the cost of finance/capital

sudden change in regulatory requirements

determining and prioritising responses based on:

customer requirements

the philosophies and strategies of the organisation

HSE requirements

delivery, statutory and contractual requirements

negotiating formally and informally in highly varied and/or highly specialised contexts and while under time constraints and pressure from others

solving problems to root cause, including analysis of implications of root cause

establishing HSE environment of the team or area and determine HSE impact of a non-conformance

Required knowledge

Required knowledge includes:

the importance of standardisation in competitive systems and practices

organisation processes and products

customer needs as distinct from wants

communication using a variety of media and formats methods

sources of additional assistance and resources within the organisation

approvals and delegations within the organisation

Evidence Required

The evidence guide provides advice on assessment and must be read in conjunction with the performance criteria, required skills and knowledge, range statement and the Assessment Guidelines for the Training Package.

Critical aspects for assessment and evidence required to demonstrate competency in this unit

A person who demonstrates competency in this unit must be able to provide evidence of the ability to:

recognise extent and nature of a major non-conformance and deal effectively with a

define the impact of the non-conformance on operations and customers

develop and prioritise appropriate responses to contain the impacts of the non-conformance

implement, monitor and modify responses.

Context of and specific resources for assessment

Assessment of performance must be undertaken in a workplace using or implementing one or more competitive systems and practices.

Access may be required to:

workplace procedures and plans relevant to work area

specifications and documentation relating to planned, currently being implemented, or implemented changes to work processes and procedures relevant to the assessee

documentation and information in relation to production, waste, overheads and hazard control/management

reports from supervisors/managers

case studies and scenarios to assess responses to contingencies.

Method of assessment

A holistic approach should be taken to the assessment.

Competence in this unit may be assessed by using a combination of the following to generate evidence:

demonstration in the workplace

workplace projects

suitable simulation

case studies/scenarios (particularly for assessment of contingencies, improvement scenarios, and so on)

targeted questioning

reports from supervisors, peers and colleagues (third-party reports)

portfolio of evidence.

In all cases it is expected that practical assessment will be combined with targeted questioning to assess underpinning knowledge.

Where applicable, reasonable adjustment must be made to work environments and training situations to accommodate ethnicity, age, gender, demographics and disability.

Guidance information for assessment

Assessment processes and techniques must be culturally appropriate and appropriate to the language and literacy capacity of the candidate and the work being performed.


Range Statement

The range statement relates to the unit of competency as a whole. It allows for different work environments and situations that may affect performance. Bold italicised wording, if used in the performance criteria, is detailed below. Essential operating conditions that may be present with training and assessment (depending on the work situation, needs of the candidate, accessibility of the item, and local industry and regional contexts) may also be included.

Competitive systems and practices

Competitive systems and practices may include, but are not limited to:

lean operations

agile operations

preventative and predictive maintenance approaches

monitoring and data gathering systems, such as Systems Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) software, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, Materials Resource Planning (MRP) and proprietary systems

statistical process control systems, including six sigma and three sigma

Just in Time (JIT), kanban and other pull-related operations control systems

supply, value, and demand chain monitoring and analysis

5S

continuous improvement (kaizen)

breakthrough improvement (kaizen blitz)

cause/effect diagrams

overall equipment effectiveness (OEE)

takt time

process mapping

problem solving

run charts

standard procedures

current reality tree

Competitive systems and practices should be interpreted so as to take into account:

the stage of implementation of competitive systems and practices

the size of the enterprise

the work organisation, culture, regulatory environment and the industry sector

Codes of practice/standards

Where reference is made to industry codes of practice, and/or Australian/international standards, the latest version must be used

Major non-conformance

A major non-conformance may be:

a failure to receive a delivery

receiving a delivery which is out of specification

a failure of the transport system to make deliveries to customers or from suppliers

a problem in the process which fails to produce product or only produces non-conforming product

a major incident, such as a fire or loss of containment

a breakdown of critical plant/equipment

a commercial or legal problem which affects the ability to produce to requirements

excessive absences of key personnel due to illness or transport breakdown

a security situation preventing key personnel from performing their duties and/or deliveries being made

a major supply shortage or price increase

Business impacts

Business impacts may include:

sudden increase in defect rates

loss of supply of materials or components

loss or severe restriction of operational capability

loss of transport from process

increases in fuel energy costs

increases in the cost of finance/capital

Performance

Performance includes:

the production volume, quality, cost, HSE and similar measures as appropriate at the team level

Response

Response includes all those strategies which will minimise the impact of the non-conformance on the customer and must be consistent with:

the philosophies and strategies of the organisation

HSE requirements

delivery, statutory and contractual requirements

Response may include:

supply from another source

production from other areas

agreements for reduced supply

agreements to accept different quality

Response duration may include:

short term response to cover immediate situation

different long and medium term response

transition strategies where there are different strategies at different phases of the response

Timing of responses

Timing of response may be controlled by the nature of the non-conformance and may include:

implementation following initial containment/ stabilisation of situation (e.g. where the non-conformance is a major incident, such as a fire or loss of containment)

immediate initiation but delayed implementation (e.g. where the non-conformance is a breakdown of critical plant/equipment which will require repair/replacement before implementation)

immediate implementation (e.g. when the non-conformance does not prevent the response from starting or there is an alternative which bypasses the non-conformance)

HSE

All changes implemented are expected to be at least neutral, or preferably beneficial, in their impact on HSE

Stakeholders

Stakeholders may include:

work team members, value stream members as well as other stakeholders and may be internal and external to the team and possibly the organisation

Team leader

Team leader may include:

any person who may have either a permanent or an ad hoc role in facilitating the function of a team in a workplace


Sectors

Unit sector

Competitive systems and practices


Employability Skills

This unit contains employability skills.


Licensing Information

Not applicable.