In the world of transactional print and mail, maintaining accuracy and quality is crucial. While errors can occur, they present an opportunity for improvement. This is where Corrective Action Reports (CARs) come into play for PCI Group. By investigating deviations or mistakes, CARs help identify the root cause and implement necessary corrective measures. Tim Lackey, our Director of Operations, sheds light on the frequency of CARs at PCI Group.
“Internally, we track the number of CARs, and on average, we have about 10 per month. It’s important to note that these CARs are internal and do not reach the customer. We utilize them as a tool for process improvement,” Tim explained. In addition to internal CARs, we also encounter external CARs. These are errors that do reach the customer, requiring urgent investigation and swift resolution.
Thanks to the implementation of Lean Manufacturing in 2015, the number of external CARs per month has significantly reduced. “Previously, we were experiencing an average of 20 CARs per month. However, over the past several years, we have successfully brought that number down to only 3 or 4 per year. To put things into perspective, considering the staggering 500 million packages we mail annually, we encounter just 3 or 4 external-facing CARs. We take these incidents seriously and escalate our efforts to understand what went wrong and ensure it never happens again,” Tim emphasized.
CARs play a vital role in our Lean Manufacturing framework, emphasizing our commitment to quality and precision. They contribute to the optimization and enhancement of various process components, making our operations more reliable and efficient.
