Q. 116  While using Quality Management Systems, you may come across two terms - "Special Process" - used in ISO9001 and "Special Requirement" used in AS9100D. Compare and contrast the two terms with suitable examples.

  

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Special process -For a production process, if the result output cannot be verified by monitoring or measurement and, deficiencies only understood after the product is in use, the process must be validated. as per standard AS9100:2009, clause 7.5.2,  these processes are often referred as “special processes”.

 

special Requirement-These are requirements that you or the customer have identified as having a high risk of not being met – for instance, on-time delivery of a project with a very short timeline. These requirements need to be included in the process for operational risk management, which is a requirement of the AS9100 Rev D standard. There are many things to consider when identifying these requirements, including complexity of the processes, maturity of the products and services, and past performance.

Many of us will be familiar and are likely to have dealt with “Special processes” as defined by ISO 9001. To re-iterate the definition for ‘Special Process’…. They are processes whose outcome cannot be easily measured or evaluated and hence it is very important to ensure the compliance of the process parameters to provide an assurance that the output can be confidently relied upon. The most popular examples provided are Welding, soldering, painting etc.

 

In my experience I have come across some specific examples – for instance the ‘burst strength' for an auto clutch facing will depend upon proper processing and curing of the friction material; this depends upon several process parameters ranging from the appropriate proportion of the pre-mix, the process parameters of the molding and baking process, the extent of force applied for the grinding and finishing operation. Other examples would include ‘Insulation breakdown resistance of wiring harness system’ used for appliances and automobiles. In the IT services industry, many processes are performed directly on the customer’s mainframe with no or very limited opportunity to do any verification or correction. For a banking industry, if the applicable discounts for a product are not withdrawn by the system after the intended period, it causes revenue losses for the bank, which many not be easily recovered. Usage of the right skills and check points is crucial to assure that poor quality does not hit the customer’s processes or the end customer.

 

It is the responsibility of the producer to identify special processes, whether it is pointed out by the customer or not, and exercise and demonstrate appropriate pro-active controls.

 

Coming to the ‘Special Requirements’ as defined by the Aerospace standards, they are bit different from the “Special processes” as defined in the ISO 9001 standards, in the sense that the Special Requirements as per the AS standards are identified by the customer as a product characteristic / performance parameter that have ‘high risk’ of not being met. Factors used in determination of special requirements could include process complexities, past experiences and limitations of industry process capabilities. Identification of special requirements, including the key characteristics and critical items is one of  the defined outputs of the phase 2 of the Aerospace APQP. Some examples provided by IAQG guide for 9101 standards include new technology application, new work sharing, introduction of new processes or machines, new competencies requirements. The focus here is on the Product requirements and from the way the standard has defined it, it appears that one of the criteria considered for identifying ‘special requirements’ includes the fact that the product may be produced through a ‘special process'.

 

In the context of this discussion, I would also like to mention about NADCAP (National Aerospace and Contractors Approval Program), which is an industry managed approach to conformity assessment of ‘Special processes’ related to Aerospace industry.

Special Process - Apart from ISO management process, organisation focuses on their process which are more critical to produce / assemble. This special process requires more monitoring controls and evaluations. Eg : Paint process. 

Paint process requires more monitoring controls like booth temperature, air gun pressure, mixing ratio, skilled operators if it is manual. We need to control all monitoring process, evidence it and ensure the outcome. 

 

Special requirement : As per my knowledge, i am not much aware of AS standards. But when I google it , comes to know that special requirement is the one customer is not specified but organisation doing some special activities / process to delight the customer. 

We , in automobile industry doing such things for want of customer delight even its not in the process or documents. 

Hope i am slightly touching both the points.

Thanks for this forum, which will improve my thoughts as well as knowledge. 

Awaiting for the next question.

Regards, 

Dhanapal

Special processes are those where the output can not be judged or inspected immediately after its completion. The critical parameters control allows the process to run as desired.

However the performance over a period of time or validation of few samples shows that the process was capable of giving the desired result example electroplating, welding etc.

 

Special requirement are those which are expected out of product to exhibit well beyond its stated application

Example a 200 amps relay normally operates at 50 to 60 amps current however in case of any short circuit or such emergency it must safely disconnect load up to 3000 amperes.

 

The process control on making relay and design will ensure such a requirement well beyond the stated requirement.

This question makes certain known things obvious. We all know about process and their requirements. However, only a very few realize that some processes and requirements are 'Special'. 

The best answer to this question is provided by Manjeet Sachdeva for explaining the terms and also providing relevant examples.