Before QS-9000 (now IATF 16949) made the scene many companies had control plans which did not contain all the ‘elements’ that the APQP and Control Plan manual examples contained. In others, there were combined documents such as this combination control plan and process flow diagram. In this example you can see that there is not enough information to satisfy the control plan requirements. In the past, some companies would initiate separate documents to supplement their existing process documents to fulfill the requirements. Today the expectation is that a company use a format similar to that defined within the APQP and Control Plan manual.
In the APQP and Control Plan manual, pages 37 through 47 lists each expected ‘item’ and includes a brief explanation of the expected contents. You may have additional information on your control plan, but these 26 listed items are each required as a minimum. For example, a reaction plan MUST be included. No debate. No opinions. No stories. In one way or another a reaction plan has to exist.
