Containment Action Plan Template for Quality Escapes

How to use the containment plan

Open the plan as soon as the escape is confirmed, before the root cause is known. Define the suspect population by lot, date code or serial range, then add every location where that population could be: raw stores, work in process, finished goods, the dock, in transit, the customer, the distributor and any subcontractor. Assign one owner per location and a due date. The release criteria field matters most because it states what evidence turns suspect stock into good stock, for example a gauge result plus an inspector stamp.

• Define the suspect range conservatively, then narrow it with evidence
• Search customer and supplier locations, not only your own plant
• One owner per location, with a date
• Write release criteria before sorting starts

Worked example

A machined bracket shows a bore 0.04 mm over limit on 6 of 32 sampled parts. The suspect range is lots L24581 to L24590, 4,800 pieces. The plan lists 1,200 pieces in finished goods, 1,500 on the dock, 1,900 at the customer and 200 in WIP. Each location gets an owner, the customer location is handled by a sort team, and the release rule is a go/no-go gauge pass plus a green sorted tag. Rejected counts per location are recorded so the sort yield shows how widespread the defect really was.