Introduction

SAP Digital Manufacturing supports manufacturers to maintain the highest standards of precision and quality control. A critical aspect of maintaining these standards, is identifying and managing defects during the manufacturing processes, which in the context of SAP DM can be captured as Nonconformances, or “NCs” for short.

Nonconformances, essentially deviations or discrepancies from predetermined quality standards or specifications, can emerge due to various factors during manufacturing operations, such as human errors, defective materials, malfunctions in shop floor machinery or processes, etc, and can automatically trigger a couple of different actions and flows in the system, like scrap or rework for example, while keeping full traceability records.

In this blog post, we will explore the basics about Nonconformance capabilities within SAP Digital Manufacturing.

Nonconformance Capability

SAP Digital Manufacturing nonconformance capability provides a mechanism for logging, tracking and dispositioning of failed or defective parts or assemblies, enabling the following outcomes:

• Document the nonconformance management process using a closed loop system
• Exclude nonconforming parts / materials from the production process
• Trigger nonconformance work tasks for the assigned resources and provide traceability

In general, nonconformance flow can fit in the overall manufacturing process as shown in the diagram below:

Nonconformance Configuration

Nonconformance configuration starts with the creation of Nonconformance Groups, which can be used to group similar NC codes together, and Nonconformance Codes, which are a distinct set of characters that represent a failure, defect, or repair code indicating that the specific part does not meet the approved quality standards.

Nonconformance Groups and Codes can be transfered directly from ERP Quality Management (QM) module via Nonconformance Groups, see Transferring QM Defect Code Groups and Codes from S/4HANA Cloud or S/4HANA On Prem for more details, as follows:

Or manually created directly in SAP Digital Manufacturing via Manage Nonconformance Groups and Manage Nonconformance Codes apps.

Nonconformance Groups

You can use this app to create NC groups, define operation activities for which the NC group is available, and synchronize QM groups.

See Manage Nonconformance Groups for more details.

Nonconformance Codes

You can use this app to create and configure nonconformance (NC) codes.

See Manage Nonconformance Codes for more details.

Nonconformance Usage

Once created, Nonconformances can be viewed, recorded and handled by Workers anytime in different Production Operator Dashboards (PODs) during manufacturing operations using the following POD Plugins:

• Nonconformance Data Entry
• NC Selection
• NC Data Tree

Which can look like one of the examples below:

• Out of the box simple NC logging in Default Work Center POD

• Out of the box NC logging in Default Work Center POD with Disposition to Rework or Scrap

• Out of the box NC logging in Standalone Nonconformance POD, including Done (Completed) SFCs

• Secondary NC logging in a Custom Rework POD enabling Root Cause Analysis, capturing Repair Codes and closing Nonconformances

• NC logging to specific Components by selecting components directly in 3d Work Instructions

In the examples above, you will notice that SAP Digital Manufacturing Nonconformance capabilities include:

• Capture single, multiple, secondary NC levels.
• Perform Root Cause Analysis and capture Repair Codes as Secondary NCs.
• Close NCs once the repair / rework is completed.
• Attach files like images or lab reports.
• Add comments and capture other data for traceability purposes.
• Capture NC codes against Done (Completed) SFCs.
• Disposition SFCs using a specific NC code to a Rework routing or Scrap them.
• Capture NC codes for specific Components using 3d Work Instructions.

and much more!

Nonconformances can be also handled (logged, closed, checked, etc) using standard APIs and Services directly from Shop Floor / Automation layer or 3rd Party systems like Laboratory Systems via Production Processes out of the box, as shown in the simple example below:

Where to go from here?

There is a lot more to learn regarding SAP Digital Manufacturing nonconformance capabilities. Therefore, I suggest you take a look on the following SAP Help entries:

• Log Nonconformances
• Nonconformance Plugins
• Standalone Nonconformance POD
• Logging Nonconformances Using a 3D Model

Demo Videos

Nonconformance POD in SAP Digital Manufacturing

Capturing Data Fields when logging Nonconformances

Barcode parsing and Nonconformances using 3d Work Instructions

Experiencing SAP Digital Manufacturing

You can have a glimpse and experience several aspects of SAP Digital Manufacturing via the Interactive Value Journeys below:

Do you like this post? Please let me know in the comments section what you think. Any feedback is highly appreciated.

Or, if you have any questions, please check SAP Community Q&A Area, or comment down below.

Thanks,

Manoel Costa