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Chapter 16: C. Inspection Planning and Procedures 173
• Unit number
• Date produced
• Result of test
• Date of test
• Rework record
Product identification is vital when producing complex products and often unnecessary
for mundane commodities. However, a recent example of the lack of sufficient
product identification and control was the Starlink seed corn problem of
2000. Starlink was a form of seed corn that was approved for growing animal
feed but not for human consumption. There were inadequate controls put into
place when the seed corn was sold to farmers and as a result the animal feed corn
was inextricably intermixed with corn for human consumption at grain elevators
throughout the Midwest. At the time they were delivering the corn, neither the
farmers nor the grain elevator operators realized there was a problem. But soon,
consumer groups were testing products made out of this corn, and the use of the
unacceptable corn was detected. A great outcry resulted, and many losses were
incurred as the intermixed corn had to be converted to animal feed. Lennox
Industries, in Marshalltown, Iowa, uses a 10-digit alphanumeric product identification
code. This set of ten digits allows traceability to a diverse set of factors,
including the date of fabrication, the supplier of each subsystem, the product
model, and the date of final assembly. Several things must be considered when
setting up such a code system:
• The amount of liability exposure
• The number of levels of components and subcomponents
• The process design must incorporate the ability to trace products back
to their point of creation and installation
Part III.C.4
4. IDENTIFICATION OF NONCONFORMING MATERIAL
Describe various methods of identifying
nonconforming material such as tagging,
labeling, and segregating. (Application)
Body of Knowledge III.C.4
ISO 9000:2000 provides the following guidelines for the control of nonconcorming
products (or materials), which are considered systematic courses of action in
many organizations. Following is a summary of these guidelines.