Glossary: NCR, CAPA, 8D, SCAR, WPS & Other Terms

6 min read

Flaggity sits at the crossroads of quality management, welding, and software, so you'll meet terms from all three. Here's what they actually mean, in plain language.

Quality management terms

  • NCR (Non-Conformance Report) — a formal record that something didn't meet requirements: a failed weld, an out-of-spec part, a safety hazard. It stays open and assigned to an owner until the issue is resolved, so problems can't quietly disappear. It's the starting point of the quality workflow.
  • CAPA (Corrective and Preventive Action) — the investigation and changes that address an NCR. The corrective part fixes what went wrong; the preventive part stops it happening again. A CAPA isn't closed until the action is verified to have actually worked.
  • 8D (Eight Disciplines) — a structured, team-based problem-solving method with eight steps (D0 through D8), often demanded by customers for serious problems. In Flaggity it's a type of CAPA that produces a polished, customer-facing report. It's heavier than a standard CAPA and reserved for issues that justify a full investigation.
  • SCAR (Supplier Corrective Action Request) — a corrective action directed at a supplier when a non-conformance was caused by something they supplied. It's the same idea as a CAPA, but pointed outward at a vendor rather than inward at your own process.
  • Root cause — the underlying reason a problem actually happened, as opposed to the visible symptom. 'The weld cracked' is a symptom; 'the procedure didn't specify a preheat for that material' is a root cause. Fixing root causes is what stops problems from recurring.
  • Finding — a single observation from an inspection, carrying a severity and a citation to the standard it relates to. One inspection can produce several findings.
  • Audit — a structured review of whether processes are being followed and records are in order. Flaggity's audit management (on higher tiers) helps you run and document these.

Welding and production terms

  • WPS (Welding Procedure Specification) — the qualified, documented recipe for how a specific weld must be made: the material, joint, position, technique, and parameters. Welding to an approved WPS is how you ensure a weld will meet its requirements before you ever inspect it.
  • BOM (Bill of Materials) — the structured list of all the parts and materials needed to build a product. It's the answer to 'what does this job actually require?'
  • Work Order — a tracked commitment to produce something for a customer: what, for whom, and by when. The floor-facing facts are separate from the commercial details.
  • Purchase Order (PO) — a formal document sent to a supplier to buy materials, with line items, quantities, and prices.
  • Traveler — the document that follows a unit through production, carrying its instructions, status, and relevant records as it moves from station to station.
  • WIP (Work In Progress) — work that has been started but isn't finished yet. Tracking WIP tells you what's actually moving through the shop right now.
  • Work center — a station or resource on the floor with a daily capacity, used in scheduling to see whether you've committed more work than you can do.

Flaggity and platform terms

  • EII (Evolving Industrial Intelligence) — Flaggity's broader vision: industrial software that doesn't stand still, growing toward intelligence that's owned by your company and works for your everyday industrial needs. You'll see it referenced around the platform's direction.
  • Facility — a physical site or shop in your workspace that work and people are organized under.
  • Tenant isolation — the guarantee that your company's data is completely separate from every other company on the platform. No shared pool, no cross-visibility.
  • Master Admin — the company owner account, with the highest access plus billing and plan control.
  • Add-on — an optional capability (mostly Enterprise) you switch on for an extra monthly cost, such as Production Scheduling or the Inventory Ledger.
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