Nonconforming and suspect product is identified where it is found and kept where it cannot be used or shipped by mistake until it has a disposition. In practice that means four things:
- A tag at the point of discovery, with the NCR number, part, lot, quantity, date, the defect in a few words and who tagged it.
- A controlled hold area: a cage, a locked shelf or a marked zone, with named people who hold the key and a log of what is inside. Suspect counterfeit parts go on their own locked shelf.
- A system hold, placed and lifted at the same time as the physical hold, so a planner who never sees the cage cannot pick the parts.
- A weekly reconciliation: every container counted against its tag, the log and the system hold, and every open NCR traced back to its product (D18).
Held product still needs protecting. Port plugs stay in, separators stay between finished surfaces, shelf-life material stays in its fridge or freezer, and electrostatic-sensitive parts stay in their packaging. A part that was a minor nonconformance on arrival in the cage should not leave it damaged.
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A management aid, not certification or a registrar audit. Using it does not by itself show conformity to AS9100D or any other standard, and your customers' requirements may add to it.
Clause numbers refer to AS9100D (SAE AS9100 Rev D) unless another document is named. The standards' text is not reproduced here: use your own licensed copy.
Aegis Insights are our own guidance, labeled wherever they appear: how we approach this work, not a requirement of any standard or customer.