Control Plan Creator
Ensuring Quality at Every Step of Your Process
What is a Control Plan?
A Control Plan is a living document that provides a structured summary of the methods used for controlling processes and products. Its primary goal is to ensure all outputs meet customer requirements by minimizing process and product variation. It acts as a roadmap for quality control, detailing every check and balance from raw materials to the final product.
Key Components
Each column in a Control Plan serves a critical function:
- Process Name: The specific manufacturing step being controlled (e.g., Stamping, Welding, Assembly).
- Characteristic: The specific product or process feature being measured (e.g., Hole Diameter, Weld Strength, Paint Thickness).
- Specification / Tolerance: The target value and acceptable range for the characteristic (e.g., 10.00 ± 0.05 mm).
- Evaluation Technique: The tool or method used to perform the measurement (e.g., Digital Caliper, Visual Inspection).
- Sample Size / Frequency: How many parts to check (Size) and how often (Frequency) (e.g., 5 pcs / hour).
- Control Method: How the data is recorded and monitored (e.g., SPC Chart, Operator Checklist).
- Reaction Plan: The predefined actions to take if a characteristic is out of specification (e.g., Stop Process, Quarantine Parts).
Brief History & Purpose
The Control Plan concept was formalized within the automotive industry's Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) framework in the late 1980s. It represents a fundamental shift in quality philosophy from detection (finding defects after they occur) to prevention (designing processes to prevent defects from happening in the first place).
Today, it is a cornerstone of quality management systems like IATF 16949 and is widely adopted across various manufacturing sectors. A well-executed Control Plan helps reduce scrap, minimize rework, and improve customer satisfaction by proactively managing quality at every stage.
How to Use This Tool
- Click Add Row to add a new process step to your plan.
- Type directly into the cells. The text boxes will automatically resize to fit your content.
- Use the dropdown menus for standardized selections in the Evaluation, Control, and Reaction columns.
- Click the button on any row to delete it.
- Use Load Example to see a pre-filled plan, or Reset Plan to clear the table.
- Click Export to Excel to download your completed plan.
| Process Name | Machine / Tool | Characteristic | Spec / Tolerance | Evaluation Technique | Sample Size / Freq. | Control Method | Reaction Plan | Action |
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