OPS.18:5.5 - An unresolved cause need not delay a supported correction

In this constructed print-shop incident, the customer approved proof P2, but the booklets reproduce P1. Records and participant accounts establish that the operator followed the work card containing P1; P2 was unavailable at the station, and the admission check asked only whether a proof was attached. The quality rule requires the affected order to be held.

Trace how P1 reached the station and why P2 was unavailable. Two explanations remain plausible: the preparer copied the earlier attachment, or the station received it from a stale synchronized folder. The records do not distinguish those paths. Both leave the same exposed condition: production can start without checking the proof against the customer’s approved edition.

For this case, a qualified proof-control procedure is available for both paths: retrieve the approved proof through the authorized source, check its edition at the station and require first-article acceptance before releasing the order. The responsible production manager has authority and the necessary staff and access to apply it; its effort fits the continuing service commitments. These are supplied premises of the example, not results inferred merely because both explanations sound plausible.

The manager applies that correction. Staff verify that P2 is available, perform the edition check and obtain the required first-article acceptance for restart. Selecting between the copying and synchronization explanations is not a prerequisite to this adequately supported response. Their difference would become relevant if, for example, a proposed automatic retrieval change protected only one path; that proposal would need the missing discrimination or a protection covering both.

OPS.16 addresses any resulting decision to change the recurring operating Method; OPS.17 is needed only for a repertoire choice among competing ways. Completion of the proof-control change is observed separately from recurrence over the later orders and exposure that the prevention claim covers. A clean first article does not establish a long-term recurrence rate.

If the edition check catches P1 before printing, no booklets are spoiled: the check has protected this order. Whether further change is needed depends on the remaining exposure and available protection.