Breakdown escalation procedure

Escalation, as you know, means that if a problematic issue cannot be resolved by the relevant authority, it is forwarded to one or more senior authorities.

It is important that the following issues take place in the escalation system.

• Occupational Accident, occupational health and environmental safety and legal issues
• A significant amount of customer returns from the field
• Issues related to customer stopping
• Product-safety related issues
• Problems that may arise during product design or the new product launch process
• Delays in handling customer complaints or disinterest in the complaint
• Issues related to emergency action plans
• Issues such as quality, line stoppage, machine breakdown, etc, that may be experienced in production
• In cases of delay or disinterest in addressing internal problems

So, the IATF 16949: 2016 standard expects you to set up a delegation system. The delegation system should, of course, be systematic. There is no requirement to be registered in one place. The issues mentioned above can be recorded in the Quality Management System in a single procedure and/or instruction, or in one or different tables or with the task-authority table and communication procedure, or with risk assessment and contingency plans.
 
The important thing is how the escalation process is distributed to the organization, preparedness for bad scenarios, the knowledge, and competencies of the process owners about the subject.