A formal request to temporarily ship or use material that does not fully meet specification under controlled conditions.
Deviation requests create a documented exception path when urgent business needs conflict with strict specification compliance.
They should be linked to the original nonconformance report and approved by authorized stakeholders only.
Approval controls
A valid request defines scope, quantity, risk assessment, expiry date, and required concessions from customer or engineering.
Without explicit expiry and traceability, deviations can become uncontrolled recurring practice.
Risk and communication
Teams should state customer impact, rework plan, and monitoring steps before approving any exception.
Repeated deviations often trigger a SCAR to drive supplier-level corrective action.
Key takeaways
- Deviation requests must be controlled, time-bound, and approved.
- Exceptions should never replace root-cause correction.