Having gotten started in the Automotive Industry, we follow the Automotive QS9000 procedures to track any field failures. If we notice repeated failures of the same kind, we invoke our 8D, also called Advanced Technical Analysis or “ATA” for short, procedure. 8D stands for eight disciplines. The purpose of 8D ATA is to determine the root cause of a defect and institute preventive measures to stop future occurrences. In the event you experience a repeat problem, we encourage you to immediately contact our tech support group. Sometimes we may even become a little bit of a pest in pursuing the “root cause” trail as the 8D ATA team’s sole charter is to prevent future problems. The 8D Process has 8 distinct steps and generates an 8D report as shown to the right. 1. Team Contact This is the first step of 8D process and is used to initiate a team, a multi-disciplinary team that involves members who are customers as well as employees of AVG/Uticor. The main purpose of this step is to have all the contact information from all the parties to enable free communication. Also this section includes data such as the part# of a product, Serial #, Date 8D analysis started and the date it will be completed.

2. Problem Description This step in 8D Process is one of the most critical steps of solving a problem effectively and efficiently. The main focus in this step is to gather all the necessary information required to understand a problem as described by a customer. It has two parts to it: A) Customer Complaint The first and foremost important task is to effectively communicate with a customer to understand the complaint as described by the customer. B) Technician’s Evaluation Based on Customer’s Complaint, a technician validates the issues as described by a customer to make sure that he understands the problem. If for any reason a technician cannot validate a complaint, he gets in touch with the customer to inquire further to complete the validation process. 3. Possible Root Causes After validating a complaint from a customer, the next step is to identify the root cause of a problem. This step involves performing a failure analysis and investigating to determine the root cause of a problem. Before possible root causes are identified, it is necessary that a detailed description of the failure mechanism is provided to show that the failure has been understood to the fullest. 4. Symptoms The next step is to tie the symptoms with the possible root causes. Steps 1-3 play a key role in understanding, investigating, and narrowing down all the possible reasons for a failure. This step solidifies a relationship between a failure and the possible cause of a failure. This link has to be justified with proper documentation for validation and complete root cause analysis. 5. Actions Once a relationship has been established between the root cause and a failure, the very next step is to correct that problem. First all suspect product is segregated for further testing. Design and/or manufacturing is corrected to remove the failure mode. 6. Verification After all the actions are taken to fix a failed product, the next step is to verify the relationship previously established between the root cause and the failure. This requires extensive testing and operation of a product within specifications to verify that fixing a root cause has eliminated the cause of failure. 7. Prevention One of the most important benefits of 8D analysis is the prevention program. If a root cause is identified to be present in the design and/or manufacturing process of a product, necessary changes are suggested to engineering department to make sure all such root causes are eliminated from the very design and/or manufacturing process of a product. 8. Congratulating Team The last step of an 8D process is to congratulate the team members who worked on all the 7 steps to completion. At AVG, acknowledgement is the key to our better working environment!