1
Capture at the point of discovery
Anyone who finds a nonconformance scans the part, takes a photo and sends it. A numbered tag goes on the piece so it can be traced through hold, return, rework or scrap.
7TH
METHD
Turning data into action
A defect is found in seconds. Its cost is lost in days. We close that gap.
7th Method captures a nonconformance where it is found, keeps its evidence, its cost and its problem solving on one record, and follows it until it is closed and paid for.
Receiving · today
7M‑000418Missing clip · waiting on you
7M‑000417Damaged · sent to supplier
7M‑000416Wrong part · on hold
7M‑000415Scratch · internal
EX‑4471‑A · Missing clipFound 07:42 · Line 2 · 3 pcs
Where does this go?
Issue to qualityInternal. Quality investigates and tracks the cost.
Issue to supplierConcern goes out with photos. Cost counts toward a claim.
Decide laterHold it. Stays in the queue for review.
Send and print 3 tags
Step 1 of 3Take a photo of the defect
Include the labelClose-up
Photo taken · 1 of 2
Part, scannedEX‑4471‑A
✓Found atReceiving · Line 2
✓Missing clipDamagedWrong partOther
Send and print tag
Logged in 5 seconds · 3 people notified
7M‑000418
EX‑4471‑A · Missing clip · Receiving, Line 2
Peel and attach to the piece
StatusOn hold · Cage B
Cost so far$0.00 · counting
Example screens. Part numbers and figures are illustrative.
For any plant that makes, assembles or receives parts
AutomotiveAerospaceMedical devicesElectronics
Food and packagingMetal fabricationPlastics and moldingIndustrial equipment
Where the money leaks
Most plants don't lack a quality system.
They lack the first five minutes.
01
The defect never gets recorded
On a fast line there is no time for a form. The part goes on a side table, the photo never gets taken, and the evidence a claim needs is gone by the end of the shift.
02
The cost is never counted
Sorting, handling, re-inspection and engineering time are real labour. Without a running count, a plant recovers the part at best and never the hours.
03
The corrective action stalls
Root cause written from a desk, containment that lives in someone's inbox, actions nobody goes back to check. The form gets filled, whatever its name; the problem stays.
The journey of one defect
Six steps every plant already knows, carried by the record itself
Automotive calls it an 8D. Medical devices call it a CAPA. The steps underneath are the same. Watch the tag on the left as you read.
DEFECT · FOUND
- Tag
- 7M‑000418
- Status
- On hold, cage B
- Part
- EX‑4471‑A · Missing clip
- Owner
- Receiving
- Cost so far
- $0.00
2
Go and see, then try to reproduce it
The investigation opens where the defect was found, with a photo, before anything is written at a desk. Can the condition be reproduced? Either answer is fine; skipping the question is not.
3
Contain it the same day
A plain-language alert for the people sorting or holding stock is drafted from the record: what the defect looks like, where to look, what to do with suspect product. Quality approves it before it reaches the floor, and every hour of sorting counts toward the cost.
4
Root cause that has to be earned
A thinking partner asks questions specific to this part and this defect. Why it happened, why it escaped and why the system allowed it are answered separately. A thin investigation does not get a root cause handed to it.
5
Correct it and keep it corrected
Corrective and preventive actions are assigned to the people who own them, each answering their own section inside one record instead of across a dozen emails.
6
Close, then go back and check
Closure schedules a later go-and-see: a photo at the station and a few pass or fail questions to confirm the fix is still in place. Recovered cost is recorded against the issue.
Supplier concerns follow the same six steps. The supplier answers through a secure link with no login, and the response files itself back into the record. Records export as an 8D or a CAPA, whichever your customers and auditors expect.
Traceability and cost
Follow the part. Follow the money.
Same record.
A defect is a physical piece and a cost at the same time. 7th Method tracks both from the first scan to the last credit, so nothing is lost on either side.
Every piece, accounted for
- A serial-numbered tag on each defective piece, printed at the point of discovery.
- Scan the tag to see where the piece is now: on hold, in rework, returned to the supplier or scrapped.
- Pieces roll up into container labels, so a box of returns is one scan, not fifty.
- The supplier's response, the return authorisation and the shipping proof sit on the same record as the photo taken on day one.
- Scrap requires the tag to come off first, so labels never end up in the recycling stream.
Every dollar, counted as it happens
- A running cost counter on each issue: sorting hours, handling, re-inspection, engineering time and containment, logged by the people doing the work.
- Labour rates set once per program, so the figure is defensible when the claim goes out.
- Small items that are not worth a claim on their own accumulate against the supplier until they are.
- A proposed recovery figure the engineer reviews and can change before anything is sent. Nothing goes out on a number alone.
- Money open, money recovered and scrap by supplier, visible to leadership and finance without a spreadsheet.
On the floor
Three things, and none of them new to a plant
A phone or a plant tablet
Capture runs in the browser on whatever the floor already carries. Where personal phones are not allowed, we supply locked-down rugged tablets on their own data line, so the app never depends on the plant network.
A label printer
A belt printer worn by the person finding defects, or a fixed station at receiving. Standard industrial thermal printers, including ones many plants already own. Tags print in seconds, where the defect is.
The tags
Serial-numbered, scannable, with a dry pull tab so the tag comes off cleanly before scrap and never contaminates metal or regrind. One tag per piece; one container label per box.
Trials run on the plant's own devices and printers. Supplied hardware comes with a paid site.
Who gets what
Everyone sees their part of the problem, and only their part
Find it, tag it, photograph it
Three taps and back to work
No form, no email, no walking to a desk. Scan, photo, send. The tag prints beside you.
- Works on a phone or a plant tablet
- Containment alerts arrive on the same device, in plain language
- Keeps working offline and syncs later
Investigate, contain, solve, close
One record per issue, evidence already attached
Go and see, containment, root cause and corrective action live in one place, with a thinking partner for the hard part.
- Containment alert drafted from the record, approved before it goes out
- Questions specific to this part and defect, not a generic checklist
- Exports as an 8D or a CAPA
Hold, return, recover
Where every tagged piece is, and what it has cost
Scan any tag to see its status. The running cost of each issue is ready when the claim goes out.
- Container labels roll pieces up for return
- Return authorisation and shipping proof on the record
- Accumulation by supplier for the small stuff
Respond and correct
A clear concern, and a structured way to answer it
Photos, part, quantity and the ask, in one link. No login, no portal to learn.
- Answer section by section, with reminders before the due date
- Responses file themselves back into the record
- Same six steps, so nothing is lost in translation
Decide and follow up
Money open, money recovered, worst performer this month
One scoreboard instead of a spreadsheet nobody trusts. Open items are chased by visibility, not by email.
- Open and recovered cost, by supplier and by line
- Repeat issues flagged
- Nothing to log in to that you won't use
Review
The period under audit, and nothing outside it
A read-only view bounded by dates, so an auditor or customer sees exactly the records they are entitled to.
- Evidence, actions and verification on each record
- Export in the format the standard expects
- No access to anything outside the window
About
One discipline, done properly, every time
Company7th Method
RegisteredMichigan, 2026
FocusDefect capture, corrective action, cost recovery
Built forAny plant that makes, assembles or receives parts
7th Method is a Michigan software company focused on one thing: what happens to a defect from the moment it is found to the moment it is closed and paid for. It works the same way in a stamping plant, a device cleanroom or a packaging line.
The same scene repeats in every plant. Much of a problem is solved on the floor in the first few minutes, and much of its cost is lost there too. 7th Method is built to protect those minutes, and to make doing the problem solving properly easier than faking it.
Contact
Talk to us
Questions about the approach, or about defect recovery in your plant.
info@7thmethod.com