ES - 1007, REV D

ES-1007

ENGINEERING SPECIFICATION

DESCRIPTION:

SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS, CLASSIFICATION OF

Prepared by: Chris P. Rountos Date: 11/28/2015

Reviewed by: Kathy Sipes Date:
Approved by: Charles Flynn Date: 8/26/2020

REVISION HISTORY

REV DESCRIPTION DATE APPROVAL

B Revised and completely re-written 11/28/2015 Chris Rountos
C Revised to reflect current practice with IATF 5/16/2019 K. Sipes
D Added Customer Identified Special 8/26/2020 K. Sipes
Characteristics in Section 4.2
Remove reference to internal documents in
section 3.1

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

PARAGRAPH DESCRIPTION PAGE

1.0 Purpose 2
2.0 Scope 2
3.0 References 2
4.1 Definitions 2,3
4.2 Customer Identified Special 3,4
Characteristics
4.3 Responsibilities 4
4.4 Specific Requirements 4,5

1.0 PURPOSE
The purpose of this document is to explain how to determine, designate, manage and control
special product and process characteristics to ensure that both product and process will fulfill
functional and regulatory requirements.

2.0 SCOPE
This specification scope is all North American design engineering departments and apply to all
products and material provided by Casco Products.

3.0 REFERENCES
3.1 Internal
(a) None

3.2 External
(a) IATF16949 Technical specification – Quality Management System, Section 8.3.3.3 Current
Version
(b) AIAG, Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) and Control Plan, Current Version
(c) AIAG FMEA Handbook – Current Version
(d) IATF Customer Specific Requirements - https://www.iatfglobaloversight.org/oem-
requirements/customer-specific-requirements/

4.0 ENGINEERING SPECIFICATION

4.1. Definitions
(a) Product – Process Characteristic is a physical dimension or a mechanical, electrical, or other
physical property of a product or a process feature. All characteristics have to be measurable
through variable or attribute measurement methods.

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(b) Special characteristic is a characteristic that the safety and functionality of a Product or
Process and the safety of People will rely on and that failure of this characteristic will have
serious consequences on personnel safety and equipment functionality and performance and
may result in violation of Regulatory (Government and Legal) Requirements. There are 2 main
classifications of these Special Characteristics, the Critical and the Significant (or Key)
Characteristics as defined bellow.

(c) Critical Product – Process or Performance Characteristic (CC). A Critical Characteristic

is any feature of a material, equipment, part or process such as a dimension, performance
parameter and manufacturing or inspection process that if non-conforming, missing or
degraded may cause the failure or malfunction of the equipment and result in personnel and/or
product safety and non – compliance with Regulatory (Government and Legal Requirements).

(d) Significant Product - Process or Performance Characteristic (SC). A Significant

Characteristic is any feature of a material, equipment, part or process such as dimension,
performance parameter, manufacturing or inspection process that if nonconforming, missing or
degraded may cause the failure or malfunction of the equipment, operation out of spec and will
impact on the Form-Fit and Function of the Equipment and its intended mission.

NOTE: The critical and significant characteristics are also applicable to the DFMEA’S
and PFMEA’S in establishing the classification of the failure modes as related to
the severity and the occurrence levels of the same.

(e) Symbols

CC

CC
Critical Characteristic

SC

Significant (key) Characteristic

4.2 Customer Identified Special Characteristics

4.2.1 OEM automotive customers may use unique symbols to identify important characteristics, such as
those that affect customer safety, compliance with regulations, function, fit, or appearance. These
characteristics are variously termed “critical”, “key”, “safety” or “significant”. The following
tables provide a cross-reference to these symbols and descriptive terms. For customer’s who’s
symbols are not referenced here or in the IATF Customer Specific Requirements, Casco’s symbol
definition and symbols will be used unless the customer specifically requests otherwise.

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Symbol Cross Reference Table

Customer Terminology Customer Symbol CASCO Symbol
Ford Motor Company Critical Characteristic

Ford Motor Company Significant None

Characteristic
General Motors Safety/Compliance Key See latest IATF
Product Characteristic Customer Specific
Requirements
General Motors Fit/Function Key See latest IATF
Product Characteristic Customer Specific
Requirements
FCA Critical Characteristic <S> or <E>

FCA Significant <D>

Characteristic

4.3. Responsibilities
(a) Engineering
(1) To establish and designate the special characteristics on the drawings and specs using the
above symbols as applicable.
(2) To determine the special characteristics in establishing the classification of the failure
modes on the DFMEA’S as related to the severity and occurrence of the failure modes
and establish action plans for improvement as required.

(b) Production
(1) To establish and designate any assembly and test process special characteristics as
applicable to the process on the manufacturing documentation. To designate the special
characteristics on the PFMEA, take corrective actions for improvement and monitor and
control thru the manufacturing process

(c) Quality
(1) To include in the Process Control Plans requirements for inspections and tests as
determined by the special characteristics established and designar0ted on the drawings
(2) To ensure that Process capabilities will be performed and all requirements in regards to
the application, monitoring and handling of the special characteristics are complied with
by all responsible.

4.4 Specific Requirements

(a) Drawings - Specifications

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(1) Dimensions and other performance parameters need to be labeled with the above
designated symbols. It should be a design goal to limit the critical characteristics to
absolute minimum (0). The number of significant characteristics shall be contained as
possible depending on the complexity of the design.
(2) Process capability studies shall be performed for all critical and significant characteristics
at the development stage and every 6 months thereafter for all critical characteristics and
1 year for significant characteristics. The resulting allowed CPk’s shall be as follows:
- Critical Characteristics: ≥ 1.67
- Significant Characteristics: ≥ 1.33
(3) Sampling inspections and tests shall be always performed per control plan on all
dimensions and other parameters labeled as “CC” and “SC”

(b) DFMEA’S – PFMEA’S - Process Control Plans

(1) The designation “CC” shall be entered in the “Classification” column of the DFMEA
and PFMEA forms for severity levels of 9 and 10
(2) The designation “SC” shall be entered in the “Classification” column of the DFMEA and
PFMEA for severity levels of 6 to 8 and occurrence of 5 or greater

NOTE: It needs to be understood that no CPk capability studies are

applicable to the DFMEA and PFMEA noted special
Characteristics. The purpose of these designations is to flag risk
areas and initiate corrective actions to ease the impact of the failure
modes and mitigate the risks.

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