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Method guide · Quality management

Material review board (MRB): who decides what happens to nonconforming material

Short answer

A material review board (MRB) is the group that decides what happens to material that does not meet its requirement: use it as is, rework it, repair it, send it back to the supplier or scrap it. It is also called a materials review board, and the meeting is often just called the MRB. The problem is recorded on a non-conformance report (NCR) and the board makes the decision on that record. Quality, engineering, purchasing and production usually sit on it, and a customer or regulator signs off where the contract requires it.

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What a material review board is

A material review board is a standing group, or a meeting, that makes one kind of decision: what to do with material that has failed to meet its requirement. The material can be a bought-in part, a part made in the plant, a lot of raw material or a finished product that failed final inspection. Until the board decides, the material stays on hold.

The name varies. You will see material review board, materials review board, MRB meeting and MRB. People also search for it with typing slips such as marb or mbrb, and in some plants the same group is called a disposition board or a quality hold meeting. The idea is the same under each name: a decision is made by people with the authority and the technical knowledge to make it, and it is written down.

The board does not find the problem and it does not fix the cause. Someone on the floor or at the receiving dock finds it and raises a non-conformance report. The board decides the fate of the parts on that report. A separate corrective action, a CAPA or an 8D, removes the cause so the same defect does not come back. Keeping these three jobs apart is the most useful thing to take from this page.

Where MRBs are used

MRBs are common in industries where a part that is out of tolerance can have serious consequences or where the customer's contract controls what can be shipped: aerospace, defense, medical devices and automotive are the usual examples. They are not universal. Many plants never use the term and still do the same job in a daily quality meeting, with the quality manager making the call. A plant with a few hundred nonconformances a year may not need a formal board at all.

The formal version earns its place when any of these is true: the decision can change what the customer receives, the decision needs more than one function's knowledge, the contract or a regulator requires a recorded concession, or suspect stock is piling up because nobody feels able to decide. If you are not sure, start with the last one. A shelf of unmarked parts waiting for a decision is usually the first sign.

Who sits on the board

There is no fixed membership. The table shows a typical setup. Treat it as a starting point and change it to fit your products, your contracts and your size.

Typical MRB members
RoleWhat they bringWhen they must be present
QualityOwns the NCR record, the inspection data and the rules on what may ship. Usually chairs.Always
Engineering (product or design)Knows what the requirement protects and whether a deviation is safe for fit, form and function.Any use as is, repair or redesign decision
Purchasing or supply chainHandles the return to the supplier, the credit, the replacement lot and the supplier conversation.Any bought-in material
ProductionKnows what rework would take and whether the line can absorb it.Any rework, repair or sort
Customer or regulator representativeGives or withholds approval where the contract or the rules require it.Where the contract or the rules say so

A typical arrangement, not a rule. Smaller plants often combine roles, and the exact members depend on the company and the contract.

Two points matter more than the exact list. First, the person who makes the decision must have the authority to make it, and the record should show who that was. Second, a decision that changes what the customer receives is not the plant's alone to make. If the part leaves the plant outside its specification, ask what the contract says about approval before the meeting, not after.

The MRB process in six steps

  1. 1

    Detect and tag

    Someone finds the problem at receiving, in process, at final inspection or from a customer return. The suspect material is tagged with what is wrong, where it was found and the date. Anyone who finds it should be able to do this, without waiting for permission.

  2. 2

    Quarantine

    Move the material to a marked hold area, or lock it in the system, so it cannot be used or shipped by mistake. Then look wider: stock, work in progress, parts in transit and anything already shipped. Containing only what is in front of you is the most common gap.

  3. 3

    Document on an NCR

    Record the part, the lot, the quantity, the requirement and what was found, with photos or readings. The more exact this is, the faster the board decides. "Bad parts" is not a record. "Bore 25.03 to 25.05 against a limit of 25.00 plus zero minus 0.02, 18 of 40 checked" is.

  4. 4

    Review

    The board looks at the evidence: the measurements, how the part is used, whether the defect affects fit, form or function, and what each option would cost. Questions about the part go to engineering, questions about the supplier to purchasing, and questions about capacity to production.

  5. 5

    Disposition

    The board picks one route for each lot and records the reason and the people who agreed. The next section covers the routes. Someone is named as owner, with a date, so the decision turns into action.

  6. 6

    Close and learn

    When the disposition is carried out and the parts are accounted for, the record is closed. Then ask whether the cause is understood. A one-off, contained problem can close with the NCR. A repeat or a systemic cause goes to a corrective action.

Disposition decision table

A disposition is the decision about the fate of the material. The routes below are the ones most boards use. Names and boundaries differ between companies and standards (some treat repair as a form of rework, for instance), so write your own definitions down and use them the same way each time.

Disposition decision table
DispositionWhen it fitsWho must agreeEvidence to attachWhat the record must show
Use as is (concession)The part is outside the requirement but still safe and functional, and the deviation does not change fit, form or function.Engineering and quality. The customer too, where the contract requires it.Measurements, the engineering assessment of why it is acceptable, customer approval if needed.That a concession was granted, by whom, for which lots and quantities, and that it does not carry forward to later lots.
ReworkThe part can be brought fully back to the drawing by an approved process.Quality and production. Engineering if the process is not already approved.The rework instruction, and the re-inspection result after rework.Quantity reworked, who did it, and that every part was inspected to the original requirement again.
RepairThe part cannot be brought back to the drawing but can be made usable by an approved method.Engineering and quality. The customer where the contract requires it.The repair method, its approval, and the inspection result after repair.That the repaired part still deviates from the drawing, what the repair was, and who approved it.
Return to vendorA bought-in part or material failed its requirement and the supplier is responsible.Purchasing and quality.The inspection data, photos, the purchase order and a supplier corrective action request.Quantity returned, the return reference, the credit or replacement, and the request sent to the supplier.
ScrapThe part cannot be made good, or fixing it costs more than it is worth.Quality. Production or finance for large write-offs, depending on your rules.Count, the cost to that step, and a photo or the mark that stops it re-entering stock.Quantity scrapped, how it was made unusable, and the cost logged.
RegradeThe part fails its grade but meets a lower grade or a different order that will accept it.Quality and sales or planning. The customer for the new order if it changes what they receive.Inspection results against the lower grade, and the order it will go to.The new grade or order, and that the part cannot be shipped against the original one.

Typical practice, not a standard. Your contracts and quality system decide who must agree for each route.

Use as is deserves extra care. It means shipping or using material you have already decided is outside the requirement, so it needs a recorded reason, and in many contracts a customer's written approval. It also tends to repeat. If the same concession appears three months running, the requirement is wrong or the process is, and the answer is a drawing change or a corrective action, not another concession.

MRB, NCR, CAPA, deviation and change control

These terms are used loosely, which causes meetings to go sideways. One line on each, in the way most quality systems use them.

How the records and steps differ
TermWhat it isThe question it answers
NCR (non-conformance report)The record of the problem and how it was contained.What went wrong, and how much is affected?
MRB (material review board)The decision step on that record.What do we do with this material?
CAPA (corrective and preventive action)The work to find and remove the cause.Why did it happen, and how do we stop it happening again?
DeviationPermission, given before the work is done, to depart from a requirement for a defined quantity or time.May we make or ship this differently, this once?
Change controlThe process for changing a requirement, drawing or process for good.Should the requirement itself change?

Plain-language summaries. Your quality system may use these words slightly differently.

The difference between a deviation and a concession catches many people out. A deviation is permission asked for in advance. A concession is acceptance of material after the fact, once it already exists and is out of specification. Both leave a requirement unchanged. Only change control changes it.

What an MRB record should contain

A board decision is only as good as the record of it. An auditor, a customer or the next shift should be able to open the record and see what was decided and why, without asking anyone. A complete record has:

  • The part number, revision, lot and quantities, and where the problem was found.
  • The requirement and what was found, side by side, with the measurements or photos.
  • The containment: where suspect material was checked and where it is now.
  • The disposition for each lot, with the reason for it.
  • The names, roles and dates of the people who agreed, and the customer's approval where it was needed.
  • The owner and due date for carrying out the disposition.
  • The cost, if you track it: scrap, rework, expedite and any credit from the supplier.
  • Whether a corrective action is needed, and its reference.
  • The closing date, and the check that the parts were dealt with.

The free NCR form template covers this. Its second page has a disposition section with approvals, the cause, whether a CAPA is needed, an optional cost and closure, and the Excel version is an NCR log with status, days open and counts by disposition. Use it as your MRB record and add a column for the customer's approval if your contracts need one.

Running an MRB in 20 minutes

Twenty minutes is enough for a plant with a few open items, if the preparation is done before the meeting. These habits keep it short.

  • Send the pre-read a day ahead. Each item is one NCR with its measurements and photos, and the quality owner's proposed disposition. Members read it before they arrive.
  • Take the items in order of risk: anything that could reach a customer first, then anything blocking production, then the rest.
  • One owner per item. The person who raised it presents it in two minutes, the board asks its questions and a decision is recorded before the next item.
  • Do not solve causes in the meeting. If a cause needs a team, assign it to a corrective action and move on.
  • Check for repeats. For each item, ask whether the same defect, part or supplier appeared before. A repeat goes to a corrective action whatever the disposition.
  • End by reading out each decision and its owner, so the minutes need no further explanation.

How often to meet depends on volume. Weekly or monthly is common, and critical holds are often handled on demand so a line is not waiting. Treat that as common practice, not a requirement.

What dispositions cost

Every disposition other than a clean use as is costs something, and the board is the one place that sees the choice. Scrap costs the whole part up to the step where it was found, not only the raw material. Rework costs the extra labor and machine time, plus the re-inspection. A return to the vendor costs the freight and the time to chase a credit, and expedited replacement can cost more than the part. These are internal failure costs in the cost of quality.

Put the cost on the record. The COPQ calculator and the scrap rate calculator help you work out what a quarter of dispositions has cost. When the same part, supplier or process keeps coming back to the board, the total is usually the argument that gets the corrective action funded. The acceptance sampling calculator helps when the question is how many pieces of a lot to inspect before the board meets.

Common failure modes

  • Suspect stock is not segregated. Material waiting for a decision sits on the shelf next to good stock and gets used. Use a marked hold area and a status in your system.
  • Decisions are made without evidence. A verbal "it is fine" with no measurements cannot be defended to a customer or an auditor.
  • Only the visible lot is contained. The same fault is in work in progress, in transit or already at the customer.
  • Use as is becomes the default. Concessions are given because the line needs parts, and nobody asks why the requirement keeps being missed.
  • Nobody owns the disposition. Parts stay on hold for weeks after a decision because no one was named to carry it out.
  • The same defect returns. The board treats each lot as new, and nobody checks whether a corrective action was ever opened for the last one.
  • The board becomes a bottleneck. Every small item waits for the weekly meeting. Set a clear rule for what the quality owner can decide alone and what must go to the board.

Tracking MRB items in LeanSuite

To be plain about it: LeanSuite does not run a material review board. It has no board meeting feature and no multi-signature disposition approval workflow, and this page does not claim one. If your contract needs several named people to sign off a disposition, that sign-off happens in your quality system or on your form.

What LeanSuite does cover is the record around the decision, on the non-conformance management page. An operator scans a QR code and the NCR form opens with the machine, line and shift filled in. Routing rules send critical NCRs to Quality and Engineering at once. Containment is assigned and tracked before root cause work starts, and supplier defects can start a supplier corrective action request with photo evidence. Systemic NCRs escalate by rule into an 8D or a DMAIC project. The cost of poor quality, meaning scrap, rework and expedite costs, is logged against each NCR. A required one-point lesson with read-and-sign acknowledgement goes to the affected operators, and the NCR cannot close until they confirm.

The corrective action log, supplier quality, cost of poor quality and quality tags pages describe the related parts. LeanSuite can act as the shop-floor layer next to your quality system. It does not have to replace it. If you want to see how this fits your process, you can book a demo.

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FAQ

Questions about material review board (MRB)

  1. MRB stands for material review board, sometimes written materials review board. It is the group that decides what happens to material that does not meet its requirement. The meeting is also called an MRB. Typing slips such as marb or mbrb usually mean the same thing.

  2. Typically quality, engineering, purchasing or supply chain, and production, with quality often chairing. A customer or regulator representative takes part where the contract or the rules require their approval. The size and the roles vary by company and contract, and a small plant may combine several roles in one person.

  3. The usual ones are use as is, rework, repair, return to vendor and scrap, and some plants add regrade. Use as is means accepting material that is outside its requirement, so it needs a recorded concession and, where the contract requires it, the customer's approval. Names and boundaries differ between companies, so write down your own definitions.

  4. An NCR is the record of the problem: what was found, how much is affected and how it was contained. The MRB is the decision step on that record, where the board chooses what happens to the material. Cause removal is a separate step, handled by a corrective action such as a CAPA.

  5. It depends on how many nonconformances you have. Weekly or monthly is common practice, with critical holds handled on demand so a line is not left waiting. It is a habit, not a rule, so pick a rhythm that stops suspect stock piling up.

  6. No. LeanSuite does not run board meetings or multi-signature disposition approvals. It does record the NCR around the decision: raising it from the line by QR code, routing by severity, tracking containment, escalating systemic NCRs to an 8D or DMAIC project, logging cost against each NCR and holding the NCR open until the fix is acknowledged.

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