4M Change · part of Process Quality

4M Change Management Know every change running on your line today, and the first lot made after it.

Raise man, machine, material and method changes with the affected parts picked from masters, route them through your own approval workflow, generate the implementation actions and show every live change on a change-point board.

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The basics

What is 4M change management?

4M change management is how a plant controls every change to the way a part is made: a new operator (man), a new or alternate machine, tool or fixture (machine), a new material or supplier (material), or a new process or parameter (method). Each change is assessed, approved, validated and traced to the first lot made after it.

Most plants run 4M changes on Excel and a paper board by the line. Nobody can say which changes are live right now. A temporary alternate machine is still running three months later, and when a complaint comes in, nobody knows whether the parts were made before or after the change.

Features

Change management in manufacturing, from request to effectiveness

Raise a 4M change in minutes

Pick the Ms it touches, permanent or temporary, and the affected parts, workstations, machines, suppliers and documents from masters. Raise it straight from an ECR, ECN, quality notification or maintenance order.

Your form, your approval route

The 4M change form lives in the Form Designer and its approvals in the workflow designer. The starter route runs a parallel review per M, and a customer approval is recorded with the signed document.

Implementation actions from templates

Approval creates the implementation plan with actions per M, such as operator training, control plan update or supplier PPAP. Each action has an owner and due date, with reminders and escalation when overdue.

Cut-in lot and monitoring

Record the first lot, batch or serial made after the change, then log monitoring checks for a set period. Quality signs off the change as effective or not effective before it can close.

Temporary changes that cannot overstay

A temporary change is approved for a fixed window. Before it ends, owners are reminded to revert or raise a permanent change. Past its end date it turns red on the board and escalates until the revert is confirmed.

A live change-point board and reports

A full-screen board for each line shows every live change by workstation, refreshing every minute. Reports count changes by M, mode, department, part and month, with lead times and Excel export.

Connected

4M Change doesn't live alone

A 4M change can be raised from an approved ECR or ECN, with parts and documents filled in and linked both ways. Material changes carry a supplier PPAP action, a Measurement change flags MSA studies for re-study, and SPC limit revisions can record a 4M change as the reason.

Standards and industries

A 4M change procedure for automotive and aerospace plants

IndustryStandardWhat you get
AutomotiveIATF 16949Control of changes, temporary changes with a fixed window, customer approval where required
Aerospace and defenceAS9100Controlled production process changes with approval and traceability
All manufacturersISO 9001Planned changes reviewed, approved and recorded, with their effectiveness checked
FAQ

4M change questions people ask

Still unsure? Ask our team.

What is 4M?

4M stands for man, machine, material and method, the four sources of change and variation in a manufacturing process. Many plants add measurement and environment to make 6M. YourBrand offers all six, and you choose which ones your plant uses.

What is 4M in manufacturing?

On the shop floor, a 4M change is any change to who runs the process, what equipment it runs on, what material goes in, or how the work is done. Each one can change the product, so each must be approved and watched closely when it starts.

What is a 4M change?

A planned or temporary change to man, machine, material or method on a running part. Examples are a new operator on a critical operation, an alternate machine during a breakdown, a new steel supplier or a revised work instruction.

What is 4M analysis?

4M analysis groups the possible causes of a problem under man, machine, material and method, often on a fishbone diagram. It is used in root cause analysis, and the same four headings decide who must review a 4M change and which actions it needs.

How is a 4M change different from an engineering change?

An engineering change alters the design: the drawing, specification or BOM. A 4M change alters how an unchanged design is made. One often leads to the other, which is why YourBrand lets you raise a 4M change from an approved ECR or ECN with the parts already filled in.

What should a 4M change form include?

The Ms affected, permanent or temporary with dates, affected parts and equipment, reason, before and after, risk assessment, whether the PFMEA was reviewed, stock and WIP disposition and whether the customer must approve. In YourBrand the form is yours to edit in the Form Designer.

Does the customer have to approve a 4M change?

Many automotive customers require it for certain changes. Each 4M change records the customer involvement as none, notify or approval. For approval, the change waits until someone records the customer's decision with its reference and signed document.

See every change on your line before it reaches a customer

We walk through it with your own parts and documents. It takes about 30 minutes.

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Related: Process Quality suiteEngineering change managementPPAP softwareIATF 16949Automotive