Corrective and preventive action, commonly abbreviated as CAPA, is a quality management process used to investigate actual or potential problems, address their causes, and check whether the actions taken were effective. In manufacturing, it is commonly applied to nonconformances, audit findings, deviations, customer complaints, recurring defects, and process risks.
Corrective action addresses the cause of an existing nonconformity or failure. Preventive action addresses the cause of a potential nonconformity before it occurs. Both are intended to reduce recurrence or occurrence by acting on causes, not only by fixing the immediate symptom.
CAPA records are often managed in a QMS, eQMS, MES, or related workflow system. A typical record may include the issue description, containment or correction, root cause analysis, action plan, owners, due dates, evidence, approvals, and effectiveness review.
CAPA should not be confused with a simple correction, rework, or containment step. Those actions may address the immediate condition, while CAPA focuses on the underlying cause and documented follow-up.