MRB decision authority is the assigned responsibility to approve how nonconforming material, parts, assemblies, or related records will be dispositioned after review by a Material Review Board. It commonly applies to decisions such as use as is, rework, repair, scrap, return to supplier, or request for customer or engineering approval when required by the organization’s procedures.
In manufacturing and regulated supply chains, MRB decision authority is usually controlled by role, qualification, procedure, and product or program scope. The authority may sit with specific quality, engineering, manufacturing, supplier quality, or customer-designated representatives, depending on the type of nonconformance and the allowed disposition path.
The term refers to the authority to make or approve the disposition decision, not simply participation in an MRB meeting. It should also be distinguished from corrective action ownership: MRB disposition addresses what happens to the affected item, while corrective action addresses the cause and prevention of recurrence.
In MES, QMS, ERP, or nonconformance workflows, MRB decision authority is often represented through approval roles, electronic signatures, audit trails, and routing rules that control who can close or release a disposition record.