Scheduling Internal Audits - Chrysler-specific Requirements

4.17 "IQA shall be scheduled on the basis of the status and importance of the activity ..." Chrysler-specific req't says the IQA shall be conducted at least once per year. I intented to do the IQA once a year. Hence I did an audit on all elements and all departments in my company. A second party auditor commented that I failed for "... scheduled on the basis of the status and importance of the activity..." How should I resolve this?

Q2: Every two weeks, a Quality Engineer will audit the production. E.g. check on SPC, housekeeping, process parameters etc. Can I classify this as internal quality audit?

[Kevin Mader]

Lyndon,

How did you prioritize areas, elements, etc.? You treated all the elements and departments with equal importance. This may be true enough, but you may need to adjust to meet Customer expectations. Otherwise, it seems a small point to make a large fuss over.

[Marc]

The bottom line is that for QS you have to have 1 round of internal audits every year, as I understand it. ISO is more lenient.

Thanks for the reply. If the audit is once a year and not all the elements are audited, that will mean that some elements will not be audited every year. I have also come across auditors who require all elements to be audited and on all dept, including Adiminstration and Facilities, at least once a year.

[Marc]

That's what I meant to say by 1 round of audits a year - a complete audit (all areas/elements).

[Kevin Mader]

Keep in mind that one audit in areas that have a history of being troublesome may not be enough (status - troublesome). In these areas you will need to schedule follow-up audits to ensure compliance. Overall, as Marc has said, you need to do the collective whole in a year's time.

[barb butrym]

Alot depends on how you worded your procedure....they are correct on the requirement, but if you procedures say something additional then thats whats audited. Most say yearly as a minimun and may be adjusted re: as 'importance, status or criticality issues' dictate..so covers both requirements of the standard. On a generic report cover, you can put a check box for a schedule adjustment needed beacuse of xxx. So there is a record if it ever needs to happen. Originally I thought that was an 'auditor friendly' addition to the record, but have found it quite useful.

[spacemanR]

Lyndon,
my opinion for your reference.
at first,easy Q2. Q2,the activities of QE is part of production process audit ,more systemitical autir is better.
then difficult Q1.one complete audit one year is ok,but the audit time of individual process should be allocated based on the improtanctance and performance of perocess.