QS-9000 Accreditation Body Interpretation

Regarding the Appendix G, Section A. 4th paragraph. It is written, Management assigned responsibility for ISO Guide 62:1996(E), clause 2.1.2.j, shall incluse personnel that have automotive industry experience as well as expertise in the appropriate codes for their scope. Can anyone tell me what is the the rule... to me the intention was for the auditor or the lead auditor to have worked in the automotive industry or if that experience has been gain through consulting an automotive company, I would expect at least a 5 months experience with that same company. That being said, what is allowed as automotive industry experience as beindg acceptable by the AIAG. Many interpretation are coming from everywhere and who is right.
Your help will be greatly appreciated!!!

[Marc]

I'm not sure what they're trying to achieve - I assume you're right. But I have 'hired' several auditors in the last year and two if the 'QS Qualified' had never even worked in manufacturing. One was an ex-professor from a comnmunity college who got in it for the $. Boy - was he a sorry auditor. I was very disappointed with them both - the others were OK. But I do find a lot of auditors have automotive experience in context of auditing only. I know of no 'offocial' interpretation of the requirement.

I found this in the interpretations, just for info:

R50 ISO Guide 62

Can ISO Guide 62 be used in lieu of EAC/EN 45012? (See Appendix B).

ISO/IEC Guide 62:1996(E), General requirements for bodies operating assessment and certification/registration of quality systems, and the IAF Guidance on the Application of ISO/IEC Guide 62:1996, Issue 1, 2 June 1997 may be used in place of EN45012, General Criteria for Certification Bodies Operating Quality System Certification and the accompanying EAC Guidelines on the application to EN 45012 (EAC/G3) Rev. 01, 09-1995 in QS-9000 Appendix B.5.

[barb butrym]

Hey marc....one of the most knowledgeable and qualified QS auditors I have ever seen works for NTC-CS and URS registrars. his name is Steve Upton. He is most professional and knows the standard like his name. He applies it properly and has been deemed a subject matter expert and is called on to referee other auditors. URS is in the UK, but he is assigned from the US offices, they are UCAS. NTS-CS is in Boxboro Massachusetts but has offices all over the world. They are RAB and the other (?)one. Both would honor a request for a specific auditor... based on reputation. Give them a try, you won't be disappointed

[Marc]

I will keep in mind for the future. I don't foresee anything for a while. Mainly when I have had big clients like Motorola and Harley I bring in an outside auditor to work them over about 8 weeks prior to the registration audit. And for pre-assessment I try to convince the company to limit the audit to a paper audit through interviews with major systems owners and document review in a conference room. Then I audit a few weeks prior to registration audit. Then - they pass - all have so far.

[barb butrym]

Ya...I bring in a new set of eyes too....usually Steve's...LOL, unless I want him as the auditor..depends on the scope.

All this being said, what is sufficient and targetted automotive industry experience for an auditor during an accreditation audit ? I know I've over heard that some are considering audit experience of Automotive company as being automotive industry experience... that being said, I know this is not the intention of the AIAG... and in your own opinion... deep dounw in your heart... what is consider an appropriate automotive industry experience ??

[barb butrym]

In my heart..mmmmmmmm.....lets see????
Proven proficiency using the tools I guess would be my thought. If you know the tools, you can evaluate the use of them. Guess thats why AIAG has a test.