The Role of the Process Audit in ISO 9000 Internal Audits

[Raffy]

We haven't perform an internal audit for the year and now, I'm trying to consider our process audit in exchange with the planned internal audit. Can we consider process audit as an internal audit since" in internal audit to determine that the QMS conforms to the planned arrangements (7.1),...and is effectively implemented and maintained" and process audit has an almost same meaning conform, effectively implemented and maintained? We perform process audit daily and randomly audit every department according the requirements of the customer and QMS.

Any feedback would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Best regards,
Raffy

We have just been ISO 9001:2000 Certified - so I may be going out on a limb here, but a similar question came up about our auditing procedure. If it is stated in your procedure that either is appropriate, then you can state it. However, if your procedure does not address the matter - you may have a nonconformance.
Does that make sense to you?

[Craig H.]

HI

The question here is what are you auditing against.

For a process audit, you would be looking at the requirements of a specific process and the process' performance against these requirements.

For an internal ISO 9001 audit, you would be looking at the Quality Management System versus the standard.

They may look similar, but the aim is different. That said, in practice, I would say that many internal ISO audits end up being a hybrid of the 2 types...

Hope this helps

[Bill Ryan]

We just passed our "16949" surveillance audit and one of the "minor" findings was that our internal audits had to include the "Product realization" process (APQP). All we had been doing were "process" and "product" (dock) audits, also (we contract for the "System" audits).

Bill

[Claes Gefvenberg]

Craig H. said:

---X---

They may look similar, but the aim is different. That said, in practice, I would say that many internal ISO audits end up being a hybrid of the 2 types...

Hope this helps

I agree. That's usually the case.

/Claes

[Dawn]

Is it safe to assume that product audits in TS2 are the same as dock or final inspections - inprocess inspections?

[Bill Ryan]

Dawn asked:
Is it safe to assume that product audits in TS2 are the same as dock or final inspections - inprocess inspections?

Yes (per our registrar anyway)

Bill

[Mainer]

Just wanted to add my two cents as this is a current topic of discussion for our team. I have found that senior management's perception of the internal compliance audit is that of a non value add activity. Over the past 8 - 12 months I have shifted our internal audit focus to business objectives and then translate the applicable ISO clause appropriate to the review. What I am beginning to see is a cliff at the end of the year where I will have to specificly target many clauses that did not come up during the year's review. I am still working on this model and hope to strike a more meaningfull balance moving forward.