No evidence of certain processes on our scope being audited at our remote location

We recently incurred a minor NC on our last TS audit due to no evidence of certain processes on our scope being audited by our remote location's registrar. One of the processes is "strategic planning". No one here is sure how or why this came to be listed on our scope. Yes, our parent company in Japan does provide such instruction, but I am not sure this is an auditable process. Can anyone verify my assumption? I would prefer to remove this from our scope prior to our IATF audit this fall. Thanks!

Re: No evidence of certain processes on our scope being audited at our remote locatio

As I understand the scenario described, my line of thought is:

• "strategic planning" process does exist. Surely it is auditable.
• strategic planning is a process that can affect product conformity and customer satisfaction, thus, it is a process that is part of the QMS.
• strategic planning is in the scope of audit (and/or certification) of the remote location, by a different CB.

If all bullets are true, the solution is for strategic planning to be audited at the remote location and evidence be presented to the manufacturing plant(s) CB. You should NOT remove a QMS process from the scope of the audit at the remote location, if the process does exist and can impact your automotive customers.

Re: No evidence of certain processes on our scope being audited at our remote locatio

I have various experiences regarding identification of remote supporting functions. Some companies take it very seriously and have very good understanding of interactions between manufacturing plants and design centres, sales offices, etc. Some do all they can just to limit scope of this functions to product, eventually process design activities. I am very familiar with tag, "Japan" in this matter.
What you need is to strongly insist on your Japanese friends to be open to their CB and do not hide these supports, as "overlooking" will result in major NC issued to you next time.

Re: No evidence of certain processes on our scope being audited at our remote locatio

I should have defined the problem better: our registrar came in and looked at our cert on the wall noting seven support functions from our RL. He asked to see the audit performed in Japan. When he looked at it he noticed that not all support processes were audited by their registrar. He didn't ask to see the three year audit plan (I'm hearing it wouldn't have mattered). According to the auditor, we must ask Japan to have their registrar come back to their facility and audit the missing support functions. Now, we do not list "strategic planning" as a process at our facility. I am not sure how it ever got on our cert. Is there a clause in IATF that specifically mentions strategic planning and that it should be a recognized auditable process? Thanks!

Re: No evidence of certain processes on our scope being audited at our remote locatio

1. Someone from your company mentioned this activity in application for certification.
2. Auditor found RL's support with this activity and mentioned it in final report.