Auditing of Installation of Product at Customers Sites

[chergh - 2008]

One of the services my company provides is the installation of our products at customer sites. I am curious to know whether other companies that provide this service accompany their installation engineers and perform an internal audit on this process at the customer site or if they carry out the internal audit at their own site.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Al Rosen]

One of the services my company provides is the installation of our products at customer sites. I am curious to know whether other companies that provide this service accompany their installation engineers and perform an internal audit on this process at the customer site or if they carry out the internal audit at their own site.

Thanks in advance.

I have a similar situation and do not perform the audits at the customer's site. I interview the installation personnel here at our facility during an audit.

 

[Sidney Vianna]

I have a similar situation and do not perform the audits at the customer's site. I interview the installation personnel here at our facility during an audit.

I think this is pretty much the norm in the Industry. However, depending on the type of hardware being installed and how impacting the installation process could be, in terms of customer satisfaction, it would make sense to extend your internal audit process to the job sites. Actually, most people that are used to the typical manufacturing environment have eye opening experiences observing the conditions subjected by field technicians, working at the client's sites. Digressing a little bit from the original question, but I have seen a few progressive organizations demanding the participation of field technicians in the design review process ( in addition to all other typical participating functions) during new product development. Many times, their insight on product use and abuse is critical for a safe design.

 

[chergh - 2008]

Thanks for the replies so far

We provide hardware, and software solutions for our hardware, to the digital TV industry specifically the broadcasters. If the system install is messed up the braodcaster is going to have big issues, they would certainly have a lot less redundancy than usual and would possibly go off air, imagine none of your Sky/DirecTV channels working.

To an extent this was putting me of auditing the team during an install as I don't want to get in their way and distract them by asking questions.

Any further thoughts?

 

[nomisd]

In both my current job and my previous job, we internally (and externally) audit on-site.

In my current job this involves going to schools and universities to check on the installation of computer networks. This is always arranged with the customer beforehand and so far the customer has always been more than happy for us to have extra bodies on site.

In my previous job, it was at London Underground stations and again had to be arranged in advance. In this case, it was positively encouraged by LU for us to go to site and audit.

At our last external audit, our auditor was very keen to visit an example of site installation so we obliged.

If its done properly, you shouldn't get in the way of people doing their job on site.

 

[Sidney Vianna]

To an extent this was putting me of auditing the team during an install as I don't want to get in their way and distract them by asking questions.

Any further thoughts?

Many times, you audit just by "observing" the activity. You can easily determine if the people performing the installation have the resources they need at hand. Another suggestion is for you to analyze the data related to product performance, post delivery, and see if you can detect trends for failure that could be associated with poor installation practices. You could then target the site installations for focused internal audits on these risky areas.

 

[chergh - 2008]

Thx for the help folks, going to do the audit on site you've convinced me that it is a good idea.

THx again