Customer Satisfaction and Internal Audits

[Scott]

I have been away from the forum for awhile but need to jump back into the ISO 9000 requirements. Here I go head-first in the shallow end of the pool...

Can anyone out there remember a thread from earlier this year that discussed how a U.S. based, Japanese firm had convinced a register that they did not need a formal internal audit program? Basically, (if I remember correctly), they said that was a day-to-day management task and did not want to pay someone to conduct the audits specifically.

We are in somewhat the same situation as we are contracted to be ISO 9000 compliant but our customer, (the government), does not want the contractor conducting internal audits. They don't like ISO at all but that we might be able to work around.

At anyrate we are looking down the same path this other company went, (if possible), and would like to review that thread or hear from anyone that has had any luck in deviating from the standard ISO clauses in one way or another.

Thanks,
Scott

 

[Randy]

1st of all...being a government contractor myself (CAGE Code and everything) someone needs to ask your Contracting Officer what kind of dope he/she's smoking. If you're contracted to be ISO 9001 compliant then you will not be complying with contactural requirements if you do not perform audits..it's part of the contract language by inference

This sounds like the typical government dribble when someone has learned a few buzzwords and becames an instant expert....If your doing DoD contract work you really need to sit with the COR and educate this person.

 

[M Greenaway]

Scott

I think you are referring to threads in which my good friend Jim Wade has spoken of a company he has worked with that has attained ISO9001 certification without conducting 'traditional' internal audits.

He does concede that the company has to meet the 'requirements' of ISO9001:2000 regarding internal audit, but does not carry out what we might consider to be traditional audits.

I am sure he will gladly fill you in on how this was achieved. He is very contactable at [email protected]

 

[Randy]

Oh yeah another thing....Who is in charge of reading what your contract actually says? I'll guarantee you that within the contract jargon, mumbo-jumbo & gibberish you as an organization are required to ensure that you are meeting your contractural obligations thru inspections, audits, surveillance, etc...