Is My AS9100 certification Auditor Normal?

[JaimeB]

I'm in the final throes of my AS9100D certification audit, and my auditor is being less than straightforward with me. I'm hoping to compare notes to see if this is just the way it is, or if I should consider looking for a new auditor or even registrar. I've had the same auditor for 4 years, and never been thrilled with his communication style, but this time it's worse than usual.

Here's the situation:

1. All of my findings were minor. I submitted my initial plans for correction/CA and those were accepted. The due date to have objective evidence of my CA submitted and accepted is tomorrow.
2. I submitted objective evidence for all of my findings last week or before and immediately notified the auditor when everything was submitted.
3. I had to e-mail him again tonight to ask him to finish reviewing my objective evidence before the due date because I hadn't heard anything from him. He finally reviewed all of them and has rejected some of the plans due to insufficient objective evidence.
4. Immediately after receiving the rejection notices, I either submitted the additional evidence he requested, or e-mailed him with my proposed plan to address the reason for his rejection to see if it would be sufficient before resubmitting it.
5. I then e-mailed him asking if we could talk tomorrow to discuss how to move forward on these rejected plans, and he responded by saying he is in an audit all week and will not have time to discuss. That's it. Nothing saying he would look at the additional evidence I submitted, or that he'd call me next week. Just that he's too busy so I'm SOL.
​

Now I'm freaking out because I want to get these findings closed out on time but it doesn't sound like that's going to happen.

Is this normal behavior from an auditor to have no sense of urgency? I can see if I waited until the last minute to submit the evidence, but I didn't.

He's always telling me how busy he is, mostly due to the fact that he offers consulting services when he's not auditing, so I get that he's got better things to do than hold my hand. It just seems like I should be getting a little more responsiveness, especially because I've made diligent and swift effort to remedy these findings (don't get me started on how nit-picky some of them were).

My certification to Rev C isn't set to expire until mid January, but is there any penalty to me if the registrar doesn't accept my objective evidence by the 60 day deadline?

Any input would be helpful since all I'm getting is radio silence from the auditor.

Thanks!

 

[Sidney Vianna]

re: Is My AS9100D certification Auditor Normal?

Escalate the issue to the CB. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, you did not engage with an auditor. You have a contract with a registrar. The auditor is just the most visible, customer-facing representative, but the registrar must have a technical manager and someone that is this auditor’s line manager. Communicate with someone at the office. They should be interested in your satisfaction. Let them prove they are.

 

[Marcelo]

My first thought in seeing the title was "no auditor is normal".

 

[dsanabria]

I'm in the final throes of my AS9100D certification audit, and my auditor is being less than straightforward with me. I'm hoping to compare notes to see if this is just the way it is, or if I should consider looking for a new auditor or even registrar. I've had the same auditor for 4 years, and never been thrilled with his communication style, but this time it's worse than usual.

Here's the situation:

1. All of my findings were minor. I submitted my initial plans for correction/CA and those were accepted. The due date to have objective evidence of my CA submitted and accepted is tomorrow.
2. I submitted objective evidence for all of my findings last week or before and immediately notified the auditor when everything was submitted.
3. I had to e-mail him again tonight to ask him to finish reviewing my objective evidence before the due date because I hadn't heard anything from him. He finally reviewed all of them and has rejected some of the plans due to insufficient objective evidence.
4. Immediately after receiving the rejection notices, I either submitted the additional evidence he requested, or e-mailed him with my proposed plan to address the reason for his rejection to see if it would be sufficient before resubmitting it.
5. I then e-mailed him asking if we could talk tomorrow to discuss how to move forward on these rejected plans, and he responded by saying he is in an audit all week and will not have time to discuss. That's it. Nothing saying he would look at the additional evidence I submitted, or that he'd call me next week. Just that he's too busy so I'm SOL.
​

Now I'm freaking out because I want to get these findings closed out on time but it doesn't sound like that's going to happen.

Is this normal behavior from an auditor to have no sense of urgency? I can see if I waited until the last minute to submit the evidence, but I didn't.

He's always telling me how busy he is, mostly due to the fact that he offers consulting services when he's not auditing, so I get that he's got better things to do than hold my hand. It just seems like I should be getting a little more responsiveness, especially because I've made diligent and swift effort to remedy these findings (don't get me started on how nit-picky some of them were).

My certification to Rev C isn't set to expire until mid January, but is there any penalty to me if the registrar doesn't accept my objective evidence by the 60 day deadline?

Any input would be helpful since all I'm getting is radio silence from the auditor.

Thanks!

In fairness to the auditor - he is communicating with (that's a big step) he is also responding your emails and third - I think you are hitting the panic button to fast.

With a shortage of auditors - registrar are panicking because certain clients have not being audited in 2017 - thus, they take priority.

Now if by the second week of January if the issue has not being resolved - Panic and call the registrar.

 

[Randy]

Doesn't sound too bad really, in fact it sounds normal. The auditor may be neck deep in alligators and he's working his way through the swamp eventually making it to you. I get in the same position at times (though not with AS9100..Yech!)

Sindey is correct though in that engaging the CB may be the answer because the auditor may very well be too demanding and a Tech Manager could review everything and say go for it (I see this happen quite often and have been tasked with doing some of the reviews myself)

 

[Golfman25]

My last auditor was like that. A real PIA. Wouldn't look carefully at stuff. Wouldn't provide any clarification. It was a real cluster.

 

[Kronos147]

Check on OASIS to make sure that the auditor is posting your responses.

If the stuff hits the fan, that is a good CYA.

For what it's worth, our assessment in August was closed in December. We were quick with our responses and requests, and I had to ask the auditor several times for status.

Somehow, things got going when they tried to bill us and I raised a stink.

 

[JaimeB]

Thanks for the input, guys! I contacted a representative of the registrar today and he was very helpful, saying that because I am showing due diligence in attempting to resolve the findings, they would not trigger the suspension process.

I realize I'm probably over anxious, and hearing that others have had similar experiences has helped me to calm down a bit.

 

[AndyN]

Thanks for the input, guys! I contacted a representative of the registrar today and he was very helpful, saying that because I am showing due diligence in attempting to resolve the findings, they would not trigger the suspension process.

I realize I'm probably over anxious, and hearing that others have had similar experiences has helped me to calm down a bit.

Nothing wrong with having expectations of a (high) level of service from an organization who should know (and be capable of delivering to) EXACTLY what their customers' requirements are and provide process and resources to achieve those. Interesting when you discover that CBs are often lacking in the basics of what the QMS standards are about!

Someone was asking me about what they should look for in a CB - who is "best" and this is the type of thing which is commonly overlooked.

 

[Martin Greenaway]

As above, you should really communicate with the CB, not the auditor.