Re: ISO Audit by Customer
This week we are finishing up our External ISO audit for re-certification. A new customer came in yesterday and wants to send their auditor in to do an ISO audit to confirm we are ISO.
This is new to me - in a lean world, this is a big waste of money, time and resources for the customer. Sounds like they aren't very trusting of our certification.....
Anyone else have this issue?
Sure, happens all the time. They're the customer, and it's not a matter of trust; if work is passed to a supplier, the responsibility for conformity of the product doesn't get passed off - it still resides with the organization. If the customer's criteria for evaluation includes an audit, they're going to do an audit. This process is a clear part of ISO requirements.
I'd be raising my eyebrows if they
didn't send someone to carry out due diligence. And we all know that just because a company has a current certificate, it doesn't necessarily mean that their QMS is satisfactory.
An example - I have a supplier whose AS9100C audit turned up ZERO findings. Red Flag. Secondly, they have serious problems in delivering conforming material to us on time. My main conclusion as to how they obtained a cert with no findings is that the audit was ineffective. But they have a cert, right?
Big waste of money, time and resources for the customer? It'll be even more expensive if you have to mix in hundreds, thousands, sometimes millions of dollars in bad parts (or heaven forbid, someone gets hurt or dies).
I'll never make that mistake again. Lean doesn't mean trim out everything you can.
Have a look at this thread:
http://elsmar.com/Forums/showthread.php?t=50189