Notification to Customers regarding Major Audit Finding

[Reynard]

Every Registrar is under the gun,

A major is due to not taking the process seriously at one time or another.

Because of major supply chain disruption, and horrendous recalls for risk that has grown exponentially. The IAOB and Transplants are duly pissed.
There has been a turn over of retirements that has eliminated the status quo in the IAOB.

Many SQA are using VDA 6.3 risk assessment much more actively.

You need to be effectively conducting process based layered audits and covering your issues with real Corrective Actions.

With TS4 there is no excuses. Only actions or DeCert and you had damn well cover all of the bases.

The days of revenue stream auditing are over..
Bleak, but this is Automotive and we are servicing the toughest customers that exist.
This is why any QA Manager is worth 100 k +

 

[Wes Bucey]

[snip]

The days of revenue stream auditing are over..
Bleak, but this is Automotive and we are servicing the toughest customers that exist.
This is why any QA Manager is worth 100 k +

May I differ? Not "ANY," substitute "COMPETENT."

 

[Reynard]

That is a good qualifier, you need to understand all of the latest interpretations, and requirements that have been slapped on the TS Registrars by the IAOB, as well as RAB-IATCA.

The Registrars now own you.

You fall down, it had better be minor.

I know some idiot that was unwilling to have witness auditors along, and that is Decertification.

 

[GretaAnn]

That is a good qualifier, you need to understand all of the latest interpretations, and requirements that have been slapped on the TS Registrars by the IAOB, as well as RAB-IATCA.

The Registrars now own you.

You fall down, it had better be minor.

I know some idiot that was unwilling to have witness auditors along, and that is Decertification.

We allowed a witness audit once and we did fine but the third party auditor received a major

 

[GretaAnn]

That's what I thought. Has this audit already taken place? As you probably know, under the 4th edition rules any major nonconformity is the beginning of the decertification process. If the problem isn't cleared up at the time of the "special" audit, you will be decertified and will have to do a new certification audit at a later date. This sort of thing is pretty rare, and there has to be some kind of gross breakdown before it will happen.

I am aware of the ramifications and the decertification process. The re-audit has not occurred yet. Our latest audit was for recertification and received brand new auditors (per the rules). The audit was unusually brutal and they did an unprecedented deep dive. I am the lead auditor at my business and I was personally crucified by the third party audit resulting in my audit responsibilities to be suspended because my certification record had been accidently destroyed by H. R. . All total, in one week we received 6 majors and 6 minors. We are hoping to receive open but 100% resolved status.

 

[GretaAnn]

Re: Notification to Customers regarding Major Finding

Bringing this up again here for the attention of any TS qualified auditors to respond .....
Thanks

If I were you, I would go to the IATF web site and download all the customer specific requirements (CSR). Study them carefully and integrate their requirements into the TS requirements. Everyone wants something different. Chrysler LLC wanted a notification of any change to the certificate. Any major is automatic certificate suspension and the start of the decertification process. The Automotive world has strengthened their requirements 10 fold from 10 years ago. Any automotive auditor will tell you the focus is most on CSRs and compliance to them. Hope this helps

 

[GretaAnn]

Every Registrar is under the gun,

A major is due to not taking the process seriously at one time or another.

Because of major supply chain disruption, and horrendous recalls for risk that has grown exponentially. The IAOB and Transplants are duly pissed.
There has been a turn over of retirements that has eliminated the status quo in the IAOB.

Many SQA are using VDA 6.3 risk assessment much more actively.

You need to be effectively conducting process based layered audits and covering your issues with real Corrective Actions.

With TS4 there is no excuses. Only actions or DeCert and you had damn well cover all of the bases.

The days of revenue stream auditing are over..
Bleak, but this is Automotive and we are servicing the toughest customers that exist.
This is why any QA Manager is worth 100 k +

I agree with your statements. I will add that the third party auditors are not working for the company who pays them.. they are working for the OEM and you pay the bill. Additionally, they are saying all nonconformance's are majors and have to be justified to be minors. At least for the last 2 years it has been like this in my experience.

 

[Helmut Jilling]

I agree with your statements. I will add that the third party auditors are not working for the company who pays them.. they are working for the OEM and you pay the bill. Additionally, they are saying all nonconformance's are majors and have to be justified to be minors. At least for the last 2 years it has been like this in my experience.

They aren't saying all nonconformities are majors...the rule is you have to justify why it is a minor...to make auditors think...most auditors I know write minors and majors....they can watch me all they want...I still write minor things as minors and major things as majors...I will not focus on quotas....most of my clients perform very well, and we press them to perform well...

 

[Helmut Jilling]

I am aware of the ramifications and the decertification process. The re-audit has not occurred yet. Our latest audit was for recertification and received brand new auditors (per the rules). The audit was unusually brutal and they did an unprecedented deep dive. I am the lead auditor at my business and I was personally crucified by the third party audit resulting in my audit responsibilities to be suspended because my certification record had been accidently destroyed by H. R. . All total, in one week we received 6 majors and 6 minors. We are hoping to receive open but 100% resolved status.

1. Generally cannot do "Open, But Resolved"during a recert audit, because they would have to be closed before the cert expiration. Otherwise, you have up to 60 days, or the cert expiration date.

2. Most customers CSR's might require training for internal auditors, and Ford, for example, specifies a fair amount of specifics, but do any OE's actually require certification credentials of auditors? I don't judge if internal auditors are competent because they have a cert, I judge their competency by looking at the quality of their audits....that is the acid test....

 

[Helmut Jilling]

That is a good qualifier, you need to understand all of the latest interpretations, and requirements that have been slapped on the TS Registrars by the IAOB, as well as RAB-IATCA.

The Registrars now own you.

You fall down, it had better be minor.

I know some idiot that was unwilling to have witness auditors along, and that is Decertification.

By contract, a certified company cannot decline having a witness audit, nor can the auditor...