Panic time! Audit in three days!

[PVIJOHN]

Seems like I worked for a decade the last six months on our QMS.

Now as our audit approaches ( monday ) I dig through all of our stuff and of course find lots of little things that only add to my anxiety.

Problems I found are because I made it to complicated in our procedures.

I know if I say we will do it in procedure, we must do what we say. But when I say in a procedure, dept will log name and time on computer for each process, initial a traveller to indicate inspection, and initial inspection sheet to attach to work order, and they only do the inspection sheets 75% of the time..and its more my fault because it was stupid to require it, and uneccesasary, what kind of finding will result? Is my Corrective action the elimination of the protocol. Will i just stay late, write the corrective action/revision and show to the auditor the next day to resolve issue?

I have a hard time just eliminating a protocol in a procedure because they didn't do it, even if protocol was unnecessary.

I bet mine is a typical case of a "new to this Quality stuff" person learning on the fly, putting in tons of unecessary steps to ensure all parts of standards are met without understanding how to adapt standard to our company. Now I do...moreso anyway...ugh....think I am in trouble.

to top it all off...big layoff here with half of dept supervisors gone...wonder if i can just blame them...

 

[SteelMaiden]

Do.Not.Panic. easier said than done.

If you see some stuff that is definitely not going to work as per your procedures, and there are valid reasons for not following them (that will not affect safety, product quality, and customer satisfaction) start writing up some corrective action requests now. Were any of these things found in an internal audit? Another good way to document problems found, assessed and corrected.

Good luck. It appears that your system is pretty new, by the time you are done and happy with it, you probably won't recognize a lot of it!

 

[arios]

Wish you the best on your audit, and please don't panic.

One advice: make sure you understand the auditor question if it sounds odd, and if you are not sure ask him or her to point you at the std. section answer is being looked for. That way you can relate the question to your QMS or EMS

I hope you pass your audit w/o mush difficulties.

Keep us posted

 

[Randy]

What do you need supervisors for, you're having the system audited, not them.

If everything is as you say, centered upon YOU then you don't have a MS you just have stuff being stirred in the organizational pot.

If you are as far along as you say you are and still have these questions then you internal audit is of no value, management review probably stinks and system planning is lacking....and we won't mention effectiveness.

What do you think the findings will be, Conformance or Nonconformity?

 

[PVIJOHN]

Ok, since you said not to..I won't panic...if only it were that easy.:mg:

I am nervous, but seriously, panic is a bit of an overstatement. Anxious, apprehensive, and nauseous is more accurate

Management directed internal audit ( unscheduled ) on each production areas inspection documentation was done. Quite a few problems were found ( lacking paperwork/initials 99%) cause was determined to be procedures did not account for variances in departments. simple stuff, if read verbatum one dept would do five ten inspection sheets per WO, so they use a multiple process sheet, and initial it religiously. I told them two months ago, yeah, thats fine, initials are initials, inspections are done, I know who did them, and besides each dept after you verifys the inspections and all of our feed back averages at 4.8 out of 5 for the four measures of quality of products..not one return in 9 months for inferior product.


But...procedure still said use this form to document each first and last inspection..they didn't...for a while...none of the work orders had the inspection sheet our procedure said it would. I did audit according to procedure, made Work Instructions specific to departments, outlining inspection Documentation procedures, audit and WIs were approved, departments have them, were trained ( easy to do, they like it when you tell them don't do that anymore, do this, it is easier for you) and now it works well...still all those Documents are missing.

A few more similiar problems are around but none to that extreme.

That is my biggest problem, I don't understand how my system can be judged on the same criteria as a decade old system would, obviously our system will be better in six months, a year, five. I have to find problems before I can fix them.

Telling my boss we need to have a revisit by auditor would not be a wise job decision after i watched 1/3 of our work force leave last friday..four supervisors included. Ok I lied...maybe panic is seeping in

 

[PVIJOHN]

What do you need supervisors for, you're having the system audited, not them.

If everything is as you say, centered upon YOU then you don't have a MS you just have stuff being stirred in the organizational pot.

If you are as far along as you say you are and still have these questions then you internal audit is of no value, management review probably stinks and system planning is lacking....and we won't mention effectiveness.

What do you think the findings will be, Conformance or Nonconformity?

you pull no punches randy..gotta respect that.

I think we will squeek through with quite a few minor non conformances, lacking documentation required by procedure being the overwhelming reason for findings. I also think that any are easily corrected, all that i found are to put it simply, a matter of trying to do to much, our auditor will be thinking a lot, you don't need to do that but since you said you would..

This must be a common problem for small companys seeking Certification.

 

[Randy]

This must be a common problem for small companys seeking Certification.

It is and you're not unique,trust me. Many times, such as maybe your case is, implementation is a singular activity and others kinda drift around on the edge not wanting to be bothered.

Just be honest with the auditor and don't try to hide anything. Straightforward honesty can help ease any potential pain.

Oh yeah, thanks for the comment. You wanted truth and deserved truth, not sappy gibberish

 

[PVIJOHN]

Many times, such as maybe your case is, implementation is a singular activity and others kinda drift around on the edge not wanting to be bothered.

Kinda, but main cause is simply, lack of knowledge in the beginning. We had a consultant who gave us a canned set of procedures that if followed would surely meet all the standards, yet was pretty unrealistic in practice. Bosses went on the assumption that it was all necessary and implemented verbatum, then I came on board ( sept ) and slowly learned how the standards apply to us specifically. My bosses definately bought into the process and give me any resource i need, will do pretty much what I ask, and make sure others do too.

Our system has some aspects where we go way above what is required, Non Conforming for one, Customer feedback is another... and we like it that way, it works well, everyone knows procedure and follows it to the letter..others are just cumbersome because of unnecessary requirements ( mostly because at one point we thought they were needed and are afraid to remove them and use " pain in the butt, and not needed to get certification" as my reason...I could sugar it up but the reason remains )

And yep, Thats the plan, be honest, don't hide anything, cross my fingers and hope i get a list of things to correct without any major problems that require me to tell my bosses he has to come back and you need to write another check.

 

[harry]

You'll feel better if you 'think' that you are better prepared. So, it is good to look at this thread: ISO 9001 Registrar Audits: Failure Modes

 

[ChrissieO]

That is my biggest problem, I don't understand how my system can be judged on the same criteria as a decade old system would, obviously our system will be better in six months, a year, five. I have to find problems before I can fix them.

It can't be and a good auditor wont expect it to be.

I have said before on here, it is like driving, you don't really learn to drive untill you pass your test.

Listen to your auditors comments, don't be defensive, take on board his/her comments and work towards the continuous improvement of your system.

No quality management system is ever perfect or complete, and anyone who tells you their's is, is being either very naive or very stupid. A QMS is a living thing and develops with time.

Chrissie x