We have continued with our Dock Audits, even after the death of QS, however the dock audit doesn't really cover the part of the clause "at appropriate stages of production" We now have product audits incorporated into our production process. The "First Off" produced on a line is subject to an audit by an independant person (usually Supervisor, QA Inspector, or other designated associate) A document follows the product through all processes and on it is recorded conformance/non-conformance to specified requirements. If there is a non-conformance, the production line is stopped until appropriate corrective actions have taken place. The document is used to record the NC, the action, the persons with authority to implement the action, the date of the actions, and then the re-audit to requirements. This sounds like a big thing but actually it could be as small as:
The product label was smudged in process and therefore unreadable
1) Note on form "Label is not readable" Stop process and notify Supervisor
2) If there is an issue with all labels then they are segregated and scrapped and new ones are produced and reviewed for acceptance.
3) New process of creating labels only when product is ready to be cased is implimented. (not days before and sitting around) "Preventative Action"
4) Actions taken noted on form and dated, with supervisors signature. "Authorization"
5) New labels attached, then "First Off" re-audited again to specifications.
6) Note that product now meets specifications, and form is filed with Quality Dept. "Close the Loop"
These are then reviewed as input to continuous improvements, preventative actions, even additional resources or machinary maintanance needed.
We have reduced our Dock Audits (1 shipment/week) based on declining #s of customer complaints but increases our "Product Audits" based on internal compliants. (NCs caught in process)
Since changing our process we have been able to catch alot of "little" issues that would not cause our Customer to create a formal complaint, but over time would probably p*ss them off. We are now able to catch these issues, deal with them immediately, so the next time the product is built we know there wont be any issues.
We also conduct Annual Layouts as required but I don't believe that these could be considered Product Audits as they are, like Dock Audits, not "at appropriate stages of production".
