Question: Best alternatives to audits for ensuring compliance

[Sam Bat]

What are the best alternatives to audits for ensuring compliance and maintaining a high level of quality as an oversight plan?
I'd appreciate it if you could explain why you prefer it.

 

[Steve Prevette]

Since you have identified you are taking some form of a course in this subject, I'll provide some suggestions for you to study (and determine what you prefer).

First you need to research / define what is an audit? Usually it is some expert(s) that come in and do a paperwork review of are your procedures and methods compliant. That needs to be compared to the goal of "maintaining a high level of quality". Some facilities I've seen are "paper tigers". The paper documentation in the 'big honking ISO 9000 binder' (re Dilbert) is wonderful, but the practices in the workplace are completely different. There is an (overused) joke about you could make ISO 9000 compliant life preservers out of concrete, if that was what the requirement was. And I could audit against that.

So how do you "know" if you are making a quality product and what could you base that upon? Inspection can be a piece of it. Management by Wandering Around is a piece of it, Dr. Deming's 14 points is another set of pieces.

 

[Sam Bat]

Since you have identified you are taking some form of a course in this subject, I'll provide some suggestions for you to study (and determine what you prefer).

First you need to research / define what is an audit? Usually it is some expert(s) that come in and do a paperwork review of are your procedures and methods compliant. That needs to be compared to the goal of "maintaining a high level of quality". Some facilities I've seen are "paper tigers". The paper documentation in the 'big honking ISO 9000 binder' (re Dilbert) is wonderful, but the practices in the workplace are completely different. There is an (overused) joke about you could make ISO 9000 compliant life preservers out of concrete, if that was what the requirement was. And I could audit against that.

So how do you "know" if you are making a quality product and what could you base that upon? Inspection can be a piece of it. Management by Wandering Around is a piece of it, Dr. Deming's 14 points is another set of pieces.

I appreciate your comments. To begin, I am not enrolled in the course; I recently completed it. As a quality novice in my work, I've come to this wonderful forum to gain from your expertise as an expert and that of other qualified specialists.

As far as I am aware, audits are merely one type of oversight. Additionally, there are:
Inspections
Surveys/Observations
Monitoring of Performance
Analyze Trends
Management Evaluation

 

[Steve Prevette]

OK, good. You have a good start on your list there. Also, consider worker feedback and customer feedback. On "analyze trends" there is the decision of what to measure. That is, not just the defects or complaints, but what are critical dimensions and other measurements related to the item being manufactured. Culture also plays a part, thus management observations and worker surveys may be important.

I believe Dr. Deming's statement that - you can't inspect in quality. Whatever you are doing to monitor and guarantee quality should be early in the process and at the place of work (the "gemba"). Thus, incoming parts quality, maintenance of the machinery, monitoring and improvement of the whole system (incoming parts, processes, workers, customer, rework, defects) should be included. Determination of what are the critical issues can help streamline what needs to be measured and monitored, but that comes with experience with the data.

 

[Sam Bat]

Thank you Steve.

 

[Zero_yield]

I would say that audits are one useful tool for a quality management system. I'm not sure why you want an alternative to them, as they can bring unique perspectives and insights to every level of the organization. Depending on your business, you might be required to perform them as part of regulatory requirements.

I have a few guesses why someone might seek an alternative:

• Are audits seen as punitive / "gotcha" moments in your organization, or are they seen as opportunities for growth?
• Are audits a subjective nitpick of whatever the auditor prefers, or are they performed against specified standards?
• Are audits the only time issues are reported and corrected, or are they just one aspect of the way the business evaluates itself?