Auditors will be exposed to a variety of industries in the audit, each line has its own characteristics, even if it is different enterprises in the same industry, due to the differences in management models and management concepts of top managers, each enterprise also has its own different management characteristics. How to quickly and accurately find the weak links in enterprise management and realize value-added audit is a topic that every auditor needs to pay attention to.
In the audit practice, the author summarizes the following "six musts" and "four don'ts" ten links that need to be paid attention to.
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01 .
The "Six Essentials" in On-site Audits
1. Pay attention to national standards, industry standards or other requirements in the audit
It is impossible for the auditor to be familiar with all the specialties of the audited industry, and even professional auditors may encounter many unfamiliar situations when reviewing enterprises within the scope of the profession, after all, different products in the same industry will produce many different standards and processes.
The following issues can be paid attention to in the audit: whether the final inspection specification of the enterprise has fully considered the testing content of national standards and industry standards, and whether there are any omissions to the testing items that must be done in the factory batch inspection; whether the test method is consistent with the standard provisions; Whether the type test items specified in the national standards and industry standards have been implemented, and the evidence of passing the test can be issued.
2. Pay attention to the changes in products, processes, equipment or testing methods and testing points
Changes in products, process equipment, or testing methods and testing points often lead to changes in control parameters or conditions. If the planning and verification are not sufficient, it will often cause fluctuations in quality. Therefore, the auditor should pay attention to whether the above situation has occurred in the audit, as well as the planning of the control measures after the change. In this way, it is also possible to clearly evaluate the effectiveness of the planning ability and control of the enterprise's quality management system. For example, at present, many electric solders are changed to lead-free solder, which will inevitably require wave soldering equipment to make corresponding adjustments in temperature and rate, and some problems can often be found by reviewing the changes, verification, and implementation of new processes.
3. It is necessary to pay attention to the effectiveness of special and key process control
The level of special and critical process control is not only an important reflection of product quality, but also an important reflection of the quality control ability of the enterprise. During the audit process, the auditor should pay full attention to whether the special process has been identified, or has not been managed and controlled in accordance with the special process control requirements.
4. Pay attention to the recurring links and improvements of nonconforming products, returns, repairs, and complaints
Observing the improvement measures of a quality management system for nonconforming products and complaints is one of the best ways to judge the effectiveness of the self-improvement and self-improvement mechanism of the system. In the audit, the auditor should not only look at how many non-conformities have been issued by the internal audit and whether the non-conformities have been corrected, but should pay attention to the handling of repeated non-conformities and complaints.
5. Pay attention to the gap between the auditee and the international and industry advanced production methods and development trends
The introduction of international advanced production methods and dynamics by professional auditors sometimes brings new ideas or inspiration to the auditee. For example, when the author audited a large automotive instrument manufacturer, the company was about to introduce key equipment for multiple production lines. However, there is little knowledge of the EU's RoHS directive and the "green procurement" requirements of Japanese companies such as Sony, Panasonic and Fujifilm. Through the auditor's introduction of relevant regulations, the senior management of the enterprise unanimously realized that although the automotive instrument industry has not yet enforced the RoHS directive, from the perspective of international development trends, the RoHS directive has begun to extend from the electronic and electrical industry to other industries such as office equipment. In particular, when purchasing equipment, various possible requirements should be considered as early as possible to adapt to the technical update and avoid procurement risks.
6. It is necessary to pay attention to the efficiency and quality cost of the enterprise, and promote the enterprise to manage the benefits
The most concerned issues of enterprise managers are generally nothing more than "benefits" and "risks", if auditors can implement audits from the perspective of benefits and risks, they will achieve the effect of value-added audits, which are welcomed by enterprises.
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02 .
The "Four Don'ts" in On-site Audits
1. You should look more, ask more, think more, and don't be limited to the information provided by the company.
When verifying the trainee auditors, the author found that individual auditors often limited themselves to the information provided by the auditee when looking for evidence, and it was difficult to find problems in such audits. For example, when an auditor audits the control of the monitoring measuring equipment, he only asks the supervisor of the measurement room to take out the measuring instrument ledger and extract the calibration records of several different measuring instruments, and ends the audit of this link without finding any problems. Later, the author found that the factory still had boilers and high-pressure vessels, so I asked the auditor whether the pressure gauges of the company's boilers and compressed air storage tanks had been calibrated in accordance with the requirements of the national compulsory inspection. During another factory audit, another auditor did not conduct an on-site spot check, although he audited that both pressure gauges were calibrated. In fact, the plant has four compressed air tanks and four pressure gauges, two of which have been overdue for a year and have not been calibrated. It can be seen that the auditor must see, ask and think more on the spot, and cannot only implement the audit based on the information provided by the other party.
2. Verify and verify the counterparty, and do not easily issue a non-conforming report
The auditor should listen to the opinions of all levels before issuing a formal non-conformity report. Once, when the author was the leader of the audit team, an auditor communicated with the audit team that there were many enterprise meters that were not calibrated according to the requirements, and a non-conformity report should be issued. After the last meeting, the auditee's metrology supervisor explained that the calibration records had not been fully presented to the auditor at that time. It can be seen that the auditor must be cautious in issuing a written non-compliance report, and should fully communicate with all levels of the enterprise before issuing it to have a comprehensive understanding. However, if the non-conformity does exist and is of great significance to the auditee, even if the audited department or enterprise has a dispute, the audit team should still adhere to the principle of issuing a non-conformity report.
3. It should be combined with the actual situation, not just look at the written documents
The auditor shall respect and recognize the report presented by the relevant authorized institution, but if what is seen and heard on site is obviously inconsistent with the conclusion of the report, the auditor shall carefully observe and conduct an in-depth investigation to reduce the audit risk.
4. We should pay attention to the effectiveness of the operation of the system, and do not blindly pursue the form
The author believes that a good management system should be "simple" and "effective". In particular, production enterprises should pay attention to production and operation, and individual certification consultants or auditors are too much to pursue the form of "perfect management methods", or impose the model of other enterprises on enterprises, and also develop complicated methods to control some simple processes, resulting in waste of management costs. Therefore, the author advocates that except for special and key processes and important processes related to customer requirements, other processes should be simple and effective, so as to ensure the effective operation of the system.