The Importance of Auditing Your Entire Quality System
A quality audit is the process of systematic examination of a quality system carried out by an internal or external quality auditor or an audit team. It is an important part of an organization’s quality management system and is a key element in the ISO quality system standard, ISO 9001. Auditing is a means of evaluating the effectiveness of a company’s internal controls.
What exactly should you audit?
A quality management system is profound in its application, extending to each level of company activity that affects product and service quality. A quality audit can apply to various aspects of a business, but a few types stand out. You can perform a quality audit of your inventory to assure that it’s acceptable for use in a product or service. Your company can also perform quality audits on employees and how they perform daily tasks and data quality audits for maintaining information databases.
The quality system audit addresses the who, what, where, when, and how of the quality system used to produce its product. Here are some examples:
- How is the quality system defined?
- Who is responsible for producing the product?
- Who is responsible for assuring the quality of the product meets or exceeds customer requirements?
- What is the extent of management involvement in the daily operation of the quality system?
- What procedures are used to guide the organization in its production effort?
- How are they maintained and updated?
- Who performs that function?
- Where are the procedures located?
Why audit your quality system?
One way to take your business to the next level is to perform regular quality audits. Unnoticeably, the current quality system may have become stagnant or the employees have become complacent in their jobs. Auditing your quality system also ensures that the business is continually improving and fully satisfying customer needs and expectations.
Auditing and improving your quality system can:
- Fuel future sales
- Generate repeat business
- Uphold positive reputation
- Increase customer confidence in the business
- Protect the business from issues that could arise from selling a poor-quality product or service
The quality system’s performance must be continually measured for effectiveness and efficiency, and active improvement structures must be developed. Learn here how BDeWees Consulting can help and contact us today for assistance!