Good morning.
Starting at the end 2014 one of our main customers asked us to get the BRC Certification, I entered the company when they already had a GMP/HACCP supplier audit achieved and one of my multiple tasks was getting ready for the audit.
Needless to say, moving from a normal GMP/HACP to a full-fledged quality and food safety standard required a lot of little changes here and there and a good bunch of big ones too. After working all 2015 and receiving disheartening pre-audit with 10+Major NC and 30+ Minor NC we worked like hell to achieve the best results. In the end we achieved a B result with 11 Minor NC. There was a new quality manager 2 months before the audit and he received all the benefits (prestige, money, blabla), Quality department and all others who worked hard for it weren't even given the thanks properly. Another workmate and me who worked the hardest ot get the audit were pushed aside. (Internal operators and managers congratulated us three after the audit, not the new QM. I'm not trying to be self-important, it's just days and hundreds of hours spent on it...and no recognition whatsoever. They all know by the training,s the daily comments, the reviewing, the daily discussions and fights to get the system working were the actual factors that made us achieve that B)
Couple of weeks after the result the directive took the decision to start a night shift, we not being completely ready in terms of quality and training preparation. It was OK from a basic quality and food safety control. However, we were nowhere near the level we had achieved before. That was the first big hit.
Later the director kept on putting people on key areas without proper training, the aftermath being multiples small and medium mistakes that would easy be non conformities...some of them porobably major. QA Manager (kind of my boss but not really) kept on focusing on stuff the director wanted which were related to different projects outside the facility and stuff very unrelated to the current quality system. Being a small dpartment with 5 people, they took 1 out and couldn't substitute him. That's always an issue. HR never gets personnel to substitute the different positions. The people who land the job are almost always people who come knocking to the facility or are already in the facility and just shift areas. Training is AWFUL, or null in some positions. The other guy and me usually had to train them while they were working at the same time because there were "no funds" to prepare the time and effort to separate it from the usual routines.
Whenever there is an error in production or in quality, QA Manager doesn't even notice it sometimes and we don't properly follow up a full corrective action. He doesn't sign the documents at the end of the day. I know he cares but it's so F*¨**** frustrating. He has 20+ years of experience, How can he not see why it's important for him toimmerse himself in the system? How can he not see that eliminating extra hours for the department, keeping low-key badmouthing his own personnel will only bring more demotivation? The guys at quality don't even care sometimes. They earn barely enough to keep their familities aflout, and the manager can't even open his mouth to discuss it with HR. He does good stuff in regards to quality...but it's so not enough.
A few weeks ago he had the nerve to tell me (I'm the only one remaining from the team who worked on the audit) that "we" had to keep BRC checked....and I'm just standing there looking at him. What is the purpose of spending so much time and effort on it when at the end he will take the credit and we will be his scapegoats anyways. The system was our baby and not him, not HR not the director cared wheter it was being killed or not. Multiple times I warned and explined to them the situations that could potentially affect us. But no, the director has the last choice. And the QA Manager can only tell him YES. I haven't confronted him directly about all this because when I confront him for a specific action that just happenned he pretends it was someone elses choice or the directors...I also live with him because we use one of the facilities departments.
Last couple of weeks the director told me if we needed anything we could ask for it to prepare for the audit. SEIOUSLY!!!??? When we could do stuff to avoid having triple workload before the last couple of months???
I don't even know were to start with the corrective actions...I mean...Which auditor would be happy and all eager to see an internal audit with dozens of MINOR NC??? When we achieved a B a few months before.
I just don't even know how to properly keep the last few months documentation regarding corrective actions and internal audits in check. So many previous mistakes resurfaced again... We will work A LOT again...but if he just keeps on making these decisions...what's the point of having a BRC standard? We can easily just keep on pushing the GMP/HACCP one...because out system is OK on food safety and basic quality stuff...it's just there are SO MANY LOOSE ENDS.
Enough ranting. I just want to know if any of you have had a case where you need to keep on correcting the same mistakes over and over again :/ Maybe I need a vacation?
What do you guys think I could say to the directive and the QA manager?