10 replies to this topic

[Chac]

Hallo at all

I´ve got to do an internal audit at my company. The problem is I have no idea how to start as I never did anything like this and I have no experience with quality management. I´m afraid that I won´t do it exactly and that I will miss an important detail.
But it´s my report on which the certification process should be based on.
I don´t want to mess it up.
Oh and there´s another problem: the workers are not very helpful. Answering reluctantly my questions so I don´t feel quite comfortable to bother them.

Can anyone help me?

Thanks
Chac

[Charles.C]

Dear Chac,

You may get a lot of suggestions on this one so I will be brief.

The employees are following the worker's maxim No.1 - Nothing Venture, Nothing Lose .

They have possibly also realised that they may know more about the work than you do. It is important to conceal such aspects when you do audits and, IMO, the first and most important requirement to achieve this is to have a Checklist. The details will depend on what you are auditing ? BRC Food ? In the general sense ISO 9000 related websites will offer you various examples as will probably other posters here.

Rgds / Charles.C

[Sankara narayanan]

Dear Chac,

As Charles put it , start with a checklist. See whether the sample attached here helps.

 IA_Checklist.pdf   73.31KB   378 downloads


Best Regards,

A Sankara narayanan

[Simon]

I'm sure we can help you Chac. Please be more specific with what you are trying to achieve.

Regards,
Simon

[Chac]

I'm sure we can help you Chac. Please be more specific with what you are trying to achieve.

As I told in my introduction I do practical work and I have to analyse the BRC. At the end of my work I want to give a report to my company which describes what they have to do to achieve BRC certification. I thought it would be the best doing an internal audit based on the BRC Global Standard Food. I want to go through the standard from clause to clause and compare the situation at the moment with the demands of the standard to tell the senior management what they have to change.
Should I only interview the senior management or should I as well talking to the workers?
Should I talk to anyone or should I walk around the area checking how everything is handled?

How is it done by an "real" auditor?
What are your experiences/ how would you do it?

Thank you for your help
Chac

[Simon]

As I told in my introduction I do practical work and I have to analyse the BRC. At the end of my work I want to give a report to my company which describes what they have to do to achieve BRC certification. I thought it would be the best doing an internal audit based on the BRC Global Standard Food. I want to go through the standard from clause to clause and compare the situation at the moment with the demands of the standard to tell the senior management what they have to change.
Should I only interview the senior management or should I as well talking to the workers?
Should I talk to anyone or should I walk around the area checking how everything is handled?

How is it done by an "real" auditor?
What are your experiences/ how would you do it?

Thank you for your help
Chac

If you are carrying out a gap analysis against the BRC Standard your audit will take you from shop floor to boardroom and back again. You will need to talk to people at all levels of the organisation. Obviously you will need a copy of the BRC Standard. And then basically you develop your questionnaire by converting every clause of the standard into a question or set of questions. You need to demonstrate by physical or documentary evidence how you comply with the requirements. Where there are gaps you need to fill them. For ideas on what you can do to fill the gaps with best practice you can ask the members here.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Simon

[Chac]

Thanks Simon, it really helped.

I'm almost through with my audit and after a while working here I got more known to the employers so that I knew who I could ask to get a detailed, honestly and friendly answer.

Yesterday I've got the report from the IFS audit from the end of June this year. This is a quite helpful source especially in those topics I can not judge on my own because I don't have the knowledge for this (factory environment standards).

Regards
Chac

[cazyncymru]

Thanks Simon, it really helped.

I'm almost through with my audit and after a while working here I got more known to the employers so that I knew who I could ask to get a detailed, honestly and friendly answer.

Yesterday I've got the report from the IFS audit from the end of June this year. This is a quite helpful source especially in those topics I can not judge on my own because I don't have the knowledge for this (factory environment standards).

Regards
Chac

Chac

i always found that you asked the manager, looked at the Work Instruction and then asked the operator you'd get a different answer each time!!

i always ask the operator, he's the one doing the task.

[Chac]

I've asked people in different position but suprisingly there was no difference between their answers. Maybe it's because the IFS audit had just been passed. And as I worked for two weeks in the production I get a look about their work
Btw: that was dull work, and I know now why I'm studying...I NEVER want to do that my whole life

[Charles.C]

Dear Chac,

You might find that the operators also consider yr present occupation exceedingly dull also, especially the studying part!

It is of course amazing how many dull things people will do for money. Some people even prefer to do nothing.

Rgds / Charles.C

[Simon]

And as I worked for two weeks in the production I get a look about their work
Btw: that was dull work, and I know now why I'm studying...I NEVER want to do that my whole life

Can I just say Chac dull as it may seem to you now that 'factory floor' experience will be invaluable to you in so many ways during your career. Take it from an old man. Whenever I have taken a new job especially in management, I have worked for an amount of time in every department from the start of the process to the finish. I recommend it to everyone.

Regards,
Simon