Continuous Improvement (management clause) help with section 2.1.2.9

7th Edition has a new section 2.1.2.9, for Level 2 and 3 that states:


"The senior management shall establish processes to improve the effectiveness of the SQF System to demenstrate continous improvement"

Any thoughts? Does the Internal Audit cover this?

Not sure how to address this.



Thanks!

We have implemented an improvement plan with realistic goals and time frames that the facilitiy'smanager would like to see in place. They are anywhere from securing a certification increasing production flow.

Hope this helps

There are a lot of ways to drive continuous improvement (internal auditing is one example), but probably the best way is to develop a KPI (key process indicator) system. We review our KPI's in quarterly management meetings. They can range from financials to food safety; basically anthing that can be objectively measured. For food safety/quality KPI's could include customer complaints, scrap rates, non-conforming product, pest control trending, % product made correctly 1st time, etc. Just assemble your baseline data and do the same on a regular basis to see if you KPI's are moving in the right direction.

Continuing on from above processes may include:

1) Setting of quality objectives 2) Management review scheduled and recorded 3) Internal auditing process 4) KPI's and ongoing data analysis trending

These are typically what an auditor would for in terms of objective evidence.

George