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Poll: Have you experienced an Unannounced Audit? (228 member(s) have cast votes)

Have you experienced an Unannounced Audit?

  1. Yes (118 votes [51.75%] - View)

    Percentage of vote: 51.75%

  2. No (110 votes [48.25%] - View)

    Percentage of vote: 48.25%

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Simon

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Posted 30 June 2014 - 08:24 AM

Please answer the July 2014 member poll and add your comments below.

 

Read Tony C’s latest blog post on the growing trend towards Unannounced Audits


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cazyncymru

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Posted 30 June 2014 - 09:28 AM

Yes, this year I have had 3 so far!!

 

Totally farcical!!

 

Caz x


Edited by cazyncymru, 30 June 2014 - 09:29 AM.


Mr. Incognito

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Posted 30 June 2014 - 11:25 AM

I like unannounced audits in theory though I have not yet had to deal with them.

 

Honestly any certified company is supposed to be always inspection ready.  And as such they should be prepared for an auditor to knock on the door at any moment.  Certified companies, for that purpose, are supposed to have backups for all positions to ensure that should any issue arise there is someone at the plant who is ready to take care of that situation.

 

However the truth of the matter is smaller places that have a low numbers of management staff may have a hard time dealing with an audit should a couple of their members of management leave for something work related or if one is on vacation and one has to leave for work purposes.  It could cause places to fail that aren't really substandard suppliers.

 

I think in the end it will be a dual edged sword that will strike some down when they least suspect it.  It could end up being the undoing of some of the food safety standards if some people leave SQF and BRC and look to find refuge under FSSC or other standards that don't require unannounced audits...  We'll have to see how it goes.


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Hankesg

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Posted 30 June 2014 - 12:32 PM

Not yet, but I imagine when we go for/get BRC we will go that route. 



Mr. Incognito

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Posted 30 June 2014 - 12:52 PM

None so far.


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Snookie

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Posted 30 June 2014 - 03:36 PM

Yes, many times.  It comes down to are you living audit ready, are you living the plan and the process?   We in in QA get it, but too often those in production or upper management don't.  :headhurts:


Edited by Snookie, 30 June 2014 - 10:49 PM.

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fgjuadi

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Posted 30 June 2014 - 07:49 PM

I've experienced two unannounced audits from regulatory vendors

 

But never from a 3rd party...yet.  So I voted No.

 

At one facility, we had renters for one of our warehouses, and the auditor demanded to explore it, despite it not beign in our scope.  Then he said it looked like shit.  And I know it's gonna censor me there,  but auditors cuss!  That one did, all the time.  He wasn't mean so much as eccentric, a quality which all auditors must have.

 

I'd imagine auditor hiring interviews go something like this :

 

Can you climb 50 ft in the air? 

Sure

Can you tell the difference between red and green?

Sure

Are you comfortabel with 85% travel time?

Sign me up

How long have you worked in the food industry?

8 bajillion years

Do you have an eccentric quality that will make spending 8 hours with you hell on earth, or at the very least, trying on the nerves?

Yes


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Snookie

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Posted 30 June 2014 - 10:52 PM

He wasn't mean so much as eccentric, a quality which all auditors must have.

 

 

Do you have an eccentric quality that will make spending 8 hours with you hell on earth, or at the very least, trying on the nerves?

Yes

 

While I have had a few nice auditors they have been the exception and not the rule.  All of the travel must warp them. 


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Dharmadi Sadeli Putra

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Posted 30 June 2014 - 10:55 PM

What if there're no activities in plant when they come? Just looking around for a few minutes and write down on the report :  " NO ACTIVITIES "


Edited by avila muncar, 30 June 2014 - 10:55 PM.


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Posted 01 July 2014 - 10:43 AM

No surprise audits yet but when dealing with multinational corporate clients they have this clause covered in contarct that they may conduct on short notice , if systems are implemented in true sense than minimum acceptable level should be there all the time.

 

The intencity of compliance level shows Top Management Comitment !!!



jkoratich712

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Posted 01 July 2014 - 03:26 PM

At my previous employer all corporate audits were unannounced, and always at the most inopportune time. Also, AIB audits were treated as an unannounced audit. Corporate would schedule them and not inform the plants of the scheduled dates. I believe the Plant Manager would give blackout dates (usually around holidays when a lot of management would be on vacation) but other then that we had no idea when they would occur. It definitely made us audit ready at all times, although we liked to use the term 'tour ready'. On top of that, the regulatory audits that would take place throughout the year.

 

Current job we only do announced audits and are working towards the unannounced.



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Posted 14 July 2014 - 01:14 PM

Four technical so far this year, one ethical, waiting for two more technical which I expect to be soon.  It's the way of the world.  Expect unannounced:

 

They're not half as bad as you think they're going to be
It forces operations to get more involved

Some might even happen when you're not on site, so get your team ready but also be happy when they do step up and you get to have a great audit while sitting on a beach.  :-)



moskito

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Posted 15 July 2014 - 06:30 AM

Yes,

serveral customer audits and a few weeks ago the first IFS Food Check

 

Rgds

moskito



Simon

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Posted 15 July 2014 - 06:33 AM

In the Wallmart ethical program anyone?


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GMO

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Posted 15 July 2014 - 06:45 AM

Yep.

 

Also realised we will have another unannounced this year so we've had four technical, one ethical and waiting for three more technical.

The thing which gets me is why the EHO bothers coming round.  We get audited to death!



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Posted 15 July 2014 - 08:11 AM

Yes Simon

 

Or the Unethical Audit as we call it

 

Only wants to speak to the foreign nationals! how unethical is that???  Last time they were here, they were escorted off site by our MD for exactly that reason!

We're awaiting their next audit with interest!

 

Caz x



cazyncymru

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Posted 15 July 2014 - 08:15 AM

Yep.

 

Also realised we will have another unannounced this year so we've had four technical, one ethical and waiting for three more technical.

The thing which gets me is why the EHO bothers coming round.  We get audited to death!

 

 

I'm considering having an open day, and inviting everyone, putting everything on power point, and saying "Go for it" let them ask their questions and be done with! :roflmao:

 

So fat I've had 3 unannounced, about a dozen customer audits , with about 4 already in the pipeline and 1 unannounced to come (but I sort of know when that's going to happen because of seasonality of our packing) , the unannounced ethical (if I ever agree their "window"). And it's only July!! :silly:

 

Caz x



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Posted 15 July 2014 - 09:31 AM

I have not faced any so far. Neither do i see any client opt for it in my current position as an auditor!



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Posted 16 July 2014 - 08:00 PM

FDA is always unannounced - we're on an annual schedule with them. Our AIB audits are also unannounced and I'm sure our next SQF audit will be unannounced (this will be our 4th 1).



aesahaetr_eldest

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Posted 17 July 2014 - 04:16 AM

last week we have announced audit from government intitution,

it was very screw up, because our security not experienced for this,

and auditor wait almost 1 hour, they very angry, because auditor camnderstande on break time and security doesnt understand how to manage such audit, so they make auditor wait until 1 hour, because security don't know PIC for this audit,

can anyone share SOP for announced audit,?



ncwingnut

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Posted 17 July 2014 - 11:41 AM

Our rule is, is that any auditor that shows up with a badge, the entire regulatory team is notified immediately.  We all have cell phones, so if we don't answer the page over the intercom, we are called/texted/whatever to get the auditor taken care of.  Don't want to be fined if we can't take care of an auditor.  We have had auditors go so far (that were from federal agencies) as to threaten with calling the police if they couldn't start their audit within 10-15 minutes after arriving.



Kelly S

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Posted 18 July 2014 - 03:15 AM

Yes, but only a minor council audit. We may as well have been showing a visitor around the factory it was that casual.


“Will this be on the test?" "Yeah, about the test. The test will measure whether you are an informed, engaged, and productive citizen of the world, and it will take place in schools and bars and hospitals and dorm rooms and in places of worship. You will be tested on first dates, in job interviews, while watching football, and while scrolling through your Twitter feed. The test will judge your ability to think about things other than celebrity marriages, whether you’ll be easily persuaded by empty political rhetoric, and whether you’ll be able to place your life and your community in a broader context. The test will last your entire life, and it will be comprised of the millions of decisions, that when taken together, make your life yours. And everything — EVERYTHING — will be on it.”

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Posted 18 July 2014 - 05:47 AM

We just had brc last week. On count I'm sure we have had 3 already in the past few months,
We had one audit when several key managers were off abroad, we just got other people involved, it may have taken the process slightly longer to get the information but it still worked very well and were awarded a grade A .



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Posted 19 July 2014 - 05:16 PM

In my opinion the best way to know how well a management system is implemented is by an announced audit. I have been in both sides, being auditor and being audited. In both cases, when an announced audit in done, we all know, some changes are done in production and other department in order to avoid a hard audits days . For example, a deep cleanliness of the production and store areas just before the announced audit is a common thing . On the other hand, the system must be able to work properly even if the department director ( production or quality for example ) is on vacation. If you are client of a  food factory and your product is done when, lets say, the quality manager is out, you want it done as he/she was at work, right? Regards



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Posted 23 July 2014 - 11:35 PM

In the Wallmart ethical program anyone?

 

Hi Simon,

 

I have an incoming unannounced wal-mart ethical audit in the next 30 days.  I'm concern about it specially I am not confident with the system and documentation practices. Any advice is highly appreciated.





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