SQF Practitioner on Organizational Chart

Where should the SQF Practitioner be located on the organizational chart?  My vote is for under the President.  Our President wants to list the QA Department (SQF Practitioners) under Plant Management. 

As I see it, we are not on the same organizational level with finance, sales, distribution. We perhaps head, but certainly we are a part of the QA department.

I think sticking out of the side of the president, so not a line of authority over everyone else, but has the ear and is the right hand of the president.

I report directly to the plant manager, so that's how it is on my org chart

Kwenzel first it's important to write out the org chart the way it really is. Whoever you report to is who you would place yourself under. However, what the auditor is trying to look for is to see if there is any conflict of interest. It wouldn't make sense to be under sales because it would suggest you're pushing out products to make the sale etc. etc. It wouldn't make sense to be under the production manager because it would suggest you're pushing out products to make the numbers etc. etc.   

However, what the auditor is trying to look for is to see if there is any conflict of interest. It wouldn't make sense to be under sales because it would suggest you're pushing out products to make the sale etc. etc. It wouldn't make sense to be under the production manager because it would suggest you're pushing out products to make the numbers etc. etc.   

Totally agree with this.  Some standards like pharma say that the "quality unit" and responsibility for it must be independent from production...so that they can make unbiased judgement about product quality without the thought of customer deadlines, capacities, cost etc.  In most businesses it is not practical and the quality manager would report to someone like the most senior plant manager or operations manager...but a dotted line direct to the big boss is useful.  Structure, roles, responsibilities and lines of communication (for quality/food safety) should be explained in further detail in the quality manual.

Oh yeah, the dotted line!  The dotted line to CEO/President/Owner is important.  You should have one in real life too :)

Hi Kwenzel.. I think your instincts are correct. It would look better to an auditor if QA were a direct report to the President or at least on the same level of the organizational chart as the Plant Manager.