What's become apparent with our BRC audit finishing yesterday is that senior team see the certification only as a means to an end.
None of them really backed up our findings in the weeks and months leading up to it.
Every week I gently reminded engineering about things we need to get on top of, and every week came away slightly deflated.
(I'm working on the premise of perseverance beats resistance though!)
4 of our 6 minors came from engineering (+1 for out of date organogram and 1 for film batch codes not always recorded)
Feeling a bit of 'I told you so' doesn't feel right; SMT intervention earlier could have had a potential of 4 less non-cons.......
Hi John,
Unless and until you get downgraded by getting a B instead of an A in an audit nobody will hear you. If you do then senior management suddenly become interested because it could have a negative affect in the marketplace. You need to send this message loud and clear every time you have a customer or internal audit as well. It's very easy on any given day to pick up a handful of minor NC's and that could be the difference. To be 'audit ready' 24/7/365 requires everyone to be on board. If you have everything that you are responsible for in order such as your food safety management system documentation, pest control, internal audits etc. then the holes will be in operations. I'm not saying you should set them up to fail, obviously work with them and give them every opportunity, every which way you can, but they have to take responsibility and accountability.
Good luck.
By the way in BRC Food what is the grading structure now, is it 5 or less for an A?
Regards,
Simon