Assessment

Internal audits are the cornerstone of assessing the effectiveness of your quality system and production system.

The purpose of auditing the quality function is to determine if the quality system is in control. This is done by reviewing processes in the different functional areas such as production, order entry, material control, engineering, etcetera to determine whether procedures created for the process are used effectively and processes are in control. All processes that affect product quality (or service quality if the customer is purchasing a service) are subjected to audits.

The customer’s purpose: Customers need a high level of confidence that the product they are receiving has been created using controlled processes.

The organization’s purpose: When processes are in control, costs go down, lead time goes down, customers are satisfied, and overall operations run smoother.