A revamp of the internal quality auditing process

Abstract

In this paper, the researchers have described the development program used for the internal quality auditors of Company A. This program was developed to increase the competency of the auditors so that they could effectively conduct both internal and external audits. The competency of the auditors was an important requirement according to the various management standards like the ISO 14001:2015, ISO9001:2015, IATF 16949:2016, ISO45001:2018 and IECQ QC 0800000. Furthermore, this program exposed all the auditors to the internal audits according to the requirements of the ISO 9001 standards and the in-process quality audits, which were divided into 6 areas for 8 months. For ensuring the success of the program, 15% of the auditors' Key Responsibility Areas (KRA) were attributed to their performance and their contribution to the general internal auditing program. The different Subject Matter Experts (SME) trained the auditors based on the requirements of the managing standards and their auditing skills. A monitoring technique was established for assessing the competency level of the auditors. The auditors, who showed a good performance in these programs, were recommended to partake in the Lead Assessors program and were asked to audit local or internalexternal suppliers.