Product Audits
The American Society for Quality (ASQ) defines a product audit as:
“An examination of a particular product or service (hardware, processed material, software) to evaluate whether it conforms to requirements (that is, specifications, performance standards and customer requirements).”
4 phases of audit?
There are four phases of the internal audit are:
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Preparation
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Performance
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Reporting
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Follow Up
These phases can be broken down into a series of smaller steps, which we’ll cover in the next section.
What is the audit process step by step?
The internal audit process consists of the four phases of an audit program, broken down into several stages. Each stage requires communication among all the relevant parties, including the auditor, senior management, IT department, and other relevant stakeholders.
Step 1: Planning
Step 2: Document Review
Step 3: Field Work
Step 4: Follow-Up
Step 5: Reporting
Step 6: Issue Tracking
Process Audits
In contrast with rear-facing product inspections, process audits focus on how your team prepares, produces, packages and distributes those products. This approach provides a more comprehensive view of the value stream than product audits, which only sample the finished output.
Process audits look at details of the manufacturing process such as:
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Fabrication steps
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Safety measures
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Temperature settings
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Pressure readings
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Calibration of gauges
Product and Process Audits Go Hand-in-Hand
An effective manufacturing process audit program that ensures the highest level of quality requires both product and process audits. Though nearly all manufacturers conduct product audits, fewer of them have defined process audit procedures in place.
Process audits are critical to quality goals that include:
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Standardizing processes to ensure compliance with specific requirements such as time, components, accuracy or temperature
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Continuously reducing risk through systematic identification and correction of process errors
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Monitoring key metrics for evaluating overall process performance
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Assessing effectiveness of process controls such as procedures, instructions and specifications
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Reviewing production resources, work standards and the manufacturing environment itself
Taking steps to ensure employees follow standard processes reduces costly variation and results in