Gordon McNeil, IRCA Principal Auditor, has conducted audits globally in a variety of industries, including nuclear, defence, aerospace and civil aviation. He shares his experience and advice on how remote audits can continue to be conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic. Many organisations, including national and international certification and accreditation bodies, have introduced remote assessments in…
Dealing with Incorrect Information.
In our latest dilemma, find out what to do when a company appears to have supplied duplicate testing images in order to meet the delivery requirement. Dilemma A customer quality engineer is conducting a release inspection at a manufacturer of high-pressure ball valves. The valves are for a pipeline project in northern Alaska. The contract requires full radiographic non-destructive testing of the welds for the flange ends of four valves. The engineer asks…
Essentials for a Safe On-site Audit.
Sharjeel Farooq, IRCA Principal Auditor, and Director of Advanced Certifications Pvt Limited in Pakistan, shares his experience and advice on how to hold a safe on-site audit during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Covid-19 pandemic has introduced new challenges to most organisation’s management systems. For compliance with conformity and assessment requirements, most national and international certification…
Avoiding Auditing Pitfalls.
Stanley O’Donnell IRCA Principal Auditor, has conducted audits globally in a variety of industries including aerospace, medical, oil and gas, to name a few. He has experienced many pitfalls when auditing and shares some of the obstacle’s auditors should avoid. When auditing any internationally recognised management system e.g., ISO 9001 (quality), AS9100 (quality for the…
Selecting the Right Problem-Solving Strategy.
Derek Scott, CQP FCQI, Quality Manager at Rubberatkins, Scotland, takes a look at models and strategies for problem-solving. Quality professionals are frequently required to engage in two areas that are as certain as death and taxes. The first is involvement in activities intended to result in continuous improvement, and the second is problem-solving. There are…
Preventing the Recurrence of a Nonconformance.
Ravindiran Gurusamy, IRCA Certificated Associate Auditor, offers an overview of nonconformance and the corrective action process for management system standards. Management system standards (MSS) will prevent nonconformities using the process approach, the plan, do, check, act (PDCA) cycle and by utilising risk-based thinking. The process-based approach, which could be said to be more ‘reactive’, enables…
Applying Appreciative Inquiry in ISO 9001 Quality Management Systems Auditing.
Jessen Yeoh, CQP, MCQI, IRCA QMS/EMS/OHS Principal Auditor, Principal Advisor, P Excel Advisory Pty Ltd, explains the benefits of the Appreciative Inquiry approach in auditing. The motivation and ultimate intention of audit is to check conformance and determine whether audit criteria are fulfilled. Audit should not be a “non-conformance focus” process, concentrating on identifying non-conformances and problem-solving, or even worse, fault-finding and…
ISO/IEC TS 27022:2021 – Information Technology – Guidance on Information Security Management System Processes
Richard Green, CQP FCQI, Managing Director of Kingsford Consultancy Services, UK, outlines the newest guidance on information security implementation and operation. In the early days of management systems, a high degree of emphasis was placed on operating in accordance with specific, designated procedures. Management system standards were highly prescriptive, not only telling organisations which procedures…
The Future Value of Auditing from an Industry Perspective.
Cheekeong Loh, CQP MCQI, MIEAust CPEng, outlines how auditing can develop in the future. As an industry practitioner, I have helped manufacturing organisations across geographical regions and industries achieve improvements and have conducted research, most recently into Quality 4.0 and smart manufacturing. Through my work, I have observed emerging trends, such as Industry 4.0, artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain, the Internet of Things (IoT) and virtual reality. Some questions that have arisen during my research include: How would non-financial auditing, which drives areas such as quality, operational improvements and due…
Managing Supply Chains post Brexit
Malcolm Harrison, Group CEO of the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS), talks to Daniel Moore about how Brexit will impact supply chains and logistics in 2021. Daniel Moore: What threats and opportunities, related to Brexit and trade deals, are emerging in supply chain and logistics management? Malcolm Harrison: Supply chains in the UK have been unsettled…