The objective of the process audit is to determine the production capability to deliver products and services to satisfy the customer requirements.

We will now briefly summarize an overview of the three different types of audits.

The system audit focus on the comprehensiveness and effectiveness of the fundamental procedures against a specified management standard and customer specific requirements to determine the quality capability of the QM system.

The process audit focus on the product quality and associated processes to determine the quality capability of selected products and product groups and their processes and assess whether there exist a potential risk that non-conforming products can escape to the customer.

The product audit focus on checking that the product complies with the specification by assessing the quality characteristics of finished products or semi-finished products.

Deviations indicate weaknesses in manufacturing processes.

The relationship between IATF 16949 and VDA 6.3.2016 according to IATF clause 9.2.2.3 for manufacturing process audit.

The organization shall audit all manufacturing processes over each three year calendar period covering all shifts using customer specific required approach for process audits.

In the next episode we will explaining how to implement the VDA process audits starting with the supplier potential analysis audits, audits in all the project phases, selecting and developing the suppliers and material control and the auditing the full production phase from incoming to dispatch and verifying the customer support, satisfaction and service.

The process auditors should have the following qualifications according to IATF 16949 and VDA 6.3.

Manufacturing process auditors shall demonstrate technical understanding of the relevant manufacturing process as to be audited including the process risk analysis FMEA and the control plan.

In addition the VDA requires the internal process auditors to have at least three years experience of which one year to be in industrial or quality management in an automotive manufacturing environment and they should pass the VDA QMC knowledge test.

In addition the supplier auditors need five years industrial experience at least two of which in quality management and pass the VDA QMC qualification for certified process auditor.

It is important that auditors at all time have a professional code of conduct by exercising their professional capabilities and their judgment taking account of the law and local culture by maintaining the principles of honesty and integrity.

They must also continue to develop their technical expertise and maintain their knowledge of the latest developments and undertake to maintain strict secrecy regarding confidential information but it does not apply when the law is broken.

You also have to behave at all times in such a manner that the reputation of the organization are not placed in jeopardy.

The communication between the auditor and the company being audited is subject to human behavior, viewpoints and reactions which can influence the result of the audit.

The motives for the way of behavior whether it is open and cooperative or closed and negative can depend on how experienced the auditor is in preparing to achieve the purpose and objective of the audit.

The process auditor must know how to apply the automotive process approach for auditing including risk based thinking by using the turtle analysis or similar risk assessment tool.

The process approach in risk based thinking process auditors must have a clear understanding of the process approach starting with identifying the customer requirements and incorporates the plan to check act PDCA cycle to assess how the organization planned its processes and their interactions verifying how results are produced by this interrelated system of processes and how the organization to compare the results against its objectives to identify the possible risks and opportunities.

Risk based thinking enables the auditor to determine the factors that could cause the processes and the quality management system to deviate from the planned results and determine if controls were put in place to prevent or minimize negative effects and to make maximum use of opportunities as they arise to ensure that the customer requirements will be achieved.

The system approach to auditing processes is achieved by identifying and understanding how the different processes output results affect the next process inputs and identifying and mitigating the risks in the process before it causes a problem for the next process.

By providing a better understanding of the roles and responsibilities in each process to align and manage the interactions between processes as a system will contribute to the organization's effectiveness and efficiency in achieving its strategic objectives and thereby reducing cross-functional barriers.

It is the auditor's responsibility to audit the processes to assess if these risks were effectively identified and eliminated to ensure the company's objectives will be achieved and customer requirements had been satisfied.

Thank you for watching the introduction of automotive process auditing.

In part 2 we will discuss the following.

The process flow to managed audit program.

P1 potential analysis.

And elements P2 to P4.

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