Maintaining consistent quality is essential across all industries, from manufacturing and construction to healthcare and technology. Quality audits empower managers to spot inefficiencies and uphold high standards. When properly implemented, these audits catch issues early, saving resources and improving performance.
They provide a systematic method for evaluating systems and processes so you can uncover hidden issues and boost overall productivity. Read on to find out how to conduct quality audits effectively, including common pitfalls to avoid and digital resources.
What is a quality audit?
A quality audit is a comprehensive review of your organization’s quality control practices, as implemented in the product creation or business procedures. The goal is for all processes to meet industry standards for efficiency and compliance.
Here are examples of how it would work across different sectors:
- Automotive: You would check assembly line processes to ensure vehicles meet safety and performance standards.
- Hospitality: Quality audits here evaluate guest service protocols, cleanliness, and safety measures to boost customer satisfaction
- Retail: Your audits would focus on maintaining quality standards in product presentation and customer interactions.
Quality audits are an essential practice, especially for industries with stringent regulations. They’re also supported by international standards like ISO 9001, which focuses on quality management systems (QMS), and ISO 19011 for auditing management systems.
Why is it important to conduct quality audits?
Through QA audits, the performance of existing processes is systematically assessed by a team of internal or external auditors. Typically, this is done to comply with industry quality standards and register for ISO 9001.
However, being an essential part of compliance requirements isn’t the only role of QA audits. They are also critical to evaluating the viability of existing and new business processes and systems because it is through quality audits that comprehensive details of the current processes are objectively documented and provide proof for the execution of actionable plans in addressing observed challenges.
To best benefit an organization, quality audits should not entirely focus on identifying issues and corrective actions but also include examples of good practices. This way, departments receive holistic information to develop a well-rounded strategy and effectively identify which practices to repeat and improve. This can better help deliver a more sustainable improvement overall.
What are the categories of quality audits?
The American Society for Quality indicates three types of quality audits:
Process audit
The primary purpose of process quality audits is to evaluate the compliance of organizations to industry standards. Specifically, checking that processes are implemented within set limits. A process audit can check compliance to required specifications on temperature, pressure, weight, and other measurements. On top of this, it also evaluates the effectiveness of process controls by checking employee training and work procedures.
Product audit
A product quality audit is aimed at assessing if outputs like products are at par with customer specifications and meet quality standards. This involves a detailed review of the product’s features, functionality, and performance. You check if production is consistent and identify and address any defects.
System audit
System quality audits take a broader view, assessing the entire management system. It seeks to make sure that the way the various management systems of an organization are performing according to company regulations and meeting expectations. It also aims to identify systemic issues that might affect overall performance.
Who performs quality audits?
The team performing the audit will vary depending on the intent or purpose for which the audit is conducted:
- Third-party audit: When a company decides to create a quality management system that complies with set industry standards like ISO 9001, an audit is performed by an independent audit organization that has no conflict of interest. Successful audits can result in registration, recognition, license approval, and certification; while unsuccessful audits can result in a fine or penalty.
- Second-party audit: When a customer (typically a company) wants to make sure that the supplier is meeting the requirements of the contract, they conduct an audit or hire an external team of auditors to assess on behalf of the customer. The customer can evaluate the entire contract or part of the contract; anything they see fit to audit. This is more formal than first-party audits because the results can influence the customers’ buying decisions.
- First-party audit: When an organization wants to audit itself to evaluate its performance against its own procedures and industry standards, it conducts an internal audit. Typically, employees conduct the assessment without having a vested interest in the audit results of the audited area.
What are the steps for conducting a quality audit?
For conducting a quality audit, you usually need to spend a significant amount of time on preparing, and then check in with multiple departments and levels of staff during the process. Here are the main steps:
1. Identify your audit focus.
Before you get an auditor, you should first determine the scope and criteria of the audit. This will most typically focus on the critical areas of the business or process. Analyze your business goals and pain points.
What are the most important objectives you’re trying to achieve? What are the key challenges or inefficiencies you need to address? If you operate in a highly regulated industry, the audit should cover all mandatory compliance areas.
2. Prepare your quality audit checklist.
The next step is where you prepare a quality audit checklist. The main point of a quality audit checklist is to streamline the auditing process and increase its effectiveness by keeping a record of all the important observations as well as the questions and responses exchanged during the audit.
Your checklist will be your audit plan, so it’s important that you review the current procedures, requirements, and work instructions. Once you understand the standard for benchmarking evaluations, you can draft the quality audit checklist and questions.
3. Conduct the audit.
To execute the audit, start by interviewing employees so you can gain insights into daily operations and spot any discrepancies in procedures. This allows you to understand how processes actually work on the ground.
Then check if system controls are functioning correctly and compliant with established standards. Pay attention to workflows and compare them to documented procedures to catch any inefficiencies or deviations.
Throughout the audit, keep in touch with relevant departments to facilitate information flow and tackle any immediate issues. So, it’s important that you stay impartial, accurate, objective, and highly informed of standard procedures.
4. Report your findings.
Document all positive and negative observations that you found along with a detailed narration of the facts. Don’t forget to include evidence, like data samples, photos, or documents, to back up your findings.
Include the names of individuals involved in the processes or interviews to add credibility and traceability. You can use the quality audit checklist as the basis of your report.
5. Come up with corrective actions and monitor execution.
Once you complete your initial report, send a copy to the corrective action team or relevant department heads and set a meeting to discuss recommendations.
Create an action plan that outlines each corrective measure, including the exact steps and resources needed. Responsibilities and due dates must be assigned accordingly.
As corrective actions are completed, document them in the findings report. Monitor progress regularly to ensure everything is on track, and note any adjustments made along the way.
What are common mistakes in quality audits?
Quality audits require thoroughness and meticulous attention to detail. For them to be effective, it’s important to avoid common pitfalls.
One frequent mistake is not preparing thoroughly. Without a clear scope and a solid checklist, audits can become scattered, missing key areas that need attention. This often leads to incomplete evaluations and overlooked compliance issues.
Another mistake is employing auditors who don’t have enough training. They need to be familiar with both industry standards and the specific processes they’re checking. If auditors lack proper training, they might overlook important details or fail to spot non-compliance. Quality audits also lose their effectiveness if there’s a lack of objectivity. When auditors are too close to the processes or influenced by internal politics, their findings might be biased.
Failing to follow up on audit findings can also happen. Even if audits uncover areas for improvement, teams may ignore recommendations without a methodical follow-up. This means not making the necessary changes so there’s no continuous improvement. For audits to be effective, corrective actions must also be tracked and implemented.
Conduct quality audits easily on any device
Lumiform’s mobile app makes it easy for quality auditors to conduct inspections via tablet or smartphone and easily consolidate data for analysis. Using the app, you can assign corrective actions faster and track their progress more easily. Best of all, you can generate insights immediately, eliminating the need to spend time manually crafting reports to keep relevant team members and stakeholders constantly updated. All it takes is a few clicks of a button and you’re good to go.
With Lumiform, you can take your auditing process to the next level with:
- Flexible form builder that let you create fully customizable and flexible checklists that you can easily update as you progress.
- Access over 12,000 ready-made templates which you can use to create audit checklists in just a few minutes.
- Generate real-time data and implement corrective actions in a timely way, so processes remain up to industry standards.
- Conveniently bundle all audit results into a single report and share with stakeholders easily.