Second Party Audits
The latest update in the long line of requirement standards for the implementation of QMS (Quality Management Systems) is the ISO 9001: 2015. From the start, one of the major selling points was that a company would not audit the quality management of any supplier who was certified by ISO 9001. The reasoning was that if a third party had certified that the Quality Management System of the supplier met the ISO 9001 requirements, there was no need for the customer of the same company to audit the process himself.
Most companies have been using this approach and some of them almost completely removed the need for second party auditing from their supply chain management. However, you cannot overlook the role of Second Party Audits in any manufacturing process. It is a good practice to always audit the process of your suppliers. It is the only way that you will make sure that your customers are getting the best products.
Do You Need to Audit Everything in the QMS of Your Suppliers?
If the QMS of your supplier is already certified by third-party auditors to be compliant with ISO 9001:2015 requirements, there is no need to perform the same audit by yourself. You should know the elements that ISO 9001;2015 requires.
If this is what you expect from the supplier, and there is an independent auditor who confirms that the company meets the requirements, you should not spend a lot of time and money to double-check the same. Auditors from the certification body are experts, and you should allow them to do their work. However, if the audit from third parties is missing, you need to come to Internal Auditing Pros for the best second-party audits. The good news is that we stick to the ISO 19011 requirements when working on any internal audit process. Therefore, you can be sure that you will get an objective evaluation of the processes that the suppliers use.
Therefore, you don’t have to audit all the elements in the QMS of the supplier. The good thing about performing Second Party Audits may come from any elements of implemented procedures that are particular on how you deal with the suppliers. When you check the general quality management requirements of the company, like how the firm carries out its internal audit, may not likely improve the quality of the products or services that you get. It may also not improve the relationship that you have with your customers or suppliers. Thus, what things are important to you; transportation and storage conditions, traceability, testing specifics, and the way the supplier declares conformity.
What is Crucial to You
When looking for a reason to carry out second-party audits on your suppliers, the most important thing to look at is what you want to check during the inspections. What is meaningful to you may not make sense to another consumer of the same product or service. Would you be having a particular requirement that is of specific importance beyond and above the general ISO 9001 standards requirements?
A perfect example would be handling non-conforming output, particularly how suppliers notify their customers when the process outputs are non-conforming and how they implement and approve the disposition. In such a case, it is crucial to carry out a second-party audit for the non-conforming output process. The other standard requirement is to include the necessary design steps in the development and design process for the suppliers. If you want to carry out Second Party Audits in the United States, Internal Auditing Pros will serve you best.
It is crucial to carry out Second Party Audits on all the suppliers in your supply chain. If some of the suppliers only deliver the general commodity products to you, they may not need the surveillance that you need the suppliers to provide crucial components that you need to deliver the end deliverable product work. You need to check the implementation of the critical processes of these essential suppliers.
This process can be exceptionally essential when you are assessing suppliers at critical points in your supply chain. When you approve a supplier for the first time, the audit process is vital and highly recommended. If you decide to approve your suppliers for the ship-to-stock status so that you no longer check the status upon arrival, it can be wise to include Second Party Audits in the approval steps. Internal Auditing Pros create audit checklists that focus on the process elements of high interest to the users. The Second Party Audits will be more useful than just repeating what the certification body auditors have already done. You can learn more about how to create an audit checklist that you can use for ISO 19011 internal auditing for your Quality Management System.
Second Party Audits Improve Your Supply Chain
Remember, we were asking whether the removal of Second Party Audits from the supply chain management strategy is a good approach. It is an open question that only you can give an appropriate answer. If your requirements for Second Party Audits have already been satisfied by any Quality Management implementation that meets ISO 9001:2015 requirements, you will not get so many benefits by carrying out a second party audit on your suppliers.
However, in case you have specific requirements that call for implementing certain QMS processes in a particular way, like the non-conforming design or product processes as we described above. In such a case, it will be very helpful to perform periodic and specific audits of the particular processes on your suppliers.
Similarly, if you have crucial suppliers whose processes are of utmost importance to you or crucial suppliers who are now becoming ship-to-shop suppliers, it may be necessary for you to audit critical processes. There isn’t an ISO 9001;2015 requirement that you should perform an audit on your suppliers. However, Second Party Audits will give you a way of approving each of them for use. The supplier audit decisions that you make should add value to your business by giving you a better supply chain. For the best Second Party Audits in the United States, feel free to call Internal Auditing Pros.
Second Party Audits
In a world where quality is becoming an essential issue of concern, auditing is taking over. The best way to guarantee the necessary and required quality in most organizations is to carry out a proper auditing process. This procedure is so essential in gauging and determining the ability of any company to deliver the best results.
As a result, so many people are now shifting towards auditing procedures any time they need quality assurance in their organizations. Due to this, there are so many types of auditing processes that have come up in recent years. With the need to have more quality in top companies more and more auditing types of auditing are coming up by every passing day.
The increase in the type of audits has actually led to confusion in some areas. There are people who cannot tell the difference between the various types of auditing. If you are new to the auditing procedures then you might find yourself getting confused in some cases by these terminologies. In some cases, you might find that more than one name refers to the same type of auditing process. This might confuse you to think that you are dealing with more than one type of auditing when you are actually dealing with just one. This is why it is essential to look at the various types of auditing procedures and get to know them in essence.
In this interest, we are going to look at one type of auditing which is known as second party auditing. This is one auditing process that is so famous in various organizations as well as quarters. This is the process we need to look at and see how the process is carried out and what else you need to know about the same procedure.
What is a second party audit?
This is not a very bad place to start from with second-party audits, many people would like to know what this kind of auditing is. Second-party audits refer to that auditing process that is carried out by a business on their suppliers to ensure that they are owning to the specified contract terms.
Some of these requirements might include special control over certain procedures or in some cases the level of cleanliness standards. This audit process can be done in two ways, the first way is that the process can be done on-site where procedures will be monitored and the issue of conformity keenly analyzed.
Other than this, the process can be carried out on-site where the relevant documents relating to some of the essential procedures can be reviewed and proper checks made. The audit process will stem from the contract where the client can choose to audit the entire or just part of the contract. The most important thing you need to understand is that a second party is strictly between the client and the supplier. This auditing process has absolutely nothing to do with becoming certified or any certification for that matter.
The main aim of this auditing process is to make sure that the supplier carries out its activities in a way that conforms to the terms of the contract. The audit process is so essential as it helps to keep the supplier operating within the confines of the contract. Other than that, the process also seeks to protect the customer from any wrong practices that are contrary to the terms of the contract from the contract. This is why this process has to be taken seriously by anyone who seeks the best practices and conduct from their supplier.
As a business person, you need to invest in this area as it will help you to keep your supplier well checked at all times. To this effect, you need to look for a person with the skills and experience to help you with this process. The fact that the process is not used for any certification processes does not mean that you can use any other auditor to carry out, you need the best person. The main reason for this is because of the nature of the outcome of this process. If the process is not carried out in the right way then it might not be able to help much scrutinize the activities of the supplier. A top company with skills and experience is what you need to make this process a success if at all you are looking to benefit from it.
You need to make sure you have the best and well certified and trained for this process. The person you trust with this process must have the demonstrated ability to carry out this process carefully and in an independent and objective way. Whether it is an on-sight auditing or an off-site auditing process you need to look for someone who is well equal to this process. The Internal Auditing Pros is a renowned auditing company in the United States of America. The company has the best and most reputable auditing experts.
These experts are well skilled and trained to take on this process and yield the best results in the end. You can count on them for this process and they will not let you down. Their experience and skills allow them to carry out this process properly delivering the best findings in the end. Depending on the terms of your contract with your supplier, the company will carry out the auditing process carefully looking at each one of those terms carefully. Compared to the other auditing companies Internal Auditing Pros has stood out to be one of the companies when it comes to the auditing business.
With them at work, you stand the best chance of auditing your supplier in the required way and getting them to know whether they are carrying out their activities in compliance with the terms of the contract. Sure enough, the company will carry out this process for you in the right way and within the shortest period of time possible. The best second party auditing can only come from a top and reliable expert with the right experience. If you are in America and you need to carry out one you can reach out to Internal Auditing Pros who are the best experts in this area.