Question

discuss the importance of an action plan to ensure the issue doesn’t occur again. Note the importance of your internal quality and how to manage issues when the customer requirements require a need to deliver sooner. You are the contractor, how could you improve future performance? Could an external quality auditor assist in future time concerns?

Ensure the response focuses on benchmarking of quality metrics.

Answer 1

One of the key part of audit is to identify discrepancies and suggest measures for improving the same. Audit is an essential part of the business where a third party helps in ensuring all the data, processes and finances are in order and this helps the businesses to focus on long term growth an sustainability. Very often the audit is done for processes and financial records. These two aspects form the basis of the any company and therefore it is vital that there is regular checkup of these areas. During an audit the team will undertake strict checks against standard procedures and against industry practices. These checks help in determining whether the company is doing the activities properly or whether any issue can arise in the future. One of the outcomes of the audit exercise is the list of NC – Non confirming areas which need to be addressed.

The audit team will identify the areas which needs improvement and together with the process owners the team work out an action plan. The action plan focuses on the root cause of the problem, the solution to the implemented and the timeline within which the same has to be implemented. It is vital that there three components are clearly addressed in any action plan. Suppose the company is having certain issues with its quality aspects and there is sudden large order which can help in transforming the company, if the company is not tuned properly to capitalize on this then it would be a big opportunity loss. Suppose the company in spite of the internal quality issues goes ahead with the order and delivers a sub-standard product, it would mean non just customer dissatisfaction but also bad reputation in the industry. All these factors affect the long term growth of an organization. To resolve all this, if the vital areas which are identified during audit are resolved, there are higher chances to meet the customer expectations and meet the customer requirements. If the audit team identifies any critical issue, then the internal teams must prepare the action plan and ensure the same is implemented in the given time so that the issues can be minimized.

If I were the contractor, then to ensure the high quality performance metrics, I would incorporate an internal team to focus on the audit activities and they would be in charge to provide the industry best practices in each area. This would help in ensuring the internal processes are on part with the best in industry benchmarks and sufficient action can be taken within time to implement those action areas. Having an external auditor access the situation is the best practice that has been prevalent in the industry for decades. I would recommend to continue the same and this will help in ensuring the practices that are being followed are the best in industry and following all the industry norms and conditions.