2002 Scenarios

January's question:

As part of the audit, you must determine if the quality policy is understood through out the organization. To determine this, you decide a random sample of persons exiting the break area. The next five people leaving the break area will be questioned. The first two go quite well. The third person is someone you know that has a reputation of being anti-company. You decide to ask anyway and the response is that he is sure the company doesn't have a quality policy. He has never heard of one, and has never been trained on a quality policy. You record his response and continue. The last two are also positive.

Is this conforming, or non-conforming?  Let's hear from you!

February's question:

You are auditing receiving and are referring to the procedure. The procedure states that when material is received, the Receiving Inspection form (form RI-1) is used. You ask the receiving clerk what form is used. He cannot identify the form by name or number, but can identify the form by appearance. He quickly grabs a form and hands it to you. It is RI-1. When asked why he doesn't know its name or number, he just shrugs and states that he uses the form he has always used, and has never had the need to check on its name or number.

Is this conforming, or non-conforming?  Let's hear from you!

March's question:

While auditing the corrective action procedure, you notice that the procedure states only special cause variation items will be acted on. Any root cause that is found to be common cause, or if a root cause cannot be determined, the corrective action is closed without any required action.

Is this conforming, or non-conforming?  Let's hear from you!

April's question:

You are auditing shipping, and notice a truck leaving with a load as you enter the department. Thinking this is a good place to start, you ask the shipping clerk to see the shipper for the load that just left. The shipping clerk states that the office isn't open yet, so no shipper can be generated. He knows what job left and and as soon as the office opens, they will generate the shipper and fax it to the customer. The fax should be there hours before the load, so it isn't a problem.

Is this conforming, or non-conforming?  Let's hear from you!

May's question:

You are auditing during 2nd shift and following the control plan. While interviewing the shift supervisor, you notice an obsolete procedure on the corner of his desk. When questioned, he states he keeps the procedure because he made some performance notes on it that is not connected to the procedure. He also states he is the only one to use them.

Is this conforming, or non-conforming?  Let's hear from you!

June's question:

On-The-Job (OJT) training is the primary source of training personnel. While auditing 6.2.2, you notice there are no records for maintained for OJT. The HR director, who oversees training, states the management team decided that since OJT is the responsibility of the departments and since no one can move from trainee to trained without being tested by their supervisor, records are a waste of resources. Since the standard only requires "appropriate" records, they determine that OJT records are not "appropriate". There is no procedure for this activity.

Is this conforming, or non-conforming? Let's hear from you!

July's question:

The procedure for the review of quotes specify that the Quality Manager will be consulted to determine adequacy of the Quality Department's resources on any new order. While auditing quote review records, you notice that only one record shows direct input from the Quality Manager.

Is this conforming, or non-conforming? Let's hear from you!

August's question:

The Sales Manager is defined as the individual with the responsibility for customer satisfaction. While auditing this process, you ask the Sales Manager how customer satisfaction is tracked and analyzed. He states that satisfaction is tracked though surveys sent to the customer, and shows you an example of the form. The returned surveys are analyzed for trends and movements in overall scores. As you look at the returned data, it is clear there is very little response to the surveys. There is no record of your largest customer ever returning a survey. The Sales Manager cannot show any evidence that the survey results have led to any positive changes in your company.

Is this conforming, or non-conforming? Let's hear from you!

September's question:

You are auditing the process for handling nonconforming product. The Quality Engineer keeps meticulous records on nonconforming product disposition. You notice it is common for a part to be disposition as conforming. When asked about this, the Quality Engineer states that sometimes the gages erroneously fail good parts. Evidently she sees a change in your facial expression and quickly adds that because of the manner in which the gage errors it will only fail good parts. It is physically impossible for the gage to pass a nonconforming part. When the gage does fail a good part, the gage is adjusted, and records are kept.

Is this conforming, or non-conforming? Let's hear from you!

October's question:

You are auditing 7.2, Customer-related processes. In examining the Contract Review Worksheets, you notice a considerable amount of them had errors. Some of the errors include incorrect customer information. Some include incorrect technical specifications. The errors are noticeable because the incorrect data is lined out and the correct data is written in. When asked about this, the sales manager explained that why these are called worksheets. When asked how the sales manager could be confident the new information was correct, or that all mistakes were identified, the response was that there has never been a problem with the order, so they must find and fix all of the mistakes.

Is this conforming, or non-conforming? Let's hear from you!

November's question:

You are interviewing the purchasing manager. One of the stated quality objectives is to reduce lead times on orders. When asked how the purchasing manager’s job and personal objectives support that objective, the purchasing manager states that her performance objective for bonus is to reduce costs. She is aware that sometimes the two are at odds, but the default must be to her performance objective. “After all”, she explains, “if lead times are really a priority, then my performance objective would reflect it.”

Is this conforming, or non-conforming? Let's hear from you!

December's question:

You are auditing the prototype area. You observe several uncontrolled work instructions, parts that aren’t labeled and test equipment that is not in the calibration scheme. When asked about this, the Engineering Manager states that this particular project is being conducted by the customer. Customers often use your facilities to perform prototype work associated with your product. All of the materials in question belong to the customer and the prototype employees know what items are yours and what items are the customer’s. They do not use the customer’s material unless they are actually assisting the customer at that time, then the customer is billed for them and they act as employees of the customer and not subject to your QMS. All prototype shop employees gave a similar version when asked.