Quality Auditing

There are as many views on audits and auditing auditing as there are people who have ever thought about the subject and the process. Any author writing about it is faced with some common problems, such as how to make a description of a technical process anything less than dry to read. How to deal with the general belief that anyone can conduct an audit without any specific training or experience. Auditing is often viewed as a waste of time, money and resources with little, if any, real value to an organization. It is seen as something of a judgemental process. People see themselves as being under scrutiny and examination and as very few of us enjoy such a process, audits are not generally welcomed at first. I cannot claim to have found solutions to these problems or to have come up with an easy five-minute way of understand­ ing the detailed points that make up this whole subject. As with any form of technical textbook, this work must not be viewed as a volume to be read in one sitting from cover to cover but used to dip into as and when required. Thankfully the practice of auditing, in real life has compensa­ tions for those involved. Those being audited, the auditees, if sensible, will be able to learn from what is hoped will be an objective and skilled overview of the areas and subjects being audited. Front Matter....Pages i-xvii An overview of audits....Pages 1-8 What is a quality audit?....Pages 9-21 Why audit?....Pages 22-38 The audit maze....Pages 39-52 Audit boundaries....Pages 53-64 Audit personnel....Pages 65-81 Auditor qualifications....Pages 82-98 Audit activities....Pages 99-109 The audit plan....Pages 110-121 Working methods....Pages 122-142 Guiding the audit....Pages 143-153 On-site procedure....Pages 154-168 Reporting the audit....Pages 169-187 Problems during the audit....Pages 188-203 Finished?....Pages 204-216 Special cases?....Pages 217-229 Managing an audit programme....Pages 230-244 Product auditing....Pages 245-273 Economical auditing....Pages 274-284 Auditing at the end of the road....Pages 285-295 Auditing in the ISO 9000 environment....Pages 296-312 Back Matter....Pages 313-318 This book describes the history, principles, methods and future developments in the field of quality auditing. Based in outline on the new international ISO quality auditing standards, the text addresses the reasons for and the practical application and implementation of these requirements