Situation No.

1:

During your audit of the sales department you notice a recent contract, number
A12345, has been accepted by the Sales Manager. Sales staff have developed
a works order and passed it to the production planning department.

You ask to see evidence that the contract has been reviewed. You are shown a
letter to the customer accepting the order, signed by the Sales Manager.
You are also shown a report from the Production Manager (number Prod D123),
dated two weeks after the Sales Manager’s letter of acceptance. This report
shows that the production department have actually not been able to meet this
specification for three months. It therefore requires the sales staff to ask the
customer to accept some modifications to their original requirement and an
extended delivery time. None of these issues were mentioned in the Sales
Manager’s letter of acceptance.

You ask to see the response from the customer and confirm that the customer
has accepted the modifications and the revised delivery date, but also note in a
letter from the customer that they are dismayed about the changed delivery
date.
Situation No. 2:

You are auditing the process for the control of monitoring and measuring
equipment in a component manufacturer.

You see a box containing parts accompanied by the relevant production

paperwork. You examine the paperwork, which appears to be complete and
accurate. This shows this to be a repeat order.
You see a comment: ‘Customer supplied gauge number A123 to be used to
verify that the components meet the requirements given in drawings XB 113
revision 2.’

The gauge is numbered A123 and appears to be in good condition although well
used. You ask the Production Operator about the calibration status of the gauge.
The Operator responds: ‘I do not hold such details with me. I was given the
gauge together with a copy of the customer’s order and their drawings. I use it
in accordance with the customer’s instructions, and the components are all
acceptable according to the gauge.’
Situation No. 3:

You are auditing the management of nonconformity at a company that provides

laboratory services.

You check a recent nonconformity report (number NC 45), which was raised by
the Laboratory Manager. It states ‘The waste bins that must be emptied on a
daily basis had not been emptied the previous night by the cleaning
subcontractor’.

You ask how important is it that this is done and the Management
Representative states ‘It is critical to the operation of the laboratory. Failure to
empty the bins causes delays, which result in customer complaints’.
You sample further and find this same problem has occurred four times within
the previous six months. Each time a nonconformity report was raised by the
laboratory (numbers NC 27, 28, 35 and 38).

Records show that each time the nonconformity was raised the subcontractor
apologised and explained that they had to use temporary staff at short notice.
Records also show that the auditee organisation responded only by asking the
subcontractor to ensure that their employees, whether temporary or full-time,
were made fully aware of the tasks they are contractually obliged to carry out.