Editor's Note: CR4 would like to thank Ed Eisermann of GEA Consulting for contributing this blog entry. Mr. Eisermann headed the quality and technical service team of a major HVAC product group. The customer audit process was received most favorably by clients.
Do
you have the confidence in your product to invite a client to your factory
floor to participate in an audit of your product? There are three steps to
develop the confidence to take this step:
•
Creation of a
procedure with and a record of audit attributes and repeat demerit score
of 5 or less
• Practicing for
the audit
• Customer
participation on audit day
Many
companies perceive their products to be "best in class". Is management prepared to put its
reputation on the line with the participation of a major customer in a factory
product audit? If yes, then read on to understand how the process evolved at a
major HVAC manufacturing factory.
Step 1 – Procedure
and Audit Attribute Record Form
A
documented procedure and audit check sheet needs to be created. Selection of the product attributes to audit
should combine customer perception, critical assembly activities and
engineering specifications, and sales/marketing attributes.
Procedure
The
procedure should follow the current company procedure format:
- An introduction that focuses on
the process goals.
- The audit frequency.
- The process owner. The audit
process should be owned by the internal group responsible for Quality
Assurance. It is important to walk
before taking the leap to invite a client to participate in an audit. It may take several years of internal
auditing, measurement, and corrective action before offering an invitation
to a customer. The internal audit trend will tell you when it is
appropriate.
- The corrective action process,
charting and communication of audit results.
- The scoring strategy.
For
the AUDIT process to be a valuable tool and measure of process improvement it
must be based upon a demerit scoring system.
The scoring is subjective . (Experience
has shown that over time, the auditors become tougher in their scoring). The audit attributes should be limited to
what an audit team can accomplish in an hour. The audit attribute list should
include current customer complaints, key assembly inspection repeat findings
and engineering and sales and marketing specifications.
A
Finding is a condition which is not considered good practice or that would
impact customer perceived quality or does not meet the documented specifications
and product requirements.
- Incidental Finding – One (1)
demerit for any finding not considered good practice or that would impact
perceived quality but would not be noticed by the customer or affect the
intended use of the product.
- Minor Finding – Five (5)
demerits for any finding which would probably be noticed by the installing
technician but would not make the customer dissatisfied, could result in a
minor warranty claim.
- Significant Finding – Ten (10)
demerits are to be taken for any finding which would be noticed by the
installing technician and customer, causing concern and possible
dissatisfaction and would result in a warranty claim.
- Major Finding – Twenty-five
(25) demerits for any finding which would definitely be noticed or
reported to the customer and would result in a unit malfunction during
start-up or the warranty period.
- Serious Finding – Fifty (50)
demerit points for any finding that would generate a major service problem
or a potential safety hazard.
Ratings
of 0-4 demerits, Excellent product; 5-14 demerits, Good product; 15-24
demerits, Fair product; 25 or more demerits, Unsatisfactory product.
Step 2 – Practicing For the Day
Communication
The
process must start with communicating the plan and strategy of ultimately
involving customers who purchase the product. The communication should go to
first the businesses management followed by the broad salary and hourly staff
using the business' normal in-place communication vehicle. The communication
should include factory leaders, the production staff and the union leadership (where
applicable). It must stress that the ultimate objective is product improvement
and customer exposure to the manufacturing team's pride in building a quality
product, not finger-pointing or grading of the production team's
performance. Often, problems uncovered
during an audit are not in the control of the factory staff. An audit finding
may be tied to a supplier, a resource, or an engineering issue.
Audit
Process
Attaining
the goal of client participation depends on continual practice, process
refinement, and corrective action. Each audit should begin with the selected
auditors gathering to review the audit process and dividing into 3 or 4 teams,
each team with a leader/documenter. It is important to communicate to the group
audit etiquette. Depending upon the findings, no action may be required.
There may be a finding that warrants stopping of production to address the
condition observed. In some cases it could require that all finished inventory
be unpackaged and examined and reworked if the condition observed is serious.
In other cases it may require contacting the owners or installers using a field
alert to ensure the problem observed is corrected.
Audit Participants
It may not seem
obvious, but the first couple audits should be conducted by those responsible
for leading the quality process within the business. The purpose of the first
several audits should focus on developing the audit process; understanding what
tools, drawings, and order copies will be needed; and determining where to locate them
once an end-of-line unit is selected for examination. Each audit should include
new faces from the support functions, Engineering, Marketing, Procurement,
Production Control, Drafting, Finance, Technical Service, and Union Leadership
(where applicable). At some point, Senior
Management and Field Sales should be brought in to participate in an audit
before an invitation is made to a customer.
Step 3 – Customer Audit Participation
Audit
scores have been consistently below a total score of 5 demerit points. The day
has arrived to invite a customer to participate in a factory product audit.
Marketing should determine who the customer should be. A date is set, the staff
and other personnel that will be involved are alerted and the invitation is
officially extended.
It
may sound relatively easy as described in the short paragraph above, but there
is a substantial amount of work that must take place in preparation for a
customer participation audit.
- Don't pick a day that is near the
end of the month or the end of a quarter when the push is on to meet
management's shipping goals.
- The day's event should be planned
with as much detail as possible. The audit has great potential to be used
as a marketing and sales opportunity with the customer and beyond.
- The audit activity preparation
should be identical to those conducted prior to this special day.
Take
pictures. Share the event's success internally, locally, and in marketing
materials as appropriate. Consider even a press release.
Good
Luck. It will be a rewarding and beneficial process for the business and the
customer.
- Ed
Eisermann
| 
