5 Key Business Lessons from our ISO Audit

A couple of weeks ago we went through quite an intense experience but such a valuable one in the shape of our ISO recertification audit. Anyone involved with these will know what I mean.

The nature of the audit means it becomes a full review of what you are doing, comparing against best practice, and ensuring compliance to latest legal requirements. Through this process, there were 5 elements which really stood out for me and I believe are relevant for you in an engineering company, regardless of whether you are interested in gaining accreditation.

1)     Regulations

We have a compliance register which identifies over 100 regulations relevant to us, but you do not just need to have this awareness. Each one should be reviewed to ensure you have processes in place and evidence of conformance. 

Regardless of how good a service you may be providing, if you are not conforming to the latest regulations you run the risk of serious consequences.

Tip – This is something that can be outsourced to a local consultant who will have a good understanding of the relevant regulations which you can work with to develop the process. Alternatively, a dedicated person in your organisation can sign up for all the latest governmental, and regulatory bodies for updates.

2)     Traceability

For us, we think about traceability in terms of knowing where our parts come from and our records and measurement sheets against work carried out, but it goes far beyond this. 

Traceability extends to most parts of the business such areas as knowing how your waste is disposed of once it leaves your premises. Another consideration is records of people who carried out safety inspections in your premises to demonstrate they were competent.

Tip – This is where your supply chain is key. If you are working with reputable companies, they should be used and happy to provide this type of information. All you need to do is ask and log.

3)     Involvement

The latest standards focus more on employee involvement and so it should. There are so many great ideas from others within the business, why would you not want to utilise the experience from those working in the business day-to-day?

Tip – This can be as inclusive as you want, but some options include having a company forum, getting engineers to review and sign-off risk assessments, suggestion boxes, interactive meetings.

4)     Training

Whilst the benefits of training to develop the team and ultimately the business is nothing new, this audit was the first time I had to look to quantify it. As with most parts of the audit, being able to measure and review is key. Despite the lack of training options available for 2020, we still invested over ￡55,000.

Tip – Review how much was spent on training, not only the cost of the causes but also the labour hours. Then develop a training plan based on investment going forward.

5)     Non-conformances

Whenever you are going to be audited, whether this is internally or externally, there can be non-conformances. Whilst there is a natural desire to score 100% and get a clean bill of health, but there is no value in this if it is not showing the truth.

You need to be honest and realistic to make positive changes and if this is highlighted with some non-conformities then they are more likely to drive improvements.

Tip – Have a dedicated person, or external consultant, carryout regular internal audits against the systems you have in place, checking different parts each time. Then action the non-conformities

Those were just a few areas which I thought were key from our audit, but over the 5 days we covered so much more!  If you have got any questions or ideas worth sharing, feel free to comment.