On October 6, 2011, a group of employees at Habco Tool & Development Company, located in Mentor, Ohio, completed training on INTERNAL PROCESS AUDITING conducted by John Novak and Francis Lamm of KAVON International, Inc.
Habco is implementing an internal auditing program to support their AS9100 compliant Quality Management System. At the request of their customers, KAVON International, Inc. helped Habco update their AS9000 system to the latest version of AS9100.
The document hierarchy, which defines the various types of documents that will need to be audited was introduced and discussed.
The training emphasized the process approach, which defines a business as a system of interrelated processes which need to be managed as a whole and not as individual functions. This approach is inherent in the current versions of quality management system standards like AS9100.
The concept of a process was introduced and defined during the class, including the four key components (inputs, activities, outputs, and measures). Each student was asked to identify a job they perform everyday and break it down into the four process components. This helped each student gain an understanding of the approach to be used in dissecting the Quality Management System into auditable pieces.
Techniques on how to audit each of these components were discussed, including specific information to collect on each component to help determine process effectiveness. Numerous forms for documenting the findings were included.
Additionally, process inputs were organized into the following categories:
- General Process Inputs
- Material Process Inputs
- Equipment Process inputs
- Personnel Process Inputs
- Document Process Inputs
- Environmental Process Inputs
For each of these Process Input Categories, a questioning, information collection and audit trail strategy was discussed. Information collection sheets for each category were introduced to ensure all aspects of the audit were covered.
Habco Tool & Development Company, Inc. is a producer and fabricator of custom industrial components in various alloys, stainless and nickel steels for a number of diverse industries. The focus on machining prototype, pilot-production and production quantities for light to medium industrial applications in markets related to aerospace, aircraft components, medical and commercial parts for small, medium and large industrial concerns.
Habco began operating in 1956 as a small machine shop, with five employees, in a 6,000 square foot building in Bedford Heights, Ohio. As customer opportunities presented themselves, their reputation and customer base grew further and they moved into a new 24,000 square foot building in Mentor, Ohio. The combined total of manufacturing and office areas equal 26,500 square feet and is located on 2.3 acres of commercial property with expansion capabilities.
Utilizing compliancy to the AS9100C Standard, Habco Tool & Development Company, Inc. will continue to refine and develop policies and procedures towards meeting and exceeding customer requirements and expectations.
