No findings: A perfect QMS or unmotivated auditors?

No findings: A perfect QMS or… unmotivated auditors?

This month, I visited one of my suppliers to perform a two-day risk assessment. During a lunch break, the quality engineer casually spoke of the client’s surveillance audit in February. The engineer mused about “the father-son audit team” as though the son followed precisely in his father’s shadow…or audit style. I encouraged my client to open up a bit more, sharing that performing deep-dive QMS audits was one of my specialties.

The quality engineer was a bit surprised by a statement made by the lead auditor – the father. In the opening meeting, the lead auditor mentioned that theirs was a surveillance audit, not a registration audit. Because the client was already registered, their surveillance audit would not be performed to the depth and intense scrutiny as a registration audit. Many managers seemed to be pleased with this statement.

Say that again…?

The lead auditor explained himself: a surveillance audit was only a check audit, without the need to perform intensive interviews and acquiring “all that objective evidence”. The surveillance audit lasted four man-days. At the end, no findings were identified – and the quality director announced that his company now possessed the perfect QMS. Because no findings were identified and announcing the absurd conclusion that his QMS was perfect, the quality director fired two quality engineers and the quality manager. The director said he could no longer justify a need for so many quality personnel.

Frightening…and frustrating.

What did the father-son audit team really do? What service did they provide? What value-add was delivered?

Let’s take a look.

1.      The audit team permanently fixed the loyalty of the client toward the CB.

2.      The audit team ensured never-ending revenues from the client to the CB.

3.      The audit team became famous since it “did not write any nonconformances”.

4.      Future audit teams will always be in a one-down position because “the father-son team found no issues”.

5.      A false sense of security has now been established with management.

6.      A culture of fear has now been installed at the working level because of that audit. No one will want to show operational excellence because they’ll be the next to be fired.

I politely asked if I could review the audit report. The report was threadbare in verbiage. The PEAR report disclosed nearly all 4’s. I asked the engineer how many samples of evidence were taken. He responded with hesitation that the audit team hardly ever looked at more than one example of objective evidence. After all, the lead auditor announced that this was “just a surveillance audit”.

Summary and conclusion

In their quest for taking it easy on the client, performing the so-called vacation audit, the father-son audit team performed dismally. Not only did they conduct a gross disservice to the client by performing a superficial surveillance audit, the audit team unwittingly removed any incentive for employees to deliver operation excellence. The audit team unknowingly assisted with the creation and installation of a culture of fear, born from management ignorance and audacity. Finally, a lifetime of bad habits will continue from father to son.

The quality engineer admitted that he was seeing the writing on the wall and was beginning to plan for his next employment adventure.

When companies eliminate quality employees because of auditor branding of “the perfect QMS”, they drive away the very talent which those companies require to sustain, maintain, and excel. Nobody wants to be laid off for any reason but especially after the annual QMS audit shows no findings…no real reason for management to retain those employees.

How many ruined lives float in the wake of this father-son audit team?

Is this the kind of audit team and audit results you want? Be careful what you ask for...