ABSTRACT
Customer audits are audits that involve the customer visiting the facility. During this visit the auditor will ask to view records and quality system documents pertaining to products. Care should be taken to prevent the sharing of information that might belong to other customers due to confidentiality agreements. Third-party audits are conducted by a company not affiliated with the customer, but hired by the customer to examine the quality systems of the company. Although they are directed from different points of view, both types of auditors try to understand the fundamental workings of the company’s quality control program and utilize the same basic questions to get there. Prior to auditing a facility, the inspectors will contact the company and arrange an inspection time. Depending on the size and complexity of the facility, the quality manager should set aside at least 4 hours for the inspection; however, in many cases it will take all day. The determining factors for the length of the audit are how clean the facility is, how complete and well documented the quality program is, whether the auditor has another facility to audit on the same day, and when the auditor’s plane leaves. In short, the length of audits varies, but auditors generally follow the same basic format after they arrive.
