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 Internal Quality Audits Not
Always A Rollercoaster Ride
How U.S. Tsubaki Uses Cross-Functional Internal Audit
Teams to Guarantee a Safe Ride
When you are at
the top of one of the many new higher, faster, super roller
coasters at your favorite theme park this summer, say a
prayer for the effectiveness of an internal audit. Than
enjoy the swosh downhill since your prayer is in good hands
with the internal audit teams from U.S. Tsubaki which help
guarantee the safety of the chain hoisting you to the
top.
At U.S. Tsubaki, the integration of
employee teams has made the procedure a great success. With
employees volunteering to run the audits, not only do they
feel an increased sense of partnership, but gain an
increased understanding for procedures in departments
outside of their own.
While internal audits are rarely a smooth ride, U.S.
Tsubaki audits glide to great success by one simple
concept—involvement.
“When I use a word,” said
Humpty Dumpty, “it means just what I choose it to
mean - neither more nor less.” As Lewis Carroll and
his roly-poly friend atop the wall suggest, words are
forever on the shifting sands of connotation, tending to
become something more or less than their dictionary
definitions.
“Audit” has taken on a tone of
fear thanks to income tax scrutiny. Currently,
“judgmental” risks tripping on the hurdle of
political correctness. Yet Mark Lassen, quality director
for the award- winning firm of U. S. Tsubaki, strongly
defends both quality system auditing and employee team
judgment as tools for organizational improvement.
The Many Faces of Audits
“Audits, audits and more audits seem to
be a constant in the quality conscious global market place
of today,” Lassen states. “Those of us in
quality control are aware of ISO 9000 auditing and the
requirements of QS 9000,” he continues, “but
auditing has many guises. Organizations are examined,
teachers seek accreditation, health care professionals are
certified, stores have secret shoppers, school pupils pass
exams, graduates receive diplomas or earn degrees.
Performance standards are nothing new.”
What is newsworthy with U.S. Tsubaki is the
integration of quality system auditing with employee team
involvement.
A Japanese firm with eight locations and over
a thousand employees in this country, U.S. Tsubaki began
its combination of quality auditing and team management
four years ago, when it began audit registration with
ISO.
“We began not in our Wheeling, Ill., corporate
headquarters, but in the Holyoke, Mass., manufacturing
plant, then into other plants on the East Coast,”
Lassen recalls.
Were there any challenges in the shift to
audit/management teamwork?
“No major problems, but because some areas are union
and some are not, setting up an audit committee involved
union contract provisions and the bringing together of
salaried employees and hourly workers,” Lassen
replies. He adds that each location has its own governing
audit committee.
Stopping the “Quality
Police”
According to Lassen, the combining of an
audit process with team management “has the potential
to provide dynamic improvement within any organization that
takes the time to link the two on a structured
basis.”
“Pull the internal auditing away from
quality control,” Lassen urges, adding that
“auditing from the outside lacks understanding of the
various departments and how they operate. Making quality
checks part of a team’s responsibility allows team
members to learn how other parts of the company
work.”
Too often, Lassen says, the quality department
is given sole responsibility for compliant internal
auditing. “Their recommendations then come across as
orders from the ‘quality police.’ On the other
hand, using the power of teamwork to get everyone involved
in the review process develops a sense of
partnership.
“Each department or function that will
be part of the internal audit process should have a
representative serving on the audit committee. This person
should have a good process knowledge, be aware of team
attitude and leadership skills and hold respect within the
department represented.” The audit committee then
sets up appropriate departmental audit development
teams.
Asked how the auditors are picked,
Lassen replies, “We begin with asking for volunteers.
However, ‘Uncle Sam’ letters requiring
participation are sent when needed. The lead auditor must
be trained and sufficiently ‘personality
driven’ to appeal to team members.”
Was there much opposition to the audit
team effort?
“There were prospective audit team
members who said they lacked time or were reluctant to take
on the responsibility,” Lassen admits. “Some of
the older supervisors also seemed skittish at the prospect
of team-directed internal audits.
However, when they saw that audit team
members become more valued employees and that they could
learn a great deal by ‘walking in the shoes’ of
workers from other departments, they became big supporters
of the team audit program.
For example, a punch press operator on
an audit team focusing on raw material supplies gains a
much better understanding of delivery problems affecting
his own department.”
In setting up departmental internal
audit teams, the committee identifies members according to
their expressed interest, possible nomination by a
department head or by committee recruitment. The team
develops a charter, meeting time and audit schedule.
“In general, the team’s
internal audit effort should provide value to the
organization and its employees by providing continuous
improvement of operations, improved product and service
quality, decreased costs and a more effective quality
system,” Lassen states. The team reviews third party
audits, takes appropriate actions as needed, and provides
progress reports to the audit committee.
Not Quite Twenty Questions
Based on Tsubaki’s quality system,
Lassen cites specific questions for audit teams to
consider: “What is the department function? How does
its customer service rate? Are documented procedures in
place? How about specific instruction procedures? Is a
record of complaints readily available? What are the
critical processes? What are areas of special
concern?” One of the concerns he mentions is strict
compliance with a chemical “recipe” in the
heat-treating of metal.
“Among our products are roller
coaster chains, and the hardness of the metal is a crucial
safety factor.” The team would also check all 24 of
the ISO requirements and send a follow-up letter upon
completion of the audit.
The overall audit committee assigns
third-party auditors from areas other than those being
audited. Check sheets with Yes and No spaces in answer to
each question minimize paperwork. The lead auditor serves
only as tiebreaker.
“All non-conformances are written
out, and since the audit committee includes representatives
from various departmental areas, the check sheet reviews
help team members to better understand other areas of the
firm,” says Lassen.
What happens to the non-conformance
orders and audit team checklists?
“Each division keeps a copy of its
records and copies are also retained by the quality
director,” Lassen answers. “In each division,
the reports come before the vice president or general
manager. The quality director makes his report to the board
of directors. Thus, the audit committee recommendations do
have an impact on corporate decisions.
“May I Have That in Writing,
Sir?”
“Team observations lead to
improvements, and U.S. Tsubaki even sends people to teams
in other plants and rotates its auditors,” Lassen
continues. He also grins in recalling a young team member
from the plant who served on a team auditing the company
president and its board of directors.
“He was awed at being in the
corporate offices, but when he asked the president about
company policies and his boss gave a verbal reply, the
young fellow remembered audit team procedure and asked for
written evidence.”
Getting back to what an audit is all
about, Lassen compares auditing to a storm: “It blows
in with thunder, rain and lighting; it may bring damage and
incite fear. But the rain brings new grass and lightning
burnout can rejuvenate the land. Torrents test roof
strength, sewer system capacity, and whether or not dams
will hold.
“In the same way, internal
auditing results in new ideas, better training, corrective
action, greater customer satisfaction and cost
reductions.”
Reviewing the benefits of team-based internal auditing,
Lassen cites the breaking down of barriers between
departments and a rejuvenation of team activity.
“Sometimes team management grows
stale,” Lassen says. “Involving employee teams
in the audit process can help the old problem of
maintaining team strength. The frequency of audit
scheduling keeps improvements on an upward
curve.”
In addition, he stresses the
increase in employee knowledge through the process of
planning audits, developing checklists, responding to
corrective action requests and understanding the functions
of other departments.
“Good auditors develop a habit of
looking at things in detail, enabling them to identify
opportunities for improvement,” says Lassen.
“Finally, a good internal auditing
process adds to organization value, eliminating product
defects, excessive scrap material and returned goods, while
also reducing customer complaints. These all result in
financial savings,” Lassen concludes.
Cheaper Than It Seems
“There is cost involved for time
away from jobs, but it’s more than covered by overall
savings,” Lassen replies. Insofar as occasional
travel to other locations is concerned, he reports that
travel assignments only go to auditors with established
expertise and good scores. “Travel serves as a perk,
further incentive for quality audit-team
participation.”
Lassen is extremely proud of the fact
that for the seventh consecutive year, U. S. Tsubaki has
been named General Motors’ Supplier of the Year, a
tribute to 100 percent delivery time and consistent product
quality.
While Lassen has served as initial
trainer of lead auditors, that will soon change. “We
are planning a U.S. Tsubaki University to focus on employee
training and enhancing the team audit effort bringing it to
the standard required by the Regulation Accreditation
Bureau”
At U.S. Tsubaki, the assurance of an
internal management team quality check-list and the
advantages of peer review decisions add a successful shine
to the meaning of the words “audit” and
“judgement.”
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July 2000 News for a
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