Achieving Continual Improvement through Effective Audit Management

by

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

My thanks go out to all who have helped me complete this study and with whom this project may have not been possible. In particular, my gratitude goes out to friends, facilitator and family for extensive and helpful comments on early drafts. I am also deeply indebted to the authors who have shared my interest and preceded me. Their works provided me with a host of information to learn from and build upon, also served as examples to emulate.

DECLARATION

I, [type your full first names and surname here], declare that the contents of this dissertation/thesis represent my own unaided work, and that the dissertation/thesis has not previously been submitted for academic examination towards any qualification. Furthermore, it represents my own opinions and not necessarily those of the University.

Signed __________________ Date _________________

ABSTRACT

ARZ Corporation provides engineering products and services to space and defence government customers. This Quality Manual meets the requirements for existing and future contracts that require an AS9100 Quality Management System (QMS). International standards for quality systems, such as ISO 9000, were developed and have been in use since the early 1980's. Industry specific standards have derived from the base ISO 9000 standard. In the aerospace sector, AS9100 was developed as quality management system requirements for space and defence organizations. The AS9100 standard was created and is maintained by the International Aerospace Quality Group (IAQG). Since its initial release in 1999, that standard has been revised twice. Each revision occurred to ensure that the standard included updates from the revision of the base ISO 9001 standard and to improve existing requirements where stakeholders identified the need for clarification. The AS9100 standard contains all of the ISO 9001 quality management system requirements along with additional requirements specific to aviation, space, and defence organizations. ARZ Corporation trained and approved internal auditors will audit the processes identified within this CQP including the ARZ Corporation AS9100 QSPs on, at least, an annual basis. The internal audits shall be conducted in compliance with QSP 8.2.2 "Internal Audit" and audit reports shall be made available to customers upon request. Gap analysis and interviews were done in order to get an insight into the quality management assessment of the concerned organization.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTII

DECLARATIONIII

ABSTRACTIV

CHAPTER # 1: INTRODUCTION1

1.1 Background1

1.2 Problem Statement2

1.3 Scope of the Study3

1.4 Objective of the Study3

1.5 Research Question3

1.6 Objective of the Project3

1.7 Significance of the Study5

1.8 Definition of Terms5

CHAPTER # 2: LITERATURE REVIEW8

2.1 Company Overview8

2.2 ISO 900112

2.3 Quality Objectives of ARZ Corporation15

2.4 Quality Management System15

2.5 Quality Manual17

2.6 Audit Process Quality17

2.7 Six Sigma18

2.8 Brainstorming19

2.9 Eight Principles Of Quality Management19

2.10 New requirements of the Internal Audit21

2.11 New Responsibilities22

2.12 The Internal Audit Activity And Cost As Strategic Improvement23

2.13 Audit as Generator and Improvement Driver24

2.14 Document and Record Control25

CHAPTER # 3: METHODOLOGY27

3.1 Introduction27

3.2 Steps for Quality Management System27

3.3 Gap Analysis28

3.4 Quality Management System Development29

3.5 Internal Audit and Assessment31

3.6 Research and Data Collection Method32

3.7 Research Sample32

CHAPTER # 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION33

4.1 Review of Quality Management System33

4.2 Interview Responses34

4.2.1 Words Best Define ...