Thanks for all of the congrats messages.
ELECSA were very good and quite thorough. Was only pulled up on Clause 4 "
point 3 sets out the scheme review schedule - minutes do not specifically mention the clauses" Yes its a little on the BS side, but my meeting minutes listed all of the company related stuff like cashflow, current workload pipe line, supplier reviews etc and all I had was a 1 liner on MCS review.....this needed to list all of the 19 clauses to be reviewed on the meeting!!!!
No prob this was rectified and emailed there and then, but still had to go down as an NC. This also had the knock on efect of altering the MCS QMS document version as I had now amended it
.
Yes my Part P is also ELECSA, so just went with after a bit of research, so prety much of a muchness between them. After all they are all audited by MCS. The questions come out on an online system, so Alex had to log on, and their system is locked until 8am so they cant pre fill the night before a visit. As long as you go through each of the 19 clauses and look for the evidence of compliance you should have no problem. There is no right or wrong way to comply, some are just better than others. For example my suppliers list & PO's are held in Quickbooks. All I had to do is make reference to this in the manual.
Buying a manual off the shelf is fine if thats what you want, but I would recomend doing it yourself.
- You get what you want - not a generic "cut & paste"
- You wrote it and will therefore understand it
- You will know where all of the information is contained
- It fits in with the way YOU work
- Greater satisfaction knowing you did it yourself (when you pass!!!)
The audit is not hard, its just nerve wracking as you are under test conditions. All of the answers are in the book/computer in front of you, the work begins maintaining the system and this needs to be done as you go along. Coming from a QMS background in the Army, the fun that was had on the anual audit correcting/generating paperwork from 11 months previous was amazing, and its all to easy to spot who maintained and who fabricated.......
This is probably more pertinant to the 1 man bands and small companies with only a couple of people working.
- Do a mini-audit monthly choose 2 clauses at a time
- Keep training logs up to date, even if its in-house
- Hold and minute you meetings, even if its a phone call with a supplier call it a supplier review
- Review 1 risk assessment every month
- Monthly self calibration checks
If I had another company near me I trusted, I would offer my services as an external auditor and hope they would return the favour. Its all too easy to miss the obvious on a self audit that impartial eyes could spot!!
