What to expect when your customer’s quality auditor visits

Think of your favourite restaurant. You love going there, you get takeout from it all the time, the staff know you and your order when you walk in the door. Have you ever been in the kitchen? What if you had the right to look through the kitchen, poke around in the refrigerators, check the rat traps and read the recipe file? Would you do it? Would you want to do it?

When you’re in chemical manufacturing, customer audits are a normal part of life. It’s in each customer’s interest to know that the chemical plant that is supplying them with crucial inputs isn’t shabbily put together or could be shut down by the local authorities as a hazard at any moment. If you’re in the pharmaceutical industry, your country’s regulatory agency requires the drugmaker to audit its manufacturers. You don’t know when the auditors are coming, and what questions they will ask, but you know you will inevitably get an email telling you that the quality assurance department of one of your customers is requesting an audit. While there is some availability to negotiate dates, the auditors will definitely show up at your door in the near future.