My Audit Experience Part 2

I would had to make a decision to either either one of the audits that were sheduled to be going on in the morning. The choices include "Calibration and Measurement Standard Action(MSA)" or "New Product Initialisation (NPI) Process". I asked for advice on which to attend from Fizah who was sitting beside. She recommended me to attend NPI instead of MSA as it would be more interesting. She would be sole representative from the other fresh graduates to attend the management side of it while the others were headed for NPI. I was still not very sure about which to attend and made a quick search over the intranet for some information. I decided then to attend NPI as it was under the Engineering Department which I deem would be more practical for me to attend compared to MSA which was under QA. My decision to attend the audit brought me to Common Room 1 where it would be held and I managed to meet and introduced myself to two fresh graduates, Lim and June who were going to attend the same audit. I finally found the oppurtunity to have a conversation with them although I had greeted them with a smile before but made no verbal contact before. We went to the room and found ourselves earlier than the rest. Both the auditor, Mr Lau and Mr Kelvin were already there browsing through their laptops and making preparation for today's audit. Mr Kelvin left the room thereafter as he was conducting the MSA audit which would be running concurently. We were later joined by Mr. LT Chan (Engineering Department Manager whom I had met previously during lunch previously), Jeyanthi (Documentation Personel), Mr Fong (NPI Head) and Mr John Lim (QA & Customer Service Manager). Other people who came into the room later or were requested to do so included TT Long and Baljinder (two fresh graduates in QA), Mr Matthew (Chemical Department Head, a fellow church member), Mr. Lotfi (Test Engineer) and Mr. KS Ng (FMEA).

It was a gruelling 3 hours where we set in the room. However, there were some snacks and drinks to help us forget the long hours.I sat behind to listen to all that was going on during the audit session as Mr. Fong presented his department to Mr. Lau. There was a series of enquiring about the process and also highlighting certain area that seem to be grey and needed to be attended to. One the highlight of the meeting was the issue of communicating and working hand in hand with the product design in Hamburg, Netherlands and the process at PSS. There does not seem to be a distinct connection between the two sides. Besides, there was also a highlight regarding about the the preventive measures that did not seem to served much purpose as documents had been signed to validate a certain problem could be handled but changes were still ongoing and there was not much updating that was done to state this changes. The issues were asked from different perspective of the entire department. What was interesting was to see how Mr. Lau chose to right question to address despite having a general idea of what the process is all about. It was interesting to see how someone is able to address an issue and ask the necessary question that even left some of them in doubt. Experience in previous audit in other manufacturing served as a good backbone for him to do so as he began to recollect certain scenarios that he had audited before. There was occasional disagreement but I totally respect the way the audit was handled professionally that allowed two parties to settle and discuss issues in a control enviroment without having a venting of emotions or feelings.

Sitting in for a meeting for three hours was tiring task. However, it was soon paid out when I joined the rest for lunch which was prepared for those who attended the audit at the cafeteria. The spread that was laid out at the back of that place was different. Even the plates was different as well. The food that was served today was something not of the ordinary that I usually eat at the cafeteria. The array of food included fried rice, bolognaise spagghetti, fried potatoes, chicken chop cooked in black pepper sauce, fish fillet and cauliflower. It was simply different that made it delicious. Besides that, it was free. I set in the table with the fresh grads who attended the audit as well which included June, Long, Lim, Baljinder and Fizah. It seems pretty obvious that Lim also took notice of. The fresh grads and myself, the trainee were sitted on one table and the big bosses were sitted beside. It was another obvious scenario of a socially divided society.

I made a stop over at my cubicle before I was coerce by Fizah to go for the audit final meeting which would be at 2.15 at CR1. Initially, I did not want to attend as I wanted to do some of programming which I had yet to make any major modifcation to the codes. Since I had already attended the previous audit sessions, I could not missed hearing what the results were. As I made by way to CR1, I was shocked to see the room packed to the brink as everyone from every department in the company were there to hear the much awaited accessment. This would not be the final result of their certification but it would give them a rough idea of their chances in obtaining it. Mr. Lau and Mr. Kelvin took turns to present their respective analysis during the 3 day audit. There were all together 18 areas of interest in which Mr Kelvin took eight and the rest were from Mr. Lau. In spite of its serious environment, there were certain moments where laughter broke out that were brought about by both the auditors themselves or members of the floor. In the end, it was all boiled down to how many Non Conformity Results (NSR) they had.

There was a great improvements compared to last year as they obtained only two NCR. Their accessment were based on the guidelines that were stated in a book to entitled a company to obtain a ISO/TS16949 certification. The audit this time was a followed up from the previous audit last year when PSS obtained this certification. This certification is important to PSS as it would allow them to supply their products to automobile companies thus extending their market beyond the electronics appliances. However, their results would have to be based on the audit from both Hanburg and PSS. Other than that, they were also required to meet the datelines of 90 days to make the necessary changes to their current process before everything can be finalised. The results took just half and hour and it ended by the auditors crediting certain improvements being made compared to last year and also the presentation of appreciation to them.

My participation in meetings did not just end there as I was off to the company's quarterly annual meeting which was held at 3.15 at Training Room 1 & 2 (TR! & TR2). People from the the top management level to the technicians made their way to the meeting area to hear about the progress of the company since the third quarter of the year. The General Manager of PSS, Mr. Theo Halders chaired the meeting. He started the meeting by going through the progress of the company by reviewing a number of graph in the past quarter of the year and previous years to see where we were at and where to look towards in the next quarter and also next year. This was done by giving us a scenario of a typical American sport movie that depicted an inferior team who had beat all odds in surviving through the preliminaries and were getting ready for the final game. Things were beginning to turn for the worse as they started to loose the game due to various reasons that include their major players who were either off form or injured before the game. Mr. Theo added that we were in a similar situation and rallied the group to look forward to the second half of the game where they would need to work hard and be high spirited to go pass this competition.

We were informed that the we would not be able to meet our target sales due to certain arising issues which had cropped up in the third quarter that had made a significant impact on the company's progress. One of the biggest issue that had cropped up is the increased of customer complaint starting from the month of August till now. This had forced the management to make necessary decision to cut cost to balance and contained the situation from turning bad. This would cause the company to reduce the number of contact workers in the company which would mean that a certain group of people would be laid of their jobs. Another impact prior to that would be the reduction in bonuses that many people had questioned. Mr Theo gave an explanation to all of them that this was because of the decision of the company to come out with the bonuses at the end of this month before Deepavali and Hari Raya so as to allow those who would be leaving this month to obtain their bonuses before they leave. It was obviously a hard decision to make as there were many aspects that needed to be looked at besides reducing which included taking care of the welfare of those who had going to leave PSS.

Other than that, other speakers such as Mr. Ramli (The Assistant GM) came forward to spur the people to look ahead by providing us the goals and also the solution that were needed to shftt us in the direction of success. He also reiterated that what we are about to do now would not change the fact that we would be unable to meet our goals for this year but stressed that it was for the benefit of the year to come. There was also a ceremony to award gift and recognition to those who had made PSS proud. This recognition was to be given to the group who had gained many reputable mention in the recently concluded National ICC Competition that was held at Istana Hotel. The meeting ended after an hour around 4.30 pm and I made my way to the cafeteria for a cup of warm tea with Fizah and Stanley.

It had been an interesting day for me as I had learned much from sitting in the respective meetings that were held. I discovered another avenue where I could go into if I would to continue becoming an engineer which is to qualify as an auditor. The work of an auditor is not an easy task as it requires one to stay up late to check different shift and if require even the early morning shift. Besides that, one needs to made the necessary background research to understand the nature of the company's processes and also to write a report of their analysis. Other than that, it would required one to travel from one place to another. However, I heard the money is good but the work is hectic. There is an option to do this part time or full time as well.

One of the key things I learned was the ability to accessed the company by asking the right questions. It seems pretty easy but it takes one with some experience of the system to look for the necessary information that would help him accessed a company to qualify for a certification. Besides that, my involvement in both the audit and the company meeting had given me a much clearer picture of the organisation. It does give me the shivers thinking about the amount of things that needed to be considered in a company, from the operation to the wellfare of the people working in the company. This has provened to me that it takes a lot of experience and also the right people to run a multinational company such as this. Its no wonder why management is such an important tool in the company.