Need help with a critical audit?
If you need help a critical audit? Euro Pumps can survey your plant, and provide you with a report on problem areas. In the food industry, audits affect everyone, and after 20 years’ experience, I know what’s expected during an audit and have a few thoughts on how to make a successful audit outcome achievable.
Typically The email would come, “Hi Jo, AQIS is coming on this date”. I used to really stress when I knew these audits were going to take place, especially if it was pre-op. THEN I learnt to plan and to prioritise tasks.
For those that do not know, an AQIS auditor can and will look at anything and everything (Inside, outside, Roof, Drains, Documentation; ANYTHING). Looking back, Carlos was the one auditor that I remembered the most. He was extremely thorough, and I was determined to learn from my experience with these audits, so I wrote a plan to deal with every item that was touched during AQIS audits and naturally I called it the ‘Carlos’ plan.
I first met Carlos in 2002 and have watched the detailed and wide-ranging inspections he did over the years, It gave me a first-hand guide for planning. My list is drawn from my audit experiences & what Carlos expected. AQIS are strict there is no doubt, as they should be, as we eat from these factories and hygiene cleanliness is important.
IMPORTANT RULE OF THUMB
Your plant needs to smell clean
Before the auditor looked at anything else he would smell, secondly the torch would flick on, and it would then be pointed straight to the ceiling. These two things alone told him more than half of what he needed to know! Below is a typical “pre-audit” list, the exact points would change with the season and the products current in production.
Euro Pumps consultants have more than 20 years’ experience working with many different companies, we have most likely worked through your problems in the past with someone else, we can provide a real world perspective based on what we’ve seen work (or not work) before.
