CQI IRCA QMS LA case studies

CQI IRCA QMS LA · Put your knowledge to work in context.

The CQI IRCA QMS Lead Auditor qualification is the recognised credential for auditors who lead quality management system audits against ISO 9001, whether for a certification body, a registrar's subcontractor, or an organisation's internal audit programme. It confirms that a candidate can plan an audit, gather and weigh objective evidence, grade nonconformities defensibly, run an opening and closing meeting, and report so that corrective action is possible. The CQI IRCA QMS LA case studies are 5 cases and about 4,413 words.

The exclusion that wasn't: 8.3, calipers and agency labour at a small machine shop

Precision Components Ltd (42 employees) machines parts to customer drawings. Its quality manual states that clause 8.3 (design and development) is 'not applicable because design is carried out by our customers'.

898 words, about 4 min 2

Two days, two warehouses and a plan that does not reflect the risk

You are lead auditor for a surveillance audit of a third-party logistics provider: head office plus two warehouses 60 km apart. Total audit duration is 2 person-days, one auditor plus a technical expert for the cold-store area.

824 words, about 4 min 3

Two missing signatures, a repeated root cause and a quality manager asking for an observation

You are auditing a food-contact packaging converter (120 staff, three shifts, 40 tonnes per week) against ISO 9001:2015. Sampling 15 batch records from the last three months, you find two without a final inspection sign-off; both batches were shipped.

904 words, about 5 min 4

A closed nonconformity that came back, and a closing meeting under commercial pressure

In the previous surveillance audit of a steel fabricator you raised a minor nonconformity against 8.4.1: three suppliers of welding consumables had no evidence of evaluation, selection or monitoring. The certification body accepted a corrective action pack and closed it on desktop review.

877 words, about 4 min 5

A witnessed scope extension, an old training job and a phone call from sales

You are a lead auditor qualified in IAF scope 18 (machinery). Your certification body assigns you to a plastics injection moulder whose scope is being extended from 'moulding of components' to 'design and moulding of medical device components'.

910 words, about 5 min