Manufacturing Audit Checklists

In this article

• QC Checklists in Manufacturing: Top 5 Reasons Why They’re Critical
• What to Include in a Manufacturing QC Checklist
• How to Conduct a Manufacturing Audit in 7 Steps
• 5 Challenges in Manufacturing Audits
• FAQs about Manufacturing Audits
• Strengthen Your Last Line of Defense Against Quality Defects with SafetyCulture
• Ultimate List of Manufacturing Audit Checklists

QC Checklists in Manufacturing: Top 5 Reasons Why They’re Critical

Using checklists for quality control in manufacturing helps both manufacturers and suppliers guarantee quality in finished products before they ultimately reach the sales floor. In addition, the use of these tools also contributes to improving other aspects of the business. In a nutshell, here are the top reasons that make manufacturing quality audit checklists essential:

1. Identify minor issues immediately.
   With a QC checklist, it is easier to pinpoint errors in manufacturing and resolve them before they turn into major issues. The tool helps the firm avoid re-starting production from scratch.
   In addition, as quality inspectors often come from third-party service providers, comprehensive production audit checklists provide inspectors with an easy reference so they can be more familiarized with the manufacturing firm’s processes.
2. Be more assured of product quality.
   Manufacturing quality assurance tools, such as the manufacturing audit checklist, help standardize processes and assure that every product that comes out of the line passes quality standards. Effective quality audits help the manufacturer assure suppliers of a better return on investment as they can be more confident of product quality.
3. Reduce the level of risk.
   Manufacturing firms have a high-risk environment, may it be on the side of safety or finance. Manufacturing checklists are critical quality control tools that help identify red flags from the onset, effectively reducing the risk of financial impact to the bottom line of the company, and most importantly, to customer satisfaction.
4. Encourage the smart use of resources. 
   Every move in manufacturing processes needs to be well-calculated to be cost-effective. QC checklists are effective instruments to help this cause, as it helps avoid false starts and ensure the most efficient use of resources and materials.
5. Promote better manufacturer-supplier relationships.
   Manufacturing audit checklists encourage collaboration between the manufacturer and supplier as they both have to agree on the checklist items necessary to conduct an effective quality audit. Doing this helps develop accountability between them and avoid costly misunderstandings later on.

What to Include in a Manufacturing QC Checklist

In general, a manufacturing audit checklist should consist of the following components:

• Unique identifier – Product ID, Stock Keeping Unit (SKU), serial number, etc.
• Location on the production line
• Visual inspection – the product’s overall appearance, size, color, printing
• Weight – within the acceptable range
• Materials – product strength and durability
• Operations – functionality according to specified requirements
• Packaging – secureness and print clarity
• Defect log – description, severity, and supporting documentation
• Assessment – if the product is in an acceptable condition
• Signature of the auditor

Quality inspectors and auditors can modify this checklist based on the standards and needs of their company. To illustrate this, here’s a sample manufacturing audit report using a digital checklist:

How to Conduct a Manufacturing Audit in 7 Steps

Auditing the quality of manufactured products can be time-consuming and costly if not done correctly. To help you with that, below is a step-by-step guide on how to carry out manufacturing audits with a checklist:

1. Add inspection details – This is one of the most important details for the audit. As the document’s foundation, make sure to include the Product ID, Stock Keeping Unit (SKU), serial number, or any other form of specifiers that would help identify the products that were inspected. Indicate the location of the goods in the production line as well.
2. Inspect the products visually – The second step is the initial method of auditing the manufactured products—visually. Individually check the items for their size, color, weight, and materials to confirm that they look according to the predefined set of requirements and design.
3. Test if the products are operating properly – In this step, auditors review the products operationally to verify that they are functioning as expected. Some of the things auditors can do are to try, turn on, rotate, move, or adjust the items and observe if they are indeed working as they should be.
4. Indicate if non-compliant measures are found – If there are any indicators in any of the areas of the checked products that seem to be non-compliant with the set requirements, specify them. This enables manufacturers to correct defects and prevent suffering from financial loss.
5. Check the product packaging – Inspect the products’ packaging by confirming that they are free from deformities, machine marks, scrapes, or smudges. Also, make sure that they are correctly colored, closed securely, and that the products fit perfectly into the packaging.
6. Input product defects found – If there are definitive signs of product damages, log them into the manufacturing audit document. Describe the defect in detail and attach a photo or video evidence as a reference. If you can, indicate if the particular defect is trivial, minor, or severe.
7. Complete the manufacturing audit – Using the initial factors as supporting details, decide whether the products inspected were acceptable or unacceptable. This decides the next course of action for the products and establishes standards from the manufacturing phase before putting them out to the market, consumers, or clients.

5 Challenges in Manufacturing Audits

A good manufacturing site inspection process is critical to the safety and success of the production line and the quality of products released from it. Manufacturing inspections help ensure that the production line maintains adherence to local and international standards and regulations.

For this reason, manufacturing QC inspectors must have the best set of tools that will help them strengthen their last line of defense against defective products and, ultimately, protect customer interest.

Here are some of the most common challenges that product quality control inspectors encounter and how manufacturing software can help solve them:

1. Manual Data Entry and Compilation

Traditional pen-and-paper inspections require product QC inspectors to manually transcribe data and transfer them from inspection templates to printed reports. A manufacturing inspection tool eliminates this problem by providing pre-made digital templates that can easily be customized to suit inspectors’ preferences. 

Once your manufacturing inspection is complete, your data is automatically saved via cloud technology where you can easily access them from your desktop or mobile device.

2. Non-standardized Quality Control Inspections

Manufacturing audit checklists are meant to be standardized across the board, but that is not often the case. For instance, some inspectors don’t have the same updated paper checklists as their co-workers have, leading to varying inspection results. 

This lapse is often attributed to the logistical challenges of reprinting and distributing checklists to inspectors in different locations, especially if you have hundreds of inspectors on different continents. As a result, it undermines the value of QC checks as they all need to be uniform to ensure that the product quality standards inspected are also the same. 

With the help of manufacturing inspection software, it is easier to standardize checklists since digital templates only need to be updated from a single dashboard. Once updated, inspectors will instantly have the updated templates on their own mobile devices. They no longer need to waste time waiting for the updated version of their printed checklists to arrive on their office desks. 

In addition, this tech tool also gives management teams an overview to track inspection performance across all of their manufacturing sites.

3. Accountability Issues

Keeping a paper trail makes it challenging for management to verify if product quality control inspectors are following set standards and performing their duties on time. Digital manufacturing inspection solutions give you the option to set mandatory fields so that no items are skipped. Assigned inspections and corrective actions can easily be tracked so you know which ones have been completed, were missed, or are overdue. Lastly, require digital signatures at the end of inspections to protect manufacturing audit accountability.

4. Multiple Tools for Inspections

In some instances, photo evidence conveys information better than written descriptions. For quality inspectors who use a paper template, this means having to bring a camera along for photo documentation and dealing with the hassle of printing them out to manually attach them to final reports. 

Manufacturing inspection software lets inspectors take pictures and annotate them directly on the app, reducing the lag time between inspection and reporting.

5. Data Analysis From Numerous Reports

With traditional pen-and-paper processes, inspectors need to scour through multiple sheets to interpret and analyze inspection results. Not only does this take copious amounts of time and effort to complete, but it’s also prone to human error.

Minimize this risk using powerful data analytics from manufacturing software. It interprets the inspection data saved to the cloud and provides site inspectors with valuable insights (such as frequently failed items) so that they can identify the root of problems. This way, they can spot trends and get a comprehensive view of their production line’s performance.