Audits are a necessary tool to ensure and improve safety, quality, and productivity in your factory. When this is done on paper, in Excel and via email, it takes a lot of time and can cause misunderstandings and irritation. That is why more and more companies are working with digital audits: fast, clear, and directly aimed at improvement.
Internal and external audits provide a lot of data. Firstly, situations and deviations that require immediate attention. These are analyzed and followed up immediately. Secondly, audits provide insight into patterns over time, which are valuable input for continuous improvement.
Yet few people are happy with audits. This is mainly due to how they are often done.
Retyping and chasing
You probably recognize it: an auditor who notes down findings in the factory, then types them up, often in Excel, with photos attached to them. That’s just the beginning. He or she makes a report of this to send to the responsible managers, for example by email.
The auditor initiates individual actions with different people, such as team leaders or the technical department. The follow-up is one-on-one and before colleagues are informed (if that happens at all), it will be days later.
It is time-consuming, causes a lot of irritation and is only partially effective. How great would it be if audits could be carried out, reported, and deployed directly on the floor? The EZ-GO platform offers a digital audit function for this purpose.
Pro active and digital audits
For digital audits you need an operator platform such as EZ-GO. Here you can pre-program all audits, including the times when they should be carried out. The app proactively notifies you when an audit is due. The auditor just needs to pick up the tablet and start the round.
The pre-programmed audit clearly states what needs to be checked and how. The auditor can enter this data directly into the app on the work floor. It is also easy to take photos or videos with the tablet and add them to the various audit points.
Where the auditor finds deviations, he or she immediately assigns them to the responsible person, including a description, image, and a deadline. Other data subjects also have access to this information. This way, problems are resolved quickly.
When the audit has been completed, the auditor sends the report to the correct (also pre-programmed) people at the touch of a button.
Continuous improvement
The data from the audits can be combined and that makes patterns visible. For example, if a certain point is insufficient three times in a row, this is a signal to take structural measures. These points can be discussed in a work meeting or are input for a quality meeting. This way you continuously work on improving the production process.
More efficiency, less down-time with digital audits
Digital audits have many advantages:
A digital audit takes much less time than paper audit rounds. This gives the auditor more time for other matters.
The information from the audit is immediately processed in a report and sent to the right people.
Reports are ready faster and more complete.
The audit can easily be provided with photos and videos.
The auditor immediately assigns deviations to the right person.
Everyone can see the status of action items.
Problems or risks are resolved more quickly.
The digital data provides an overview and is input for continuous improvement.
The result is that the production location becomes safer and more efficient, the quality of production increases and there are fewer disruptions and downtime. That is good news for customers, for the profit and loss account and for all colleagues.
Getting started with a digital audit is simple.
Digitizing audits is easy. An application such as EZ-GO is designed so that you can easily create new audits. It is advisable to involve the various functions related to the audits, such as auditors, quality management and team leaders. That increases the commitment and gives you a flying start.
Many companies have already gone before you. Do you want to know what their experiences were like? Then take a look at the customer cases on this website. Or contact us directly for a demo.