A study of the role and benefits of third party auditing in Quality Management Systems

Purpose: Purpose of this paper is to study the role and benefits of third party auditing in ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management Systems which have been implemented. The review looks through the perspective of case studies from both manufacturing and service organizations. To enable the reader to understand the role of auditing the paper firstly explains the key principles relating to auditing quality management systems, the global trends relating to their implementation as well as third party auditing. Then the paper presents four short case studies relating to a hospital, ceramic tile manufacturer, a heat distribution organization and a gas equipment installation company – describing the benefits of third party auditing of their Quality Management Systems. Design/methodology/approach: Used for the case study materials included the review of freely available case studies in the internet and through interviews of Senior Managers from the aforementioned Organisations. Findings: Third party Quality Management Systems Auditing continue to be beneficial in a range of industry sectors and are still growing on a global basis. Research limitations/implications: The study constitiutes a indication for other organizations to undertake introduction and certification of the management system based on ISO 9001. Originality/value: The article presents representative values in third party audit processes, demonstrates results which may be used in the analysis of ISO 9001 implementation systems.