What IATF 16949 expects from your internal audits
IATF 16949 asks for more than an annual walk-through. It expects a documented internal audit program that is based on risk and performance, and that covers three things: your quality management system, your manufacturing processes, and your product. It also expects auditors to be competent, and for audit results to feed corrective action and management review.
Many suppliers meet the letter of this and still gain little from it. Findings are vague, the same observations return each year, and audits happen on first shift in the office. A good program is different: it goes where the risk is, including different shifts and the processes your customers care about, and it leads to changes on the floor.
How we support your audit program
- Program design. We help you build an audit plan driven by risk, past findings, customer complaints and customer-specific requirements.
- System audits. We audit your quality management system process by process, tracing real records and following the evidence.
- Manufacturing process and product audits. We audit on the floor and, where it fits, use VDA 6.3 as the process audit approach.
- Auditor competence. We help you define what your auditors need to know, assess where they are, and close the gaps so your program stands up to review.
- Findings and corrective action. We help write findings clearly, then work with process owners through root cause, corrective action and an effectiveness check.
- Customer-specific requirements. We include your customers' requirements in the audit, because those are often where findings come from. See customer audit readiness.
Signs your internal audits are not working
- The same findings return year after year.
- Audits happen on one shift, or only in the quality office.
- Auditors audit their own processes.
- Findings say a procedure "was not followed" without saying what evidence was seen.
- Closed corrective actions reopen, or customer complaints repeat in areas you recently audited.
Each of these is fixable, and most are about how the program is designed and run, not about effort. A fresh, objective view is often the quickest way to see which one applies to you.
Moving from ISO 9001 to IATF 16949
If you currently hold ISO 9001 and are moving to IATF 16949, internal audits are one of the best ways to show progress and stay on track. For Froetek in McMinnville, Tennessee, we restructured the quality management system, trained process owners, performed internal audits to maintain progress, and ran monthly accountability check-ins. The plant passed both Stage 1 and Stage 2 audits with only two minor findings.
For a plain-language look at what changes in the move, read Moving from ISO 9001 to IATF 16949.
Records and training evidence
Internal audit findings often come back to the same two things: uncontrolled documents and incomplete training records. If that is your pattern, we can work on the process with you first. Where software would help, Stratum MES document control and employee training are designed for exactly that. Consulting and software are separate, and you can use either on its own.
A note on independence
We are not a certification body and do not issue IATF 16949 certificates. Certification audits are performed by an IATF-recognized certification body. We are an independent consultancy and are not affiliated with IATF or any automotive manufacturer.