Top 5 Mistakes in LPA:

Implementing an LPA system to satisfy an external requirement

• Doing LPA only to meet customer requirements
• Doing LPA only to meet ISO-9001 or IATF-16949 requirements
• Not understanding how to measure effectiveness of your LPA program

Lack of Leadership/ Ownership at Top Levels of Plant Management

• Leaving everything to the Quality Department
• The role of Manufacturing is limited to performing audits
• Delegating implementation to people with limited authority to change/correct processes

Over-looking the opportunity to change/improve quality culture in your organization

• Implementing a blaming or judgmental system
• Allowing slow response times to corrective actions
• Not effectively communicating the corrective actions taken to the plant
• Not providing an opportunity for employees/auditors to communicate improvement ideas
• Allowing Top Management to skip or miss audits

Implementation by individuals who do not understand shop floor operations

• Attempting to audit everything in the plant
• Lack of knowledge and/or inability to identify high risk process areas
• Lack of creativity in how key processes are audited

Designing a system that is high maintenance and low output

• Not really understanding the value and time-sensitivity of audit outputs
• Not considering the real customer of the LPA system and making it easy and useful for them
• Allowing audit data to get outdated without evaluation or actions
• Building a system with cumbersome reporting which inhibits management's ability to regularly analyze and respond to the audit data
• Not taking a lean approach to building an LPA system

Mistakes Overview

A Wrench in the System

Companies who have made the mistakes shown on this page often find they have implemented a high maintenance, ineffective system which requires more labor and effort than benefit to the organization.

Running Like Clockwork

Avoiding these common mistakes by taking time to understand how your organization's needs and goals can be attained through effective auditing processes can put you on the path to improved profitability, cost savings, increased customer satisfaction, and a quality focused, leaner, stronger manufacturing environment.