What are Layered Process Audits (LPA)?

A process audit is a comparative evaluation of an organization’s actual process vs. ideal state process.

Layered Process Audits (LPA) are performed periodically and by all layers of the organization (example of layers: supervisors, engineers, managers etc.)

LPAs are common in the automotive manufacturing industry. However, any organization can utilize LPAs to sustain best-practices in their process.

Return on Investment

There is no cost to try iAudited's LPA solution for 45 days

A digital LPA tool enables early identification of process shortcomings so that preventive action can be implemented across the board. Each mitigation of a shortcoming potentially prevents subsequent escalation into a non-conformance incident at a customer or an internal safety accident.

The old paper-pen based layered process audit is not only inefficient but time consuming. A conservative estimate puts the work-hours required to maintain a pen-paper based system (or an ERP-based modified audit solution) at 2-4 work days per month.

The typical ROI break-even for iAudited's LPA tool is four months.

Signs that your company needs Layered Process Audits:

High Cost of Quality (CoQ. > 5%)
Kaizen gains are only temporary
Recurring (same) root-causes of defects
Employee training is the essence of most corrective actions

High scrap cost
Lack of cross-functional cooperation
Error-proofing is present but ineffective
SOPs (including Control Plan and FMEAs) are not followed

Feature Comparison

	iAudited	Competitors
Digital audits that are timestamped & geo-tagged
Preventive & Corrective actions
Collaborative task management
Trend analysis & Top-n analysis (i.e. Best & Worst)
Photo & video cues for auditors
Status updates of corrective action progress
Audit in offline mode
Local data storage & multilanguage support
Professional-grade data security, encryption & SLA
Setup in less than 10 minutes
Artificial Intelligence driven audits – Beta

Benefits

Even the best processes deviate from their ideal state over time. Layered Process Audits (LPA) enable the identification of shortcomings in your process before they morph into defects or accidents. With a digital LPA tool like iAudited, you can also monitor the changing trends in your process and thus mitigate risk. Using iAudited’s top-n analysis, you can ensure that the best practices that have evolved at a particular work-center or shift are applied throughout the process (“read-across”).

With our collaborative task management, your team can communicate in a way (instant-message) in which they already excel and thus quickly mitigate audit-findings. iAudited also keeps the auditors updated of the important steps being taken by the team to mitigate the shortcomings reported by them. LPAs can increase constructive interaction among the team and especially between management and associates. LPA is thus a morale booster for all.

ERP & Layered Process Audits

Do you need to perform LPA if your company has a state-of-art ERP system already?

The LPA difference

An ERP provides product-inspection capability i.e. incoming inspection, in-process inspection and outgoing inspection. An ERP does not provide you the capability to effectively inspect your process.

Preventive approach

Typically process inspection occurs only after a quality defect has occurred. This makes your company's approach reactive and not preventive. With Layered Process Audits, you reverse that approach.

Knowledge sharing on all levels

Moreover, your engineering and management team can increase their acquaintance with the production-team by way of increasing the foot-falls and knowledge-sharing while auditing different work-centers on the production-floor. This is a proven technique to increase camaraderie across teams.

Proven credibility

Layered Process Audits are mandated by GM and FIAT-Chrysler for their Tier I suppliers. Companies that implement Layered Process Audit also tend to fare better on Industry Certification (CQI-8, IATF 16949 etc.) audits because shortcomings are identified and resolved internally.

Cost-effectiveness

Moreover, most state-of-the art ERP packages have a core financial audit management system that is relabeled as a “manufacturing” audit system. These systems tend to be unwieldy and yet exorbitantly expensive when used in a manufacturing setting.

QMS (Quality Management System) & LPA

Do you need to perform LPA if your company has a well-managed QMS?

QMS helps your company define best-practices by way of Control Plans, Process FMEA and SOPs. Regular employee trainings help reinforce these best-practices. However, how often have you found that the root-cause of defects happens to be lack of employee training or a violation of the already defined best-practices?

Even the most disciplined of personnel and processes gradually deviate away from their ideal-state in the absence of a calibrating event. In the military, the calibration is done using mock-drills. In 24x7 manufacturing, that is done by Layered Process Audits.