The challenge

In an effort to increase the resource available to maintain and manage their Quality Management System, Elaine Gower, Technical Services Manager at Morgan Thermal Ceramics' Commercial Road, Bromborough site, recently put together a team of internal auditors. As this team, all volunteers, had no direct experience of Quality Management, or of internal auditing, Elaine employed Lucideon CICS to provide training to equip staff with the skills they needed to run the internal audit programme.

What we delivered

Lucideon delivered its internal auditor training course at the Bromborough site over two, two-day periods. The course was split into two sessions so that attendees could use the interim period to practice what they had learnt by each carrying out an audit. The audits were then discussed during the second half of the training.

Elaine Gower said:

"Having the two separate sessions was an excellent way of providing the training. Often with other training courses, once you return to the work environment, it is often difficult to implement the training you have received. With this two-session training, we had to implement it, in order to have material to discuss at the next session. When we came back for the second session we were able to discuss, in detail, what we had each found during our audits, how we had collected evidence and how we would report back on our findings. As a new team, the training has given us the tools needed to ensure that we are all heading in the right direction.

"The delivery of the course was ideal. With no slide presentation to sit through, the team were focussed and fully involved from the start. The whole team enjoyed the participative nature of the training, working in small groups and discussing real-life situations."

Like all of Lucideon's management system training, the course was very interactive - with no PowerPoint, just case studies and practical examples to discuss and learn from.

Value to the client

With all members of the team now trained, and with the first audits issued, corrective actions agreed and new targets set for the next quarter, Morgan Thermal Ceramics is well placed to effectively manage its Quality Management System.

Elaine said:

"Having a team of skilled auditors in place, from all parts of the business, will raise the profile of the Quality Management System and will, hopefully, ensure that everyone in the company takes ownership of it. This can only help us to improve our Quality Management System and, in turn, our business, as we move forward."