Manufacturer Trains New Internal Auditors to Support ISO 9001 System

DALB Inc. of Kearneysville, West Virginia, is a national leader in printing, thermoforming, and fabricated plastic solutions. They service many original equipment manufacturers and because they can print larger parts in larger runs than many of their competitors, they partner in the research and development of new technologies that lead to new products. With thermoforming, CNC, assembly and small-format solutions, DALB has been able to enter many new industries including entertainment and automotive and to offer comprehensive all-in-one services to customers. DALB products and services are centered around their core competency of taking plastic substrates and adding aesthetic and/or functional value.

DALB Inc. is certified to ISO 9001:2015 and has their own internal auditing team that evaluates their own operations as part of the required auditing process. To ensure that their audit team is robust and that enough employees are trained to conduct audits, they contracted with WVU Industrial Extension, part of the MEP National Network, to train six new auditors which included 2.5 days of classroom education and hands-on application of the audit process.  

Classroom education included a review of the ISO 9001 standard, using a process based approach to audits, developing checklists and reports, conducting interviews, collecting objective evidence, reviewing findings and documenting corrective and preventative actions. Auditors are best prepared when they can apply what they learned quickly and with a trainer still on site. After the classroom sessions, trainees were divided into groups to conduct audits on the production floor. After audits were conducted, a closing workshop was conducted to discuss the audit process and lessons learned from the practical application.