AUDIT OF SUBCONTRACTORS OF THE VDEH MEMBE R COMPANIES

The implementation of a quality-assurance system in our steel companie s according to the Standard Series EN 29000-29004/ISO 9000-9004 requir es also the auditing of suppliers. As the member companies of the VDEh are organized in technical committees for the exchange of experience and for the processing of topical problems, the auditing of suppliers within the scope of the VDEh cooperative work is the most economical a pproach. For this purpose, a working group ''Auditing of blast furnace and steelworks suppliers'' has been set up. This report describes the preparation, performance and evaluation of the audits. The mutual acc eptance of successful audits by the steel companies involved in the wo rking group leads to time and cost savings both for the steel companie s and the suppliers. The experience gained until now shows that the su ppliers attach great importance to the cooperative audit accepted by a ll the steel companies involved in the working group and consider it t o a large extent a ''must'' to belong to the circle of companies which have been or are to be audited.