Hoshin Kanri and its associated Total Quality Management process are Business Management Systems in themselves and in order to complete the PDCA Cycle described in Chapter 21, they will require regular and systematic auditing and a procedure will be necessary for this. Also, it will be necessary to have an effective auditing process for the evaluation of the Supply Chain. Fortunately we can make use of the auditing procedure which supports ISO 9001:2000 thanks to its 8 Management Principles and the fact that the Standard clearly states that the audit must be against the System operated by the organisation.

This is convenient because it means that it is possible to use these auditing principles as a means of auditing a Hoshin Kanri organisation provided that the Hoshin Kanri Business Model and the Deployment process as explained in the Chapter on Policy Deployment has been clearly defined.

Fortunately the way in which the principles of the ISO 9001:2000 auditing process is designed, it can be used to audit any management system whether it is specifically designed with ISO 9000 in mind or not. The reason for this being that the auditing process should be carried out against the management system that has been adopted by the organisation and not against some preconceived idea as to what it should be like in the mind of the auditor.

Theoretically, the auditor should, if he or she has been properly trained begin the audit with an open mind. At the commencement of the audit, they must be prepared for the possibility that the management system they are about to audit might be totally unlike any that they have ever seen before. The question they should be asking themselves at every stage must be ‘does it work’? If it does the job which it is required to do and that this is clearly stated then it will be totally satisfactory even if it is entirely unique.

It is for this reason that we are able to ‘hitch hike’ on the ISO 9001:2000 auditing process and adapt it to our needs.

However, it must be clearly understood that we strongly warn against the use of 3^rd party auditors to carry out this activity. Those who conduct the Hoshin Kanri Audits must fully understand the Hoshin Kanri system and be part of the organisation that designed it. ISO 9000 itself and more especially the perceptions of ISO 9001:2000 auditors in general (with exceptions) do fall significantly short of the requirements of Hoshin Kanri in practice.

Regular and competent internal and supply chain auditing are essential features of successful Hoshin Kanri programmes. This requires the training of those who will be involved in this task. The principles of Business System Auditing are similar to those used in auditing financial systems but there are differences.

Apart from these reasons, auditing a Hoshin Kanri structured business would require the most intimate knowledge of business strategy some of which would almost certainly be classified to the extent that even a Confidentiality Agreement will not suffice. Therefore, the employment of any 3^rd party auditing should never be contemplated. To do so would immediately threaten the integrity of the concept and it would also require a more intimate knowledge of the organisation, its policies and its supply chain arteries and capillaries than it would be prudent to share with outsiders irrespective of any contractual agreements regarding confidential information.

If of course it is necessary for commercial reasons to have 3^rd party certification to ISO 9001:2000 or some other standards, these should not be seen as a substitute for 1^st party auditing of Hoshin Kanri.