The audit of the quality management system is used by organizations to improve their performance through systematic evaluations of the processes. At the same time, the traditional audit system has been questioned about its ability to promote such improvement. Hence, this paper aims to analyze factors that affect the audit process for certification of quality management system to indicate opportunities for audit improvement. This research focuses on audits conducted within the aerospace sector based on the NBR 15100. A survey of experienced auditors was conducted in the years of 2009 and 2010. Some factors were identified (e.g. communication, team selection, industry expertise) and the results show that there are considerable discrepancies between the level of "importance" and "implementation" of those factors in the organizations audited.
Quality management system; Certification; Audit; Aerospace industry; NBR 15100
