Layered process audit software.
Catch non-conformances at every layer. Fix findings for good.
Create, schedule, and close out Layered Process Audits (LPAs) digitally, so your time goes to improvement instead of admin. Catch the gap between your standards and your floor, layer by layer, shift by shift.
Slash administrative tasks by up to 85%.
Automated scheduling with layers, reminders, and escalations that run themselves. Your team gets hours back every week for the work that moves your numbers.
Find and resolve issues faster than ever.
Every failed question becomes a finding with an owner, raised from the floor in real time. The loop closes with the fix verified, so you’re not fixing the same non-conformance twice.
Report results to stakeholders in real time.
Dashboards highlight the KPIs your goals hang on: completion, findings closure, past-dues. One live view of every layer, line, and site, network-wide, with no manual data entry.
Built-in efficiency drivers with layered process audits.
Mobile Auditing
Scheduling
Reporting & Dashboards
Question Library
Closed Loop Corrective Action System
Email Notifications & Escalations
See the impact you can make with EASE.
Calculate your return and build a business case your whole leadership team can get behind, with data from organizations like yours.
I highly recommend EASE to any organization using paper and pencil or other manual spreadsheet LPA systems. The savings in administrative tasks and data collection is well worth the investment.
What are LPAs?
Layered Process Audits (LPAs) are an essential audit type where multiple layers of management evaluate product and process quality at random intervals. Discover what makes LPAs such a crucial tool for quality assurance in manufacturing.
LPA FAQs
The main difference between a normal and layered process audit is who is involved and how often the audits happen. In a normal process audit, only quality department auditors check processes. In a layered process audit, people from all levels of the organization, including top management, join in. Supervisors conduct audits more often in their areas, while upper managers do them less frequently but cover more areas. This approach ensures quality is valued at every level and it helps catch more errors via multiple checkpoints.
Read more about the difference here.
To build an effective LPA program, you should focus on the plan-do-check-act approach:
- Plan: First steps include learning about LPAs, creating your team, writing questions and determining audit layers.
- Do: Rolling out your LPA program requires disciplined scheduling, as well as a closed-loop system to manage findings.
- Check: Data analysis is key to assessing performance and leveraging results for further gains.
- Act: Continuous improvement means ongoing engagement and updates to questions.
For detailed guidance, you can read more here.
Look for layer based scheduling that assigns audits by role and frequency, mobile auditing that works offline, a question library you can rotate and randomize, and findings that route to an owner and escalate when they’re overdue. EASE does all of this, plus dashboards that show completion and closure rates across every line, shift, and site.
To track the effectiveness of your layered process audit plan, focus on metrics that verify training effectiveness. Key metrics include the accuracy of operators following work instructions, their understanding of processes (the “why”), and their ability to perform tasks correctly. Regularly evaluate these areas through targeted questions that assess both knowledge and application of training. This approach ensures that training is completed, and effectively and consistently applied in daily operations.
For a detailed exploration of structuring effective questions, see this post.
To calculate ROI when investing in digital LPAs, you should compare the costs of implementing and maintaining the system against its financial benefits. Benefits can include reductions in defects, decreased downtime, and efficiency improvements. Calculate savings from these improvements and subtract the costs of the digital LPA system to find the net benefit. Then, divide the net benefit by the total cost of the system to determine ROI. This calculation gives you a percentage that represents the return on your investment.
You can also leverage our easy-to-use and personalized ROI calculator.
A layered process audit checklist is a vital tool in the quality assurance toolkit for manufacturers. It guides auditors through a series of process checks to ensure every aspect of your production meets the highest standards. Previously reliant on paper checklists, our LPA management software now enables your audit team to conduct evaluations digitally, while enhancing the audit completion rate.
In the meantime, if you’re interested in starting LPAs with a checklist, you can download a sample checklist here.
In addition to the links in the other answers in this section, we also have a detailed 93-page guide to layered process audits. It goes into the process, explaining what makes these audits unique, how to implement them, and the best questions to ask for operational excellence. You can download it here.
