ABTF competence area: Quality Management
Current situation in the industry
Especially in the automotive industry, the trend towards increasingly complex components and modules awarded to suppliers of first, second and third level (Tier I-III) is going on. To secure not only sufficient, but the best possible product and service quality is not only due to the increasingly demanding car buyers, but also caused by the increasing subjugation of individual parts and subassemblies with constantly evolving standards and increasingly tougher legislation. It was enough not too long ago yet that the vehicle manufacturer could manufacture a part or assembly with the help of drawings and a few other applicable material standards he must now develop a much higher number of precise specifications. The specifications must be forwarded to the internal production areas and also to the suppliers' operations.
The fulfillment of the requirements that increasingly have legal background, binds valuable resources at all levels of the supply chain, and yet it always comes back to a number of undesirable effects:
- Products are not ready to launch
- The necessary proof documentation is not available in time
- Tools are not ready in time
- Products are not fully qualified for series production
In the later series production internal and external suppliers, therefore, cannot meet the contractual quality requirements and often need to double check, repair or even replace products. These activities reduce the economic success and can negatively affect the acquisition of follow-up orders.
Typical Projects
- Introduction of regular escalation loops internally and externally to rapidly define cross-divisional team solutions that satisfy the customer
- Especially for small and medium-sized enterprises: development of a project management structure that takes the limited resources and conditions of such enterprises into account also in the examination of requests and the subsequent realization of product and process
- Validation of processes and products prior to series start to fulfill the requirements of the OEMs with a high degree of maturity in the series
Our Performance - Your Benefit
The company obtains through the ABTF experts a professional analysis in the areas of
- Error core area on product level
- Management of customer requirements (rules, laws, standards)
- Project management
The proven and normatively prescribed tools and methods, such as
- 5-why-analysis
- Quality Planning, for example, APQP or VDA
- PDCA cycle
but also the experience of the ABTF experts are the methodological basis for the analysis and evaluation of the actual state.
The findings are drawn as the basis for a root cause analysis (why are the problem areas occur), so that collectively measures can be developed that remedy the root causes found.
If required, this can be provided by the means of interim management, so despite any vacancies in the Q area necessary interventions in structures and processes are carried out quickly and goal-oriented.
At the end of this process structures arise that enables the company to evaluate efficiently the demands of its customers in terms of product quality, process quality and service quality.