Practical example
Q Program for Systematic Error Prevention in Vehicle Dynamics
Launching a quality initiative in the vehicle dynamics development division of a leading premium automaker.
Background
Quality and reliability play a significant role throughout the entire value chain. This is due to the transfer of development and production responsibilities from OEMs to suppliers, a trend that is particularly evident in the automotive industry. The growing importance of these factors is driven in particular by the structural changes brought about by the emergence of large module and system suppliers, increasing product complexity, high cost pressure, a growing number of innovation areas, and heightened quality expectations among end customers. Customer focus remains at the heart of automotive manufacturers’ priorities. “Prevention of defects” is therefore the motto, rather than accepting costly inspections to achieve quality targets.
Specific task
- Identify procedural and organizational sources of error
- Initiate measures to improve product quality and evaluate them from a business perspective
- Embedding goal achievement in the management's Balanced Scorecard
KBC's Approach
Caught between the need for reactive measures and preventive strategies, our client’s quality efforts in the area of vehicle dynamics were currently heavily focused on troubleshooting. However, the focus of the program to be implemented was on strengthening preventive measures to achieve a significant improvement in development performance. Thanks to our many years of experience in the automotive industry’s development sector, we were able to work with our client’s program management to identify the key areas requiring action and analyze their root causes based on the existing framework. As the driving force behind the initial definition of the program’s scope and the business evaluation (costs and benefits) of the individual measures, we were able to quickly secure top management’s approval of the program’s content and measures for our client.
Impact achieved
Together with our client, we identified the key areas of focus—market orientation, quality, process chain integration, and preventive measures—through joint discussions. Through 15 targeted enabler measures in these three areas—each evaluated and agreed upon using business cases—we can achieve sustainable improvements in quality management across our client’s key technical focus areas in the future.
