- Automotive
Often a supply situation is exacerbated by a sudden deterioration in the quality performance of the supply chain, as certain product groups access the same resources and bottlenecks suddenly become significantly noticeable. Here we are active in many projects, always with the claim to work quickly, but also in the right direction.
In the case described, we stepped in when a disastrous quality situation was suddenly identified. By making appropriate analogies of the individual defect patterns, we quickly realized that the causes did not just extend to the supplier in question, but affected the entire supply chain. Subcontractors have supplied out-of-spec materials and only some Tier 1 suppliers have had sufficient quality assurance processes in place, leading to vehicle field failures. In our project assignment, we tracked all relevant processes and not only identified the actual causes in material production at the supplier locations and remedied them together with the companies involved, but also helped to make the quality assurance processes along the supply chains significantly more robust in order to prevent such anomalies in the future. As a result, the quality situation for the vehicle manufacturer has improved significantly and permanently.
Profile
Company size
Location
Germany
Period
8 months
Branch
- Automotive
Percentage of individual services
- reactive situation stabilization
- holistic concept development
- risk analysis production performance
- Reaktive Situationsstabilisierung
- Ganzheitliche Konzepterstellung
- Risikoanalyse Produktionsperformance
Challenge
- Field failures due to ruptured coolant lines on the engine
- Potential recall
- High number of variants due to 2600 affected assemblies with 26 Tier 1 suppliers
- Lack of transparency regarding part quality of individual suppliers
- No consistent quality specifications at the different Tier-n locations
- High number of cross-departmental stakeholders on the customer side
Procedure
- Prioritization of suppliers according to delivery volume using Pareto and criticality of manufacturing tolerances
- Establishment of reactive and preventive hedging measures at Tier-1
- Establishment of a criticality ranking for each location based on supplier visits
- Consolidation of respective quality specifications on OEM and tier-n side in the form of a relationship matrix
- Development of an award standard with the relevant stakeholders of the OE
Results
- Increase in quality standards and optimization of testing and safeguarding measures used at Tier 1 level
- Avoidance of a recall
- Extended quality criteria for a future award standard in the form of a quality regulation
- Total transparency with regard to supplier relationships, delivery volumes and delivery quality along the supply chain
- Supplier profiles as a basis for further monitoring and optimization measures
The project in detail
Project Highlights
Identification of weak points in global supply chains
Ideal mix of reactive and preventive measures
High management attention due to media-effective recalls
