Category: Articles

Published April 2020

With a quarter of the UK’s businesses temporarily closed by the Coronavirus and manufacturing output forecast to plunge by 55% this spring, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility, there is a strong focus on the likely impacts of the crisis on our economy, both now and in the future. Fewer column inches have so far been dedicated to answering the question, ‘What can companies do right now to prepare for a good restart after COVID?’

There is little doubt that the human and financial costs of the COVID-19 pandemic will be vast and are yet to be fully manifested and understood. Amid this, the impacts on manufacturers are significant and importantly, diverse. Some makers of healthcare, food and household products, for example, have had to square off a massive increase in demand with a disrupted supply chain and reduced workforce, while those in other sectors have been compelled to partially or completely close factories. Many manufacturing businesses will undoubtedly be amongst those forced to shut down for good.

But amidst the devastating losses, there are some reasons to be hopeful. Companies that do survive this situation are likely to emerge from it operationally stronger, with more robust and agile supply chains and ways of working. What is more, although there may be continuing uncertainty about how much longer lockdown will continue, there are signs that government is looking at a phased, sector-by-sector ending of it, with manufacturing, logistics and food-supply businesses among the first to reopen their doors – ahead of other sectors and the wider population. So, the light at the end of the tunnel is coming into view and may be here quicker than we think.

You can’t control when, but you can control how

While we may not be able to accurately predict when plants will be able to recommence operations in part or in full, we can certainly consider how they should go about it.

The best possible restart will help to minimise the financial pain caused by the COVID-19 lockdown and provide the optimum launchpad for a full and rapid recovery. Furthermore, companies that manage their start-up well will secure themselves a competitive advantage by default. Those that don’t, risk compounding the cost of the lockdown with damage to their reputation caused by failure to supply on time.

It goes without saying, therefore, that you want your reactivation to be as quick and low-cost as possible. This is known as a ‘vertical’ start-up, because it requires the minimum amount of time – and therefore money – to reach full production, meaning the productivity curve climbs almost vertically.

And right now, while most day-to-day operations are on hold and you have the breathing space to think about it, is the right time to plan your vertical start-up. The sooner you start, the more time you will have to identify and plan for any issues you may encounter.

Focus on what you know

It’s perhaps easy to feel a little bit daunted by this. After all, none of us have ever been in a situation quite like this before. However, you probably already know more about it than you realise. If you’ve ever opened up a facility in a new location on the other side of the world, or ramped up a new piece of equipment in your SME, then you’re familiar with the types of processes you need to go through to start something new. The same types of approaches apply here. And it’s much more helpful and empowering to focus on what’s familiar about this situation than what’s different or strange about it.

What is more, thanks to lockdown, most of us are now familiar with the concept of interacting remotely with each other through apps like Zoom or Google Meet and are set up to do so, so the experience of working collaboratively online has been demystified. This makes it easier to hit the ground running, even when we’re all working in different physical locations.

Ask the right questions

You don’t need to be an expert in management theory to get this right, and you don’t need to have all the answers. You just need to know the right questions to ask, when to ask them and to whom.

Your start-up planning process should no doubt begin with a brainstorming session of the senior leadership team. However, one of the first questions that group should ask is, “Who do we really need round the (virtual) table to make this happen?” The task in hand is of maximum importance to your business, and you’ll require a winning team to lead it.

Inputs from different departments will be needed at different points in your start-up timeline. Subgroups may be required to take forward specific pieces of your plan, for example, plant maintenance. By working through methodically what needs to happen and in what order, your planning team can work out which people need to participate when. Some may be currently furloughed, so it’s important to work out when they should be brought back into active duty before start-up, to avoid delays.

Another key question that needs to be asked at the outset is, “What do our customers want?” This leads to other important queries about how much your marketplace and business environment have been changed by Coronavirus. Are your customers still in business? Do they still need the same products from you as before, in the same quantities and timeframe?

These in turn lead to questions about materials and machinery. Are the materials you need still readily available? What does your own inventory look like? Have some components surpassed their shelf-life during the lockdown? Is your plant ready to start operating or does it require some maintenance? Who needs to do that and how long will it take? Was it shut down properly? Can you get the parts?

If you’re preparing to ramp down from peak demand rather than starting up, the same kinds of questions will apply, as you seek to match your levels of production to incoming orders. What inventory will be needed where and how can you avoid ending up with excess stock?

The answers to all these and other similar questions will greatly influence your direction and speed of travel. Thinking them through in a methodical way and plotting out the resulting actions sequentially will help to define a water-tight plan to ensure your start-up proceeds as quickly and smoothly as possible.

How you articulate your plan is up to you and will depend on the levels of complexity with which you’re faced. It could be a gated process, driving very clear ‘yes’ and ‘no’ decisions points, it could be a Gantt chart, or it could be a simple list of actions.

The verticality (i.e. speed) of your start-up will also depend on the nature of your business. If you have a hot process, for example, you may need some time for your furnace to heat up, so your start-up timeline may be more extended.

What’s important is that you consider:

• who are all the stakeholders in each activity – identify clear ownership of tasks.
• when each decision and action needs to happen – develop a sequential decision-making process that starts early enough to avoid unplanned delays.

For each action point, you should think through in advance what could go wrong and what alternative approach you can take if you hit a roadblock.

Early management for a vertical start-up

There are some management methodologies that can provide useful pointers here. Perhaps the most relevant is Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), which provides a structured approach to eliminating losses in manufacturing, and, in particular, implementing the perfect ‘vertical’ start-up.

TPM involves eight ‘pillars’ of activity which guide organisations through a structured system to remove all losses from different stages of production processes. The pillar that deals with vertical start-ups is the fifth one, known as Early Management, which aims to help companies implement new products and processes with minimal lead time. Early Management seeks to identify in advance all the things that could go wrong, in plenty of time to take appropriate steps to mitigate the risks.

There are two parts to the Early Management pillar: Early Equipment Management and Early Product Management. Both focus on eliminating the potential for losses through the planning, development and design stages, as well as shortening development lead times, with teams working on different activities simultaneously.

The approach works by developing a shared accountability for success, involving all departments across the plant. While it is more commonly applied to projects relating to installing new plant or launching new products, the technique can also be applied to support a restart, or even managing down from peak production.

TPM and Early Management provide a helpful structure to work through the start-up planning process and make sure you don’t leave gaps, but really, they are just ways to write a really good to-do list.

Reverse fishbone technique

Another simple and helpful tool is the ‘reverse fishbone’ diagram. Instead of working through the fish from a defect or failure at the ‘head’ to then plot out the various causes along the skeleton branches, as in a conventional fishbone, you put your goal – a perfect vertical start-up – at the head and work backwards along the bones to scope out what you need to do to reach it.

The four bone branches cover the four key elements you need to consider: people, processes, equipment and material. Each item on each branch requires an owner. Items can be either actions that you already know need to happen, or they can be questions that must be answered in order to define the next steps.

This simple technique can be used to identify everything necessary to create a plan of action. Furthermore, it’s a helpful tool for enabling multiple stakeholders to participate in managing the start-up process, which supports the aim of sharing accountability for success.

Just get started

While approaches like TPM and reverse fishbone can be helpful, you shouldn’t let the variety of planning tools and techniques out there bamboozle you. Just start somewhere – and start soon. A plan that is 80% right is good enough to get going.

Remember, you know your business best, so don’t be afraid to dive in. If you do feel you need some external support to guide you, do contact us. We can certainly help.

Article written by: Simon Carr, General Manager SMMT Industry Form

Simon has 24 years engineering and operations experience gained within aerospace, industrial processing, automotive, food and drink, defence, electronics, fabrication, petrochemical, offshore systems, pharmaceutical, healthcare and banking. Simon was one of the original Industry Forum recruits and was trained by the Japanese Master Engineers.  Recent assignments include significant capital projects for the Ministry of Defence and in the Oil & Gas sector.

Today, we are celebrating International Women’s Day! In recognition of all the women across the globe, we’d like to shine a light on two of Industry Forum’s own. Read on to find out a little more about two of our Senior Consultants in Lean / TPM, Anna Vaughan and YeeHuan Lim.

Tell us a bit about your career before working at Industry Forum.

Anna: I started out as an apprentice toolmaker, and used this as a platform to get into manufacturing engineering. I developed a keen interest, specifically in continuous improvement and lean manufacturing and worked in a variety of industries where I led and implemented Lean and TPM programmes.

YeeHuan: Before joining Industry Forum, I was an Innovation Engineer working with the management team to improve company competitiveness using Lean and Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) principles. I worked with companies of varying sizes, ranging from multinationals to small and medium manufacturers, across a range of diverse industrial sectors including automotive, oil and gas, petrochemical, medical devices and optics.

Tell us about your current role at Industry Forum.

Anna: In my current role as Senior Consultant in Lean and TPM, I have been able to use my combined background in continuous improvement and maintenance to successfully coach, steer and develop TPM and Lean programmes for a variety of different clients. I work with customers in multiple sectors including automotive, aerospace, electronics, industrial products and food and packaging industries throughout the UK as well as internationally in USA, Europe, Asia and Russia.

YeeHuan: My current role as a Senior Consultant in Lean and TPM involves the following:

• Assessing the capabilities of a business to improve its competitiveness in national and global markets.
• Consulting in Lean and TPM philosophy for the manufacturing sector and its supply chain, working with organisations of various sizes and business models.
• Training material development for bespoke programmes, including translation.
• Implementing improvement projects and conducting programmes with a holistic approach for businesses.

What do you enjoy about working at Industry Forum?

Anna: I enjoy working with my customers and helping them to achieve their improvement goals.

YeeHuan: I enjoy having the opportunity to work with different sized companies and all levels of people, both nationally and internationally to improve business capabilities.

What would you say has been your biggest learning over the course of your career?

Anna: One thing I have learnt is to never stop learning and to always listen.

YeeHuan: I would say one of my biggest learnings is the skill of consultation on mindset changing, to enable people to look from different perspectives and empower people to have the confidence to step out of their comfort zones.

What has been the most memorable project for you and why?

Anna: I’m most proud of my working relationship with my main customer. I am now into my seventh year of providing support and guidance, working with multiple sites, at various levels in multiple locations. The longevity of the working relationship is the greatest result!

YeeHuan: One of my most memorable projects was when I worked with a refractory solution business to improve its warehouse system for identifying the type of material or storage quantity. One of the tangible benefits was that the time taken to complete the stock counting activities reduced from 3 days to 3 hours. This not only improved the delivery time, but also resulted in cost reduction. Intangible benefits included reduction of stress and increased morale amongst the team.

What would be the number one piece of advice you would give to someone who’s starting out on an improvement journey with their company?

Anna: Have a plan, set goals and go for it, no excuses!

YeeHuan: Doing something is better than doing nothing; improvement is a process of change, change to be better. Nothing could be worse than no change; it is a practical experience that can never be bought.

If you’d like to find out more about working with our fantastic team, email us or give us a call on +44 (0)121 717 6600.

Who should attend?

Find out more and Book Now!

Do you ever feel like you could achieve more, if you had the right leadership skills?

According to renowned management expert John Maxell, “The single biggest way to impact an organisation is to focus on leadership development. There is almost no limit to the potential of an organisation that recruits good people, raises them up as leaders and continually develops them.”

Industry Forum knows that effective leadership is crucial to achieving your business goals. Our Leadership Development Programme (LDP) is a carefully tailored training package designed to unleash the potential of managers at all levels to tackle problems and improve results.

The LDP is designed to help you identify and nurture the future leaders in your organisation, then empower them to significantly and continuously improve manufacturing operations, customer satisfaction, employee retention and your bottom line.

Uniquely effective, blended approach

Based around the specific challenges you want to tackle in your company right now, the Industry Forum Leadership Development Programme uses a powerful, immersive, blended curriculum to embed and practice learning. It is a deliberately intense training experience, incorporating a structured system of individual study, group workshops, one-to-one coaching, practical implementation and timely feedback. Participants are supported to apply their new skills straight away to solve identified business issues.

This proven approach brings tangible, measurable and sustained improvements to working practices, resulting in a rapid and demonstrable return on your investment.

Three tiers

 The LDP is structured to meet the training needs of leaders at every level of manufacturing organisations:

• Team Leader Essentials (TLE) cements the bedrock of effective leadership behaviours for supervisors, including daily management practices, lean foundation principles and interpersonal skills.

This seven-day course consists of: online learning modules; a three-day workshop including classroom study, team activities and practical shop-floor exercises; a day to plan and agree improvement projects; and three follow-up days spread over several weeks to monitor progress and provide feedback.

• Manufacturing Manager Training (MMT) is aimed at those with responsibility for creating and leading operational plans and managing and supporting team leaders. It helps them to make effective use of the lean toolbox, blend great leadership with financial acumen, establish sustainability, ensure adherence to processes and policies and create a culture for change and continuous improvement.

Over four days of teaching and three of mentoring and feedback, participants complete a suite of in-depth teaching modules including an audit of current processes, interactive discussions, shop-floor activities, role plays and situational coaching.

• Senior Leadership Training (SLT) looks at developing and enhancing the skills, knowledge and attitude needed to cascade business strategy throughout an organisation, deal constructively with different types of conflict, rapidly build high-performance teams and deliver sustainable change.

The programme is designed to be 8 days (based on 6 delegates). This highly tailored programme combines a mix of activities; including psychometric assessments, ,classroom interactive learning and discussions to build on individuals’ strengths and address areas for development.

Leadership Development Programme success stories

Seven-figure savings at automotive manufacturer

A leading manufacturer of high-quality trims for the automotive sector found that quality issues and long cycle times were affecting its internal and external customer relationships. Problems were going unresolved and staff felt they were not listened to when they proposed solutions. Furthermore, there were significant differences in output across shifts and roles and responsibilities were poorly defined and understood.

42 line leads and supervisors took part in Industry Forum’s Team Leader Essentials course. The delegates were split into six groups and the three workshop days were separated out to ensure each group progressed through the programme at the same rate. Each participant reported back on the application of their learning before progressing to the next instalment. This provided an impartial perspective on the level of their engagement and interest, helping senior managers to identify emerging leaders who had the potential to become future departmental managers.

At the end of the three workshop days, each team leader pinpointed improvement projects within their own area of responsibility that would measurably impact quality, cost, delivery or safety. Where no monitoring and evaluation systems were in place, new ones were established to assess progress.

During the six-month TLE programme, delegates identified over 50 projects that impacted quality, cost, delivery or safety. Numerous projects were completed by the end of the course, resulting in savings of over £20,000. Many others were in progress, promising to generate further savings of £1.2 million through changes such as: better inventory control; streamlining of ergonomics and reduction in distances employees needed to walk to complete tasks; cutting reworking by 20%; and improving health and safety, resulting in less time lost due to illness or injury.

Supervisors were far more confident and effective at managing teams, resolving conflict, capturing and analysing performance data and solving problems at their roots. Customers that visited the site began to comment on how much progress had been made with 5S, Visual Management and the general morale of the entire organisation. The company now has a continuous improvement culture that is sustainable and supported by line leads, department managers and senior management.

Standardising excellence in plastics

Food and chemical sector customers of AST Plastic Containers UK appreciate the company’s high standards of quality and technical expertise gleaned over several decades of producing state-of-the-art plastics.

The organisation wanted to develop the skills of the supervisors at its Wrexham site in order to instil and embed standardised shift management processes, ensuring the same level of excellence across every shift. It also wanted to enhance general leadership and management skills, improve safety and reduce costs. It was important that the skills learnt on the training translated into immediate, tangible impacts in shift output.

Over the course of seven days of training and coaching, team leaders developed and implemented individual action plans, as well as working with an Industry Forum consultant to create and embed a standardised approach to shift management. The new technique involves a proactive approach to problem solving as well as visual management boards with daily and weekly targets.

In parallel to the Team Leaders Essentials course, senior managers and departmental leaders took part in a Manufacturing Manager Training course. This enabled them to contextualise the importance of shift leaders managing teams effectively and support them to achieve business goals. Departmental leaders defined short-, medium- and long-term actions that encapsulated team leaders’ training objectives and aligned them with the organisation’s strategic vision.

As a result of the training, team leaders and managers are equipped with in-depth knowledge of key lean manufacturing concepts such as 5S, Visual Management, Standard Work, Line Balancing and Problem Solving. Shift leaders no longer have to ‘jump on the line’ to reactively firefight problems, and departmental managers now play an active role in ensuring that the newly developed systems and culture are successful. Production output and staff retention have improved and the Wrexam plant has become a flagship for the rest of the company, leading the way in lean manufacture.

Could you benefit from the Leadership Development Programme?

Not sure where to start? Why not take our Talent Management & Skills Self-Assessment, aimed at Operational and HR professionals and receive a written feedback and the option of free Facetime feedback session with an Industry Forum expert to get recommendations that will help you to realise your leadership potential

Every year, SMMT QMD – a division of Industry Forum shines a spotlight on the automotive quality management profession by hosting the world’s only Automotive Quality Management Systems (AQMS) Conference.

At AQMS 2019, leaders and managers of automotive quality from around the world will come together to share their insights and strategies, and offer a glimpse of what is in store for the profession.

To ensure your organisation doesn’t miss out, here are a few advantages you’ll want to share with your boss:

Help Your Company Win

From inspiring keynotes to networking with pioneers, AQMS 2019 is the place to interact with the best minds in the automotive quality profession today! You’ll come home with vital information, a stronger network, and a deep understanding of the tools that can help you improve quality at your organisation.

Learn from Your Peers

The inspirational agenda covers everything from intricate technical issues to big-picture business strategies. A unique three-track workshop agenda on day two means you’ll have access to an expansive range of content that’s right for you. You can customise your experience to ensure you gain the knowledge and insights that will make a real difference for your organisation.

Experts in One Place

Experts and strategists will be on hand to give you an exclusive preview of the latest updates, plus spokespeople from the IATF, VDA and ISO TC176 will give valuable updates with regards to their respective long-term vision and plans for the future.

We hope that your time at AQMS will be just the beginning of your reimagination, and we look forward to seeing what you accomplish. We’ve got many big ideas to bring to the table, and we can’t wait to share them with you.

There’s so much to share, learn, and discuss – and AQMS 2019 is the place to do it. To ensure you don’t miss out, we’ve developed a letter you can customise and share with your company. Just download the Word document below.

Download Letter      Download Event Flyer

Book Now!

With increasing pressures from consumers on short delivery times, track and trace functionality and a solid returns process, the pressure on logistics and distribution has never been so great.  Reports from manufacturing groups indicate that Logistics and Distribution costs typically range between 5 – 15% of the cost of sales.  Recent reports around additional costs for e-commerce suggest that this can be more than double for a purely e-commerce operation compared with the traditional models of supply.

Pair that with the current political uncertainty and ever increasing demands to drive down costs, we ask whether the current logistics and distribution arena is at breaking point?

Customer expectations have evolved rapidly in recent years; many calling this ‘The Amazon Effect’.  Demand for responsive, high performing logistics solutions is being recognised across all sectors and all sizes of companies.

We believe that a fresh approach to logistics and distribution strategy and management is essential to yield significant improvements in both service and cost reduction.

Over the past couple of decades we’ve seen huge developments in logistics service providers.  The majority of companies look to outsource these services where possible, often finding that there are both cost and service advantages to doing this.  It’s true to say, that the initial move away in-house logistics and distribution to a seasoned 3^rd party provider is often the time that the biggest benefits and cost reductions are achieved for many companies.  But what about the years to come?

With pressures to continually reduce costs often noted by industry professionals in logistics and supply chain operations roles, the practicalities of delivering consistent and worthwhile improvements can be extremely challenging.

Part of the problem lies within the heavily structured RFQ and re-tendering process that many companies find themselves trapped within.  With a process so rigid, there is almost no room for innovation and re-tendering inevitably becomes a penny pinching exercise.  This causes frustration for all involved, and, doesn’t achieve the improvements that are desired by many.

The process of re-tendering is often complex, requiring forecast volumes and movements to be provided based on unreliable information and an upfront commitment to these forming the basis of any future contract.  This uncertainty leaves all parties feeling exposed and at risk of incurring substantial losses if forecasted volumes, networks or customer demands change.

At Industry Forum, we take a fresh approach to logistics and distribution.  By evaluating your current performance, the performance of any existing contracts, taking time to model your future requirements and understand the service expectations of your customers and the business, we provide you with a solid basis for negotiating significant improvements for your entire logistics and distribution operation.

We talked to Richard Perriman, Vice-President of Supply Chain Development for Horizon International Cargo, to understand how this approach has benefited a number of his clients.

Richard said “As one of the UK’s leading privately owned logistics organisations, we often receive unsolicited invitations to participate in RFQ processes.   In many cases, the invitations are received with a broad, top line scope of requirements and an accompanying rate spreadsheet for completion.

This practice only allows a bidder to respond with a “like-for-like” price for providing precisely the same solution as the incumbent provider – and gives little or no opportunity to add value or explore potential advantages for the client.   Ultimately, this means that the client may, at best, achieve minimal cost savings, but miss out on realising significant improvements to their supply chain processes – which has the potential to reduce both direct and indirect costs by a considerable margin; far greater than any minimal rate saving.”

But for some clients, a fresh approach to tendering for third party logistics services has allowed them to realised unprecedented benefits.

Richard shared with us the details of one such particular case.

“In a recent case, a prospect, who is now a client, agreed reluctantly to meet with us at the 11^th hour of a protracted RFQ process.   Within 30 minutes of our first meeting, we were able to identify cost savings in excess of £300,000 year-on-year, simply by applying a slightly tweaked process that the client had been unaware of.   Our eggs-for-eggs pricing per FCL container was on a par with our competitors, so had we not engaged in that meeting the client would be paying £300,000 more p.a. than they are now.

Obviously, it is not always possible to achieve such significant savings, however to simply award business to the lowest bidder, without exploring potential areas for improvement certainly reduces the scope for significant “wins”.”

In return for a small investment of time, and openness to a different approach, you could achieve savings you never thought possible.

If you want to make a change, but you’re not sure what to do, contact us today to arrange a confidential chat with one of our consultants.  Our services around network remodelling, data and cost benefit analysis could also provide a useful insight as to potential improvement opportunities in your operation.

We can support you through the end to end tender, negotiation and contract process to ensure you get the best deal possible.  We can support you through project management of any transfer of goods and services as required.

Make the most of your logistics and distribution operation by innovating with Industry Forum.

The VDA 6.x regulations are designed for organisations in the automotive supply chain to provide a holistic quality management approach and possibility for 3rd party certification.

To the carmakers (OEMs), it delivers a consistent and comparable assessment of  their suppliers, associated services and service establishments, in terms of their quality management systems, processes, products and services.

These are developed and described by VDA QMC Quality Standards for the German automotive industry in the VDA 6.x Volumes.

The full set contains the following publications:

VDA 6.1 : 2016 – QM System Audit – Serial Production 

VDA 6.2 : 2017 – QM System Audit – Service

VDA 6.3 : 2016 – Process Audit

VDA 6.4 : 2017 – QM System Audit – Production Equipment

VDA 6.5 : 2008 – Product Audit

VDA 6.7 : 2012 – Process Audit – Production Equipment – Product Creation Process / Unit Production

Overview of the VDA 6.x Volumes

VDA 6.1 (volume 6 part 1)

VDA 6.1 – QM System Audit – Serial Production

The VDA 6.1 Quality Management System is an extension of ISO 9001 for the automotive industry, originated within the German automotive sector. Organisations can obtain 3rd party certification against this standard. This will be recognised by most German based customers as an alternative to IATF 16949.

VDA 6.1 dates back to the time of QS 9000 and altogether with French and Italian standards, was used to create ISO/TS 16949 in 1999.

Although QS 9000 and other national equivalents are now obsolete, VDA 6.1 remained an alternative to ISO/TS 16949 certification, mainly in Germany.

The current standard is the 5th edition from 2016, with essential requirements of ISO 9001:2015.

From the 1st January 2017, this 5th edition replaces the 4th edition from 2010.

VDA 6.2 (volume 6 part 2)

VDA 6.2 – QM System Audit – Service

The VDA 6.2 is a Quality Management System designed for service providers in the automotive industry.

Organisations can obtain 3rd party certification against this standard.

It focuses on services that are not recognised by IATF as eligible for standalone IATF 16949 certification, such as engineering offices, traders, dealers, warehousing or logistics providers.

VDA 6.2 incorporates Annex SL (10 chapter structure of ISO 9001:2015).

The current standard is the 3rd edition from 2017. 

The requirements for ISO 9001:2015, as well as the revised requirements for the industry in 2016 are valid for VDA Volume 6, Part 2 “QM-System Audit Service”, also referred to as VDA 6.2.

VDA 6.3 (volume 6 part 3)

VDA 6.3 – Process Audit

The Audit Standard VDA 6.3 is a standardised procedure for the conduct of process audits to assess organisational performance and capability for their product realisation processes.

The standard is intended to complement and reinforce widely adopted standards, such as ISO 9001, IATF 16949 and other sector specific quality derivatives of ISO 9001, such as those for aerospace and medical equipment. Such audits are a vital element in determining whether an organisation/supplier has the capability to meet the needs of a purchaser. Getting this judgement right can make all the difference to the success of a project. Applying the VDA 6.3 audit will support organisations in meeting the IATF requirements regarding manufacturing process audit.

Some customers mandate the use of VDA 6.3

The current standard is the 3rd edition from 2016.

VDA 6.3 has been completely revised, making it more precise, adapting to changing requirements in the automotive industry.

VDA 6.4 (volume 6 part 4)

VDA 6.4 – QM System Audit – Production Equipment

VDA 6.4 is a Quality Management System designed for production equipment makers in the automotive industry.

Organisations can obtain 3rd party certification against this standard.

VDA 6.4 focuses on specialised, often non serial production like tools, machinery, appliances and testing and measuring equipment. The main goals for this volume are to assess the quality of the means of production and tools, as well as the appropriate cooperation with the customer.

The current standard is the 3rd edition from 2017. 

The renewal of VDA 6.4 regulations was initiated by the publication of ISO 9001:2015, as this specific set of rules is based on ISO 9001.

VDA 6.5 (volume 6 part 5)

VDA 6.5 – Product Audit

VDA 6.5 defines a code of practice for the management of product audit programmes.

The product audit is one of the oldest methods which give a statement on the quality of products prior to their delivery to the customer. It assesses the effectiveness of quality assurance through the examination of a small number of products and/or parts and confirms the quality capability of the production process based on the quality of a product.

Some customers mandate the use of VDA 6.5. Applying the VDA 6.5 approach will support organisations in meeting the IATF requirements regarding product audit.

VDA 6.5 is currently the only available standard that describes how to prepare, plan and execute product audits. This standard can be used in any organisation regardless of production profile or industry.

The current standard is the 2nd edition from 2008. 

VDA 6.7 (volume 6 part 7)

VDA 6.7 Process Audit – Production Equipment – Product Creation Process / Unit Production

The Process Audit Standard VDA 6.7 supports VDA 6.4 and is designed to audit a development and product realisation process for so-called unit or single production (very low volumes, one offs).

Typical application is within an organisation that is producing tools, machinery, appliances and testing and measuring equipment.

The current standard is the 2nd edition from 2012. 

If you need support regarding any of the above mentioned VDA volumes, please email [email protected]

Common issues are holding back some automotive supply chain companies looking to gain the new IATF 16949 quality management before the deadline of September 2018.

The new IATF 16949 standard is an internationally-recognised method of defining how an organisation can meet the requirements of its customers and other stakeholders. It promotes continual improvement, places an emphasis on defect prevention and aims to reduce variation and waste in the supply chain. By providing guidance and tools to ensure that products consistently meet customer requirements, the IATF 16949 certification process can help businesses identify potential efficiency gains and cost savings.     

Many holders of the ISO/TS 16949 quality management certificate looking to transition to the new IATF 16949 standard are struggling to achieve compliance. Global IATF 16949 audit result data reveals several hundred companies have faced major non-compliances in the areas of non-conformity and corrective action alone, with problem-solving, control planning and contingency planning also catching manufacturers out.

There is a concern that many will fail to meet the transition deadline of September this year and face commercially damaging consequences where achieving the certificate is a customer requirement. Some are still yet to apply for the new standard.

Industry Forum is the UK’s only IATF (International Automotive Task Force) accredited organisation. The deadline is fast approaching for the automotive supply chain to transition from the ISO/TS 16949 quality management certificate to the new IATF 16949 standard. Although transitions must be completed by September 2018, many holders of the old standard have yet to apply for the new one and many businesses currently applying for IATF 16949 certification are encountering difficulties.

We at Industry Forum are seeing common issues among the companies we are brought in to support around the world. IATF 16949 audits are uncovering less rigorous risk management processes in departments supporting manufacturing, such as purchasing and HR. IATF 16949 also requires new ways of working in internal auditing and the documentation of corrective actions where non-compliance is uncovered. Interpreting the regulations is proving something of a challenge and that’s certainly something on which we at Industry Forum can provide clear guidance.

To help businesses and organisations proactively anticipate these issues and more besides, Industry Forum runs a one-day Masterclass on the most common non-conformities, provides IATF Certified training to help with transition to IATF 16949, and offers expert consultancy, mentoring and advice for transition. Industry Forum is also able to offer standard training packages around Internal Auditor, Lead Auditor and Automotive Core Tools. The company develops bespoke solutions to help and support companies in their transition process and also in the closure of non-compliances identified during their transition audit. 

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