Kvalitetssäkring av inköpta artiklar inom fordonsindustrin : En multipel fallstudie på Scania CV AB och Volkswagen Nutzfahrzeuge AG

The importance of product quality and customer satisfaction has increased due to the growth of a global market. The latter provides an opportunity for companies to offer their products worldwide and for customers to choose from a range of brands. Companies with quality as a core value can use this as a competitive advantage, which means that not only the produced products need to be of high quality but also operations within the organization. Within the purchasing department, many parts that are used for production of the product are first handled. In order to keep product quality high the purchased parts need to meet the customer requirements for quality.The aim of this thesis is to increase understanding of quality assurance of purchased parts for companies that operate in the automotive industry and to find potential improvement areas. The primary study is at Scania CV AB, Sweden, which is a company that operates within the automotive industry, and produces trucks, busses, and industrial and marine engines. A second case study is conducted at Volkswagen Nutzfahrzeuge AG, Germany, which produces transporter vehicles. Both Scania CV AB and Volkswagen Nutzfahrzeuge AG are brands of Volkswagen Group AG, which includes ten additional brands. Initial interviews at Scania CV AB show that there are six major problem areas related to the quality assurance process for purchased parts. These areas are employee competence, supplier competence, internal management and organization, time aspects, supplier’s quality mindset, and finally communication. From analysis, communication gets the highest priority and therefore the study focuses on issues that concern internal and external communication in order to find suggestions for improvements.The thesis shows that the studied cases value quality highly and that they have separate quality departments in each organization. This indicates that they have a quality culture, which is essential in order to understand the importance of quality. Quality management system and quality assurance processes enable a standardized work method and is a support for the setting of requirements to the supplier. The results give no indication on which system or process is most appropriate. Recommendations are related to communication and how to improve it continuously. In the first phase of the suggested improvement cycle, Plan, important factors regarding communication should be considered. These factors are frequency, direction, modality, and content together with limitations such as quality, resources, and time. In this way, communication can be planned and implemented in the Do phase of the cycle. The results further show that a model that categorizes the supplier and the part can be a helpful tool to prioritize communication when there is lack of time and resources. The final phase is a combination of Follow-up and Evaluation. This step is important for continuous improvement, and the results from evaluation should be implemented in the next Plan phase.Final recommendations concern the importance of supplier collaboration where communication is an important key for success. The study shows that it is essential to strive for a relational structure with a long-term relationship and joint activities. The climate should be supportive and quality should be a core value for both companies. Finally, companies in the automotive industry should use their power to assure quality of purchased parts, but at the same time remember that the supplier has requirements and expectation as well that the company must respect in order to develop a good relationship and collaboration.Validerat; 20140625 (global_studentproject_submitter