| Six Successful Months of Audits |
Several key customer quality audits and a DNV re-audit have taken place successfully at the Hatteland Display headquarters over the last six months. Motivation behind the recent audits varied - the DNV audit was to confirm our ISO:9001 status, whilst several key customers were auditing our systems and processes in view of progress and one new customer audited us as a potential primary supplier.
The results of the different audits conveyed a similar message according to Hatteland Display's Quality Manager, Thor Østrem: "The customer and DNV audits show us that the focus on quality systems and processes such as KPL, VSM and S5 that we implemented in 2007 are on track and helping to improve all major areas of business from R&D and sales to manufacturing and storage. This is important to the quality objectives that we have set ourselves and our suppliers, to help ensure that we can offer only the highest quality products and services to our customers."
The audits were generally carried out by QA, purchasing and people responsible for production from each customer. Attention was focussed on R&D where quality measurements and control of the processes were reviewed in addition to a close look at the R&D to production handover process. This system, called the 5 Stage-Gate Process ensures that new products in development reach manufacturing with quality considered at every stage. The audits found that the systems to make this happen at Hatteland Display were generally strong.
Another focus was of course production, an area that Hatteland Display has made many recent changes. The customer audit teams studied the new production systems in close detail and were particularly interested, and positive about the Life Cycle Management (LCM) system that is currently being implemented. Every small detail was taken into account, from the daily temperature of refrigerators through to torque measurements, ESD equipment and even the quality of stacking in the warehouse. Testing, service, after sales support and warehouse operation were also areas that our customers were keen to explore during the audits.
"The audits from our existing customers highlighted our progress throughout the last twelve months and we're delighted to have received a positive reaction from them. Of course, we still have areas to improve on and we were happy to receive this feedback also, but considering the new quality systems only started a year ago, we have reached a good level in very little time. We're also happy that the audit from the potential new customer had positive results," comments Østrem.
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