The interim manager was hired by an owner-managed automotive supplier as a troubleshooter. The TIER 1 and TIER 2 supplier with headquarters in Germany and 2 plants in Europe supplies, among other things, around 8,000 identical interior parts (plastic injection molding) to a manufacturer (OEM) 300 km away every working day.
OEM places supplier under control and blocks new orders
The OEM had found several of these interior parts with surface damage during quality control at its plant. As a result, the OEM obliged the supplier to have all parts stocks and all further deliveries checked by an external sorting company of its choice at its own expense (Q-wall). As a result, the supplier incurred additional monthly costs of well over 50,000 euros.
Despite the supplier's intensive quality assurance efforts, the sorting company still found parts with surface defects several weeks later. The OEM subsequently insisted on having all 8,000 parts checked manually every day. In addition, the OEM blocked the supplier from awarding new business.
Intensive troubleshooting on site - boundary sample meeting with the OEM
The interim manager acted as troubleshooter and supply chain consultant in the production plant. After detailed discussions with the owner, the plant manager, the head of the QA department and employees from production, he took a look at all the workplaces himself. He also visited the external sorting company 300 km away and accompanied them for the whole day. He was shown every part that was identified as bad.
After a few days, it turned out that the employees of the sorting company, in their efforts to do the best possible job, were sorting out parts that the interim manager felt fully met the OEM's requirements. He then initiated and organized a boundary sample meeting with an employee from the OEM customer's quality assurance department. This meeting gave those involved more certainty and clarity about which parts would be accepted by the OEM and which would be rejected.
Remaining minor quality defects identified and remedied
After this coordination, a small number of non-conforming parts (NIO parts) remained. In close cooperation with the supplier's quality department manager, minor weaknesses were identified and remedied. The measures include a daily ABC analysis. This helps everyone involved to concentrate on the essentials. After a further 14 days, the sorting company no longer found any bad parts.
OEM releases production and reallocation after successful factory audit
The OEM appreciated the result and announced that it would audit the supplier in order to make a final decision on whether the sorting company could cease its work. The interim manager prepared and accompanied the audit together with managers and employees at the plant.
The plant audit was successfully passed. The OEM customer stopped the external sorting company and released the supplier to award new business again.
The consulting project also resulted in several work instructions and training plans for production employees being adapted. Another success of this troubleshooting project was that the targets were achieved in 4 weeks instead of the planned 8 weeks.
