Jacek Łuczak Dr hab. inż., prof. nadzw. UEP, Faculty of Commodity Research

The Poznań University of Economics, Poznań, Poland

ASSESSMENT OF QMS REQUIREMENTS IMPORTANCE FOR CAR INDUSTRY SUPPLIERS – RESEARCH RESULTS

The automotive industry is a highly developed network of suppliers providing components direct for OEM. The suppliers cooperate with one another in various areas of activity and under diverse contracts e.g. providing supplies for production lines, service stations or the aftermarket of spare parts and equipment. In each case, the supplier has to meet strict requirements related not only to product quality, but also, above all, to management system. Companies make efforts to obtain the status of an OE/OES supplier, since this type of references makes it possible for them to expand on the OEM market. Quality management can play a key role here. It is based on different sets of requirements which vary in respect of how detailed they are and how difficult it is to implement them. Without any doubts QMS requirements which should be met by suppliers play a key role when their success on the market is concerned. The scope of requirements themselves is considerably wide – from those determined by economic aspects to all elements of a standardized Quality Management System to industry specific and customer specific requirements.

Thus, using quality management methods and techniques is a key component of a system approach to quality management in the automotive industry.

In case of many companies, quality management methods and techniques are not well-known and if used, they are only used only in a partial way. At the same time, there is vast literature available on the market which characterizes a wide spectrum of tools for improvement. These tools can be helpful when monitoring non-compliances and taking corrective and pventive actions is concerned. In case of automotive industry, using the said tools when identifying causes of non-compliance and determining priorities for improvement is an everyday practice. Based on the conducted research, the author is trying to find an answer to the question of which methods mentioned in the literature are used and what motivates organizations to implement specific methods.