APQP4Wind welcomes GRI Renewable Industries to the Board of Directors
APQP4Wind first movers
With over ten years of experience, GRI Renewable Industries is a solid company within the wind industry finding continuous improvement as best practice. The structured tool APQP4Wind has driven GRI Renewable Industries to focus on standardization throughout their global organization.
GRI Renewable Industries started following APQP4Wind in 2017 and, after establishing a plan and restructuring resources, they were ready to start the APQP4Wind journey in 2018 by sending all Quality Managers from the different GRI factories on training to get certified by DNV as APQP4Wind Specialists.
Recently, GRI Renewable Industries purchased the APQP4Wind Assessment Tool as they believe it will help them take an additional step towards continuously improving and maturing. According to the Chairman of the APQP4Wind Board and Senior Specialist at Vestas Wind Systems, Henning Bach Jokumsen, the voice of GRI Renewable Industries is valuable within the Board of Directors to base the development of APQP4Wind on real experiences and to give the right perspective:
“GRI Renewable Industries has shown great commitment to APQP4Wind; starting as a dedicated company member, and now we are happy to welcome them to the APQP4Wind Board of Directors. The perspective of a global supplier of forgings and flanges with relation to the automotive industry will be greatly appreciated when discussing the APQP4Wind framework within the board.
On the APQP4Wind journey
GRI Renewable Industries chose the APQP4Wind path to grow and improve their quality assurance. It has been driving the standardization within GRI Renewable Industries and their customers with the aim of becoming more efficient and benefitting from a new common language to manage projects within quality.
To ensure a successful transformation and use of APQP4Wind, GRI Renewable Industries defined a vision on how to work with APQP4Wind, specified related business processes, and outlined a road map of internal implementation across borders.
The use of the APQP4Wind Toolbox containing the APQP4Wind Manual, Workbook, and Analysis Tool has also been crucial for successfully standardizing processes and ensuring that they can work with all customers, train relevant teams, and drive improvements on a global scale.
The ambition to achieve a ‘zero-defect culture’
The Quality HS&E Corporate Director at GRI Renewable Industries, Susana Alexandra Pereira has a masters' degree in Renewable Energy and more than 15 years of experience in QHSE management, 12 of which are specifically from being a part of the wind industry.
As an APQP4Wind Board Member, Susana Alexandra Pereira looks forward to being a part of the strong collaboration between the board members on a global scale with representatives from GE Renewable Energy, Goldwind, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, Vestas, KK Wind Solutions, LM Wind Power and ZF Wind Power:
“The biggest motivational factor for me is the opportunity to network, learn and share experiences with the rest of the board members. At GRI Renewable Industries, we have experienced that APQP4Wind is key for process efficiency and effectiveness. I strongly believe that we can achieve a ‘zero-defect culture’ in Quality by working together. It is a pleasure and honor for me to join the APQP4Wind Board of Directors.
Sharing best practices
An important part of APQP4Wind’s strategy is to grow its global presence and strengthen the maturity of APQP4Wind, and the addition of GRI Renewable Industries will help do just that, General Manager of APQP4Wind, Kim Nedergaard Jacobsen expresses:
“GRI Renewable Industries has more than ten years of experience within the wind industry and a total of 16 factories in both Europe, Asia, Africa, and North and South America. Because of their global presence, strong focus on quality assurance, and sharing of best practices across factories, we are sure that they will contribute positively to the development and maturity of APQP4Wind.