Looking back at the past year and into 2022
2021 was full of exciting highlights for the APQP4Wind organization. The organization launched a Spanish version of the APQP4Wind website and APQP4Wind Manual to meet the demands of the Spanish-speaking markets. Furthermore, the APQP4Wind Assessment Tool was published to help companies across the supply chain advance their business and reduce risks.
In the early autumn, the APQP4Wind Board of Directors re-elected its Vice Chairman and introduced GRI Renewable Industries as a new board member. The organization also networked at various events and welcomed the three utility companies, Ørsted, BP, and Vattenfall, to the APQP4Wind Community.
Key materials were launched in Spanish
As a vital part of APQP4Wind’s ‘Go Global’ strategy, the organization strives to meet the demands of the global wind industry by providing content in the languages most required by the industry’s various markets.
Therefore, APQP4Wind launched a Spanish version of the APQP4Wind website at the beginning of 2021 and launched the APQP4Wind Manual version 1.2 in Spanish later in the year to accommodate the growing interest and demand for implementing APQP4Wind in Spain and Latin America.
“When we launched the APQP4Wind Manual version 1.2 in Chinese, we found that providing APQP4Wind key materials in the local languages is an essential factor in ensuring that all users of APQP4Wind are comfortable and well-informed throughout all phases of APQP4Wind. We are therefore very happy to launch the Manual in Spanish and thereby meet the growing demand from the many Spanish-speaking users from across the world,” said APQP4Wind’s General Manager, Kim Nedergaard Jacobsen.
Read more about the launch of the Spanish version of the APQP4Wind website here and the launch of the Manual version 1.2 here.
The APQP4Wind Assessment Tool was published
While the demand for APQP4Wind was increasing in the Spanish-speaking markets, a growing number of wind turbine manufacturers and tier 1 suppliers across the globe had started to ask their suppliers to follow and comply with the APQP4Wind methodology. This resulted in more and more suppliers requesting a tool that would help them self-assess and improve their compliance with APQP4Wind.
The APQP4Wind Organization therefore developed an Assessment Tool to enable suppliers to assess their current APQP4Wind maturity level and potential areas of improvement, Chairman of the APQP4Wind Board and Senior Specialist at Vestas Wind Systems, Henning Bach Jokumsen stated:
The APQP4Wind Assessment Tool is a tool that will help companies easily self-assess their own maturity level by enabling them to measure their approach to and deployment of the APQP4Wind methodology. By doing this, the companies will be able to advance their business by planning developments and doing improvements to reach an even higher level of maturity and compliance with APQP4Wind.
Read more about the APQP4Wind Assessment Tool here.
A new APQP4Wind Board Member was introduced
The year 2021 also involved some exciting happenings in the APQP4Wind Board of Directors. Within a few weeks, Senior Director of Global QHSE at KK Wind Solutions, Kim Schmidt Petersen, was re-elected as the APQP4Wind Vice Chairman, and the Board of Directors introduced Quality HS&E Corporate Director at GRI Renewable Industries, Susana Alexandra Pereira, as a new APQP4Wind Board Member to get valuable insights from a global supplier of forgings and flanges.
Read more about the re-election of Kim Schmidt Petersen as Vice Chairman here and more about GRI Renewable Industries’ addition to the Board here.
Great networking at various events
This year, the APQP4Wind Secretariat was finally able to meet and network with the APQP4Wind Board Members and Working Group Members in person after a long time of solely online meetings. Everyone who could join came all the way to Copenhagen where the Secretariat had several meetings with the Board, hosted a workshop for the Working Group, and met with both new and potential APQP4Wind Company Members during the WindEurope Electric City trade fair.
APQP4Wind’s training provider TÜV Rheinland Greater China had a booth at the China Wind Power trade fair in October and held two successful seminars for experts within the wind industry, where General Manager of APQP4Wind, Kim Nedergaard Jacobsen, and APQP4Wind Country Ambassador and Head of SQD China at Vestas Wind Systems, Wendan Ding, spoke about APQP4Wind.
Furthermore, our committed APQP4Wind Country Ambassador and QSE - Global SME Quality Chief Specialist at Vestas Wind Systems, Ike Anyanwu-Ebo, represented APQP4Wind at the Cleanpower Conference and Exhibition in the USA, where he met with many companies who showed great interest in APQP4Wind.
Read more about the networking during WindEurope Electric City here and TÜV Rheinland’s two seminars here and here.
The growing APQP4Wind Community came full circle
It was also in Copenhagen that the APQP4Wind Board and Secretariat met with the three new utility Company Members: Ørsted, BP, and Vattenfall. With the addition of the three utility companies, the community came full circle and now holds APQP4Wind Company Members from across the entire supply chain. About the new utility members, General Manager of APQP4Wind, Kim Nedergaard Jacobsen said:
We are proud to have established a community where people within the wind industry are coming together towards improving quality, and we look forward to seeing what the new members will bring to the table.
The wind industry was indeed coming together in 2021. The ever-growing APQP4Wind Community grew by 30+ new members this year alone and now holds a total of 80+ Company Members, including five OEMs and the three new utility companies.
By being Company Members, the companies are actively contributing to develop and mature APQP4Wind and helping strengthen its implementation within the global wind industry supply chain.
Read more about Ørsted here, BP here, and Vattenfall here, and learn how to become a Company Member and a part of the APQP4Wind Community here.
Looking forward to the new year
In the APQP4Wind Organization, we are looking very much forward to 2022, where our ambition is to align the global wind industry even further by growing the APQP4Wind Community, supporting the entire wind industry to mature and develop, and accommodating the growing demands for APQP4Wind in the many markets around the globe.
We look forward to working together with you on fulfilling our ambitions in the year to come.
The APQP4Wind Secretariat will be on vacation from December 22 until January 3, 2022.