The commitment to APQP4Wind keeps growing
Since the first companies started to implement APQP4Wind in 2017, a current total of 1,159 utility companies, manufacturers, and suppliers from across the world have had a total of 5,162 employees on APQP4Wind training. There is therefore no doubt that APQP4Wind has become a widespread quality assurance method in the global wind industry.
The main reason for this high commitment to the APQP4Wind methodology seems to be that the suppliers, manufacturers, and now also utility companies have realized that it is essential to have a common quality assurance method across the entire supply chain in order to align and mature the wind industry, so it can keep pace with the ongoing trend towards decreases in the Levelized Cost of Energy.
Furthermore, a great number of companies, and especially suppliers, have experienced that implementing the APQP4Wind method and having their employees trained in the APQP4Wind framework has benefitted their product development procedures significantly in multiple ways. The three main benefits that the suppliers in the APQP4Wind Community are experiencing are the ability to identify and prevent risks, a reduction of costs, and improved collaboration with customers, which you can read more about below.
Helps identify and prevent risks
As mentioned, one of the main benefits that suppliers are experiencing is that the APQP4Wind methodology has helped them identify risks and prevent them from happening. By applying APQP4Wind, the companies have adopted a preventive quality approach that helps reduce risks and thereby deliver the high-quality products that the customers demand.
One of the many companies that has learned to reduce risks is the blade manufacturer Zhuzhou Times New Material Technology Co., Ltd. (TMT). With the help of APQP4Wind, TMT has created a preventive quality system that helps the company identify and prevent risks to provide high-quality products in time and at the lowest cost, says Deputy General Manager of TMT and General Manager of TMT’s Wind Power Products Business Unit, Dr. Hou Binbin:
Thanks to the implementation of APQP4Wind, we have built a customer-centric preventive quality system that helps us identify risks as early as possible and take measures in advance, enabling us to provide high-quality products to our customers in a timely manner at the lowest cost.
Read more about how APQP4Wind has helped TMT prevent risks here, or purchase the APQP4Wind Manual to learn how to identify and prevent risks in your own company. The Manual sets a common standard and best practice for planning and executing quality assurance in the entire supply chain, it is available in English, English/Spanish, and English/Chinese.
Reduced costs
As a result of the ability to identify and prevent risks that many suppliers are experiencing, many of them have also found that implementing APQP4Wind has helped them reduce the cost of quality.
For Noratel, who manufactures transformers and reactors, using APQP4Wind has allowed the company to lower the cost of quality by giving them a preventive approach and systematic tool, Quality and Environmental Manager at Noratel, David Wu expresses:
With the implementation of APQP4Wind, the preventive and cross-functional approach has changed our company culture and our entire management system. It is a reliable and systematic tool that ensures that we develop and produce new products consistently to meet all our customer requirements and at the same time reduce our quality costs.
You can read more about how Noratel has reduced its quality costs here, or learn more about the cost of poor quality by downloading the document to the right.
Improved customer collaboration
Another benefit of APQP4Wind that many suppliers are experiencing is that it has helped improve the collaboration with their customers. By providing a common language and a uniform way of communicating with and reporting to the customer, the APQP4Wind methodology has made it much easier for the suppliers to collaborate with their customers and meet their demands.
Jupiter Bach, who manufactures nacelle and spinner covers, is one of the many suppliers that have experienced a smoother cooperation with customers as a benefit of implementing APQP4Wind. Global Director BPM & QHSE at Jupiter Bach, Lone Stubberup, says:
Earlier, our customers wanted us to follow different procedures, but APQP4Wind has helped us do it one way. The collaboration with our customers now runs much smoother as we use the same language, and all demands are clear.
Read more about how Jupiter Bach improved customer collaboration here, or sign up for an APQP4Wind training course to learn how to improve your own customer relationships and much more. By establishing a common mindset, terminology, and uniform application of the APQP4Wind methodology, the training courses help suppliers, manufacturers, and utility companies speak the same language when it comes to quality assurance.
Does your company also want to advance your business by improving customer collaboration, preventing risks, and lowering the cost of quality?
Learn more about how to get started with implementing the APQP4Wind in your quality assurance procedures on the APQP4Wind website, or contact one of our approved training providers: Bureau Veritas Certification, DNV, or TÜV Rheinland to get started.