The industry celebrates that APQP4Wind is becoming the new normal
The APQP4Wind event began with a short photomontage that displayed the previous few years of activity within APQP4Wind, such as last year’s launch of the APQP4Wind web-platform. After the photomontage was done reminding us of the past, Kim Nedergaard Jacobsen, General Manager, and APQP4Wind started speaking of the future of APQP4Wind.
What the future holds was a general theme throughout the entire day, were speakers from both KK Wind solutions, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, Vestas, and Ørsted shared both their visions and concerns for the future of quality assurance, and the wind industry in general.
Ensure quality -> minimize risk
The event was characterized by several great presentations, follow-up discussions, and networking. Every speaker brought something different to the discussion. Thomas R. Olsen, COO, Global Operations, KK Wind Solutions explained that if you have a quality management team, you are doing it wrong. Quality needs to be in the backbone of the company and should thus flow throughout the entire management team - not as an independent unity. Helle Saaby, Lead Supplier Quality Manager, Wind Turbines Product Line, Ørsted, presented her vision for APQP4Wind, which is that she will be able to look out over the esplanade, lean back and relax, not worrying that something might go wrong. Those two findings represent what the event, and APQP4Wind in general, was all about. It is about quality, and it is about risk. And throughout the panel of speakers, both supplier, OEM’s and customers, were all on the same page regarding those two key-words. That one of the best ways to minimize risk is to ensure high quality.
APQP4Wind is Becoming the New Normal
“Today’s event showed us, that APQP4Wind is becoming the new normal. This development is, to some degree, driven by the OEM’s, Vestas, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, and GE Renewable Energy,” said Jan Hylleberg, CEO of Wind Denmark.
And the increasing interest in the project was quite clear at the event, where several of the attendees asked the APQP4Wind Board of Directors for more regular meetings, in order to share knowledge and discuss what is next for the industry, how we best position our self in respect to the coming consequences of industry 4.0, and how standardization can help wind in the right direction.
Among the speakers were:
Olivier Aubert, Vice President Global Procurement QSE, Head of Supplier QSE & Development, Vestas
Gregorio Acero Alvarez, Global Head of Quality & HSE, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy
Thomas R. Olsen, COO, Global Operations, KK Wind Solutions
Helle Saaby, Lead Supplier Quality Manager, Wind Turbines Product Line, Ørsted
Mike Turner, Managing Partner, Oakland Consulting
Jan Serup Hylleberg, CEO, Wind Denmark
Ulrik Ramsing, Founder and Facilitator, BlueBehaviour
Henning Bach Jokumsen, Chairperson of APQP4Wind, Vestas Wind Systems
Kim Nedergaard Jacobsen, General Manager, APQP4Wind