Caption: TÜV NORD Hanover auditors Harald Brandt (1st from left) and Kay Jürgensen (centre) congratulate VWSA on the ISO9001:2015 certification with António Pinto (Production Director), Percy Smith (Human Resources Director) and John Loughead (VWSA Quality Assurance).
Volkswagen Group South Africa’s manufacturing plant in Uitenhage is the first of the 119 production plants in the Volkswagen Group production network to receive the ISO9001:2015 standard certification from TÜV NORD Hanover.
It took the VWSA’s Quality Assurance department just six weeks to meet the requirements of the new ISO9001:2015 standard. The annual Management System audit undertaken by TÜV NORD Hanover from 2 – 10 November, shows that VWSA is compliant with the new ISO9001:2015, VDA6.1 and Conformity of Production standards.
This achievement guarantees that the Uitenhage plant has the management systems in place as a pre-requisite for export to international customers; it also ensures the continuation of VWSA’s export programme and provides assurance to customers, suppliers and employees that VWSA is compliant with international standards.
“ISO9001:2015 Quality Management Systems is the world’s leading quality management standard and we are proud as VWSA to be the first manufacturing plant in the Volkswagen production network to achieve this certification,” said Thomas Schaefer, Managing Director of Volkswagen Group South Africa.
The International Organisation for Standardisation based in Geneva, Switzerland has allowed companies a three year transition period to convert to the new standard which is described as the most significant change to the ISO 9001 standard since inception.
“This year will see VWSA exporting over 66 000 Volkswagen Polos. For our international customers this certification confirms that our management system complies with the latest global requirements,” concluded Thomas Schaefer.
The ISO 9001 helps organisations demonstrate to customers that they can offer products and services of consistently good quality, it also acts as a tool to streamline processes, making them more efficient.
Article source: http://www.nmbbusinesschamber.co.za/blog/posts/volkswagen-group-south-africa-among-first-to-achieve-new-international-certification
