Quality
INTRODUCTION
We take our commitment beyond the traditional approach of quality that is to merely focus on quality inspection and quality control.
QUALITY IMPROVEMENT
Establishing a Committed Team
Customer focus and speed are our core values so that we are committed to an effective quality improvement framework. In ensuring effective and timely resolutions of quality issues, the Quality Improvement Committee (QIC) meets on a weekly basis meant to provide direction and decision on matters pertaining to quality.
We have established a Quality Improvement Team (QIT) in the last financial year to positively address product quality problems. We also use a single channel to address our problems to streamline communication and coordinate problem-solving efforts. Not only QIT enhanced problem-solving and customer confidence, internal quality issues and customer complaints now undergo a stringent 8-stage problem-solving process to ensure a permanent resolution.
Warranty trends now register a 4% improvement, as there is a lower percentage of warranty claims over sales revenue.
Driving Quality Culture
We learned that a dynamic work culture comes from individuals take charge and are empowered to make a difference.
The Kaizen Suggestion Scheme (one of the many initiatives to drive quality ownership and quality culture) is a continuous incremental improvement and structured feedback system within PROTON. It encourages action by empowering individuals to improve processes and work conditions.
In our review this year, the submission rate for suggestions improved by 70% for both PROTON plants and 25% of the submitted suggestions have been implemented successfully resulting in cost savings of RM12.4 million.
We have also recently implemented the Innovative and Creative Circle (ICC), which is composed of PROTON employees. They are trained to identify, analyse, solve or enrich work-related concerns based on the Plan-Do-Check- Action (PDCA) cycle.
We have received a positive result of more than 250 ICC voluntary teams who undertook various projects to improve productivity, quality and cost. 97% of the registered teams have completed their projects and these have recorded cost savings of up to RM26.2 million.
QUALITY IN DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT
We have set our company's eyes in achieving 'No. 1 in Functional Quality by 2012'. PROTON has carried our efforts and structured activities to implement built-in quality upstream at early stages of a vehicle's design and development.
Our design and development process deliverables are monitored to ensure strict adherence to PROTON's New Product Introduction requirements. All new models will be then subjected to various stages of comprehensive and systematic quality gate reviews to track compliance against the set quality targets and deliverables.
With these initiatives executed during the stages of design and development, there are noticeable improvements. It is evident by the reduction in customer complaints. The Exora for example, registered 68% improvement in concerns per car for the first three months since production.
QUALITY IN SUPPLY CHAIN
To ensure our product's components quality meets a standard that complies with global automotive standards, our suppliers are required to implement various quality initiatives.
PROTON suppliers are subjected to stringent year-round quality audits. All components are also rigorously inspected and tested at various points on a continuous and periodical basis during the mass production stages.
In addition, special quality audits were carried-out with direct involvement of PROTON's top management. All newly developed components undergo and fulfill more than fifteen requirements of the production part approval process, before gaining approval for supply to our factories and fitted into PROTON vehicles.
With all these initiatives in place, the supplier quality level registered an improvement of more than 50% during the period.
Our supplier's capability building and enhancement have been identified as the next key areas of improvement, as we continue to adopt global best practices and focus in developing a quality culture throughout the supply chain.
QUALITY IN MANUFACTURING
Our QIT and Zero Defect programs have raised the quality level of vehicles with an impressive improvement of more than 50% in all plants.
We work towards changing quality approach from judgment control to source control by implementing projects like Zero Quality Control. This initiative is designed to eliminate defects by fixing the root and identifying the primary source. This year-long campaign strategy has helped improve the quality level tremendously.
By implementing the Zero Defect program, PROTON has ingrained a mindset shift of 'Nothing is Impossible' and embedded a commitment towards defect prevention into our work culture. This fulfills one of PROTON's Total Quality Management emphases on people quality.
QUALITY IN MARKET
Our commitment towards customer satisfaction is best reflected by the JD Power Initial Quality Study 2009 (IQS) results.
PROTON recorded a 30% improvement rate in comparison to the IQS 2008 result, a result that no other OEM companies have ever achieved.
In addition, PROTON's improvement rate surpassed the industry average, which only registered 14% improvement. The results clearly imply that various actions are being implemented to relentlessly address all customers' concerns, big and small, to keep our customers satisfied.
Our models went on to gain market recognition with international awards, which are testament to the improved quality of PROTON models. Towards a future of unrelenting progress, we remain committed to exceed expectations and continuously embark on various quality improvement initiatives.