Quality Management

Customer satisfaction is a primary operating principle for an engineering service provider. Attention to quality and customer satisfaction through process control are two key factors in the success and performance of a company.

Recently, FEV Motorentechnik was certified to the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System Standard. Re-certification to the ISO 9001:2000 Quality Management System Standard was obtained by FEV in the summer of 2003. These certifications were granted for FEV' total service and product spectrum (e.g. motor - powertrain, vehicle application, electronics - mechatronics and measurement - test systems). FEV now has an integrated quality and environmental management system.

Evidence of customer satisfaction has been demonstrated by the receipt of one of our customer' own certifications. In November, Ford of Europe updated FEV' Q1-2003 status for powertrain development. The Q1 requirements exceed those of the ISO-standards. The Q1 global standard is a highly esteemed quality mark that also stands as proof of FEV' systematic quality assurance.

The strategic determination of measurable quality metrics and the continuous pursuit of improvement measures are required for this standard. FEV has established a QM-system in preparation for future quality requirements.

FEV has also established a continuous process of high quality throughout the whole mechanical testing process. The development procedure with defined responsibilities is a comprehensive example. To guarantee its functionality, different standardized tools have been installed.

The FEV Test Catalog defines reproducible boundaries for the following details:

• Types of measurement technology
• Number and position of sensors
• Operating points
• Boundary conditions, such as ambient temperature and pressure
• Strategy for data evaluation, including visualization
• Targets and limit

This is done in terms of a single standard for each test within the whole Test Catalog.

If an unexpected incident occurs while a test is being completed, a damage failure report has to be generated. The trim and content are also defined through the test. The consequent usage of this tool provides an effective quality control for the development process in terms of an improvement check from stage to stage, based on statistical evaluation.

Furthermore, the high number of standardized treated engine developments leads to a capable correlation between test bench results and experiences in the field, as documented in the FEV Wear Catalog.

To complete the Test Catalog requirements, FEV has installed all of the required technical resources, such as a state-of-the-art measurement machine.