Global fastenings manufacturer and distributor TR Fastenings (TR) has responded to a growing trend in the automotive market by training members of its quality team to be fully certified VDA 6.3 auditors. The certification means the team can now assess suppliers and supplier products against the standard, which is increasingly being used throughout the automotive sector.
TR is a full service provider to the automotive industry, supplying over 50 billion fastener components to over 5000 companies globally, largely tier 1 businesses supplying major automotive OEMs.
In recent years, TR has noticed an increased focus amongst its automotive customers on the German VDA 6.3 standard, which looks more at the quality of specific products and components than the management of overall systems or businesses. In response, TR has invested in specific training for its supplier quality managers, resulting in them being fully certified to assess products and suppliers against VDA requirements.
Maddy Webb, Global Customer Quality Manager at TR Fastenings, comments:
“Here at TR we pride ourselves in being agents of change, and keeping firmly on top of industry and sector developments. As soon as we began to notice this shift in focus towards VDA 6.3 as a preferred standard for automotive OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers, we decided to act. It’s our responsibility to pass awareness of trends like this on to our partners further down the supply chain, and do all we can to enable our customers to achieve the highest possible levels of quality and performance.”
The auditors at TR will be responsible for assessing suppliers’ products, documentation and processes to ensure that VDA standards are being adhered to. In addition, they and the rest of the TR team remain committed to ensuring that dialogues about customer and industry requirements are being held at all appropriate levels and acted upon accordingly.
