In July 2016, the 35th Quality Trustworthiness Team & Quality Management Team Congress (hereinafter referred to as “Dual Congress”) of China’s Machinery Industry was solemnly held in Beijing. Nearly 1,000 attendees including leaders of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, and other departments as well as representatives from machinery manufacturers participated in the congress. At the congress, Chery stood out from automobile and parts manufacturers such as FAW, Dongfeng, SAIC, GAC and GEELY by carrying off nearly 20 awards, which include 1 “Chinese Excellent Enterprise” exclusive award, 10 “First Prize” of the congress, as well as awards such as “Excellent Enterprise”, “Outstanding Contributions”, “Quality Model” and “Innovative Achievements”. According to the results of the third-party surveys conducted by world-renowned authoritative agencies like Ipsos and J.D.Power, Chery came out at top in product quality. For example, in a result of Ipsos’ new car quality survey in 2015, Chery scored 334 points, 109 points above the average score of all brands in the segment, and Chery’s Qoros brand ranked second among all auto brands in the world.
Chery’s honors and achievements are attributed to its strong quality management system covering a full process from R & D to after-sales service. The system has enabled Chery to narrow its gap from or even to overtake many international auto brands.
I Quality management at the R&D stage: Strong automotive test technology center
Established in February 2006, Chery Automotive Test Technology Center is Asia’s largest of its kind with the most complete systems. After years of continuous investments and extension , nine laboratories including auto parts, energy conservation and environmental protection, vehicle road, powertrain, NVH, passive safety, materials and measurement, and a test track for vehicle control stability/NVH tuning have been built up. The center is capable of conducting over 2,600 tests in 23 specialized modules, covering the experimental development and validation of performance such as vehicle and parts reliability.
The huge investment has fully improved Chery’s vehicle quality assurance capacity. Take the collision safety laboratory for example, various tests have been conducted ever since its launch, including 911 times of car collision tests, 1,133 times of sled simulation collision tests, 1,044 times of pedestrian protection impact tests and 23 car-to-car collision tests. The generous investment in safety & quality-oriented R&D has enabled Chery to acquire mass authentic and reliable first-hand test data to make adjustment to product design as according to study and analysis results at the R&D stage.
III Quality management at the manufacturing stage: Chery Production System (CPS) and world-class equipment
After years of exploration, learning, Chery has established a production management mode with its own characteristics – Chery Production System (CPS), which is comprised of six principles, 30 elements and 334 core requirements. CPS is a set of strict management standards, which ensures that workers operate properly in accordance with standards. In order to popularize the model of “mass production” in its production plants worldwide, Chery held the “Global Manufacturing Skills Competition” to implement CPS and unify global production and product quality standards.
Chery has also introduced world leading technological equipments to ensure product quality. Regarding the engine production line, Chery has introduced Germany’s highest-level production line with nearly 360 units of CNC machining equipments, and applied an industrial network system controlled by mass information to ensure the 100% fineness of production. As for the stamping line, Chery has equipped a lot of world-class production robots from Italy and Germany to effectively ensure the quality and precision of stamped products. With regard to the welding line, Chery has adopted the PERCEPTRON laser measurement system from the US, Comau welding robots from Italy and Fanuc welding robots from Japan to ensure structure strength of vehicle body. Respecting the painting line, Chery has invested heavily on introducing equipment from DURR and Siemens equipments, making it the fifth most advanced painting line succeeded BMW in the world. With respect to the assembly line, Chery has introduced the ANDON production line system from the US to display and store tightening data in a real-time way, and set failure warning devices. Equipped with world top production equipment, Chery has significantly improved its overall product quality.
III Quality assurance system covering the full process of products
Chery’s quality management covers the whole lifecycle including market survey, project approval, test, development and trial manufacturing, production and assembly, logistics, sales and service. Chery has established complete systems for product audit, process audit, system audit, quality satisfaction survey and quality improvement, etc. Meanwhile, Chery has established five quality assurance modules on new product quality management, purchase quality management, production management and quality assurance, after-sales quality management and overseas quality management), to ensure full quality management, and to optimize effectiveness and quality.
Globally, Chery has persistently and comprehensively implemented the quality management system, attached great emphasis to quality, and enhanced system and product power. Thus Chery has established a special overseas quality management institution to ensure the product quality in its overseas plants, and has sent quality assurance staff to overseas plants to audit the quality assurance system.
Chery has successively been certified by international quality systems such as 3C China, ISO9001 Quality Assurance System and TüV ISO/TS16949 Quality Management System. Relying on its outstanding innovation, technology, manufacturing, management, team and brand power, Chery will constantly improve its product quality, optimize its product structure and forge products meeting global quality standards, so as to lay the groundwork for achieving the strategic goal of a globally competitive auto brand!
