Business development and continuous improvement

SMMT offers business development opportunities in two key areas:

• Logistics and e-Business
• Quality
  

Logistics and e-Business

SMMT hosts the UK Logistics Forum (UKLF) that reviews the needs of the industry and promotes actions to assist all aspects of e-Business and supply chain management deployment.

The Committee coordinates UK representation in Odette projects. UK participation in this group has directly led to establishment of industry standard practices at a European level.

Current UKLF projects:

• CO2 reporting and management
• Supply chain risk management
• Skills for logistics
• Product movement around Europe
• Transport optimisation (parts and vehicle delivery)
• Auto-gration software
• Supplier collaboration (shared transport and warehousing).

For more information on this group, please click here. Or contact Rob Morbin | rmorbin@smmt.co.uk | 0207 344 9265

To find out more about Odette projects, click here.

SMMT’s subsidiary organisation Industry Forum also offers services in process improvement and organisation development.

Quality

Publications available here

Quality and the pursuit of continuous improvement in today’s fiercely competitive global automotive market are essential if companies are to survive and succeed.

The quality of a company’s products and/or services is dependent on its people and management and on all its business processes, from design through manufacture to delivery and service. Competitive companies maximise process efficiency and effectiveness to minimise costs, eliminate waste and continuously improve what they do.

There are five main areas to consider within this definition:

Quality (in the specific sense):
Providing products or services that consistently meet the specification that has been agreed with the customer.

Cost:
Consistently supplying the product or service to the cost agreed with the customer.

Delivery:
Consistently supplying the product or service to the customer at the agreed location and time.

Design and development:
Designing and developing the specification of the product or service so that it meets the customer’s needs. Designing and developing the production facilities and processes so that the product or service can be consistently produced to the agreed specification.

Management:
Putting in place the people, other resources and business processes necessary to achieve the above and ensuring their continued availability. This should be done as effectively and efficiently as possible to ensure the sustainability of the business into the future.

ISO/TS 16949:2009 is the global automotive quality management systems standard. It covers the particular requirements of the automotive sector for the application of ISO 9001:2008. Certification to this standard is a requirement for component manufacturers to supply major customers. Business Excellence extends the process approach of the standard covering all key elements of any business.

SMMT’s subsidiary organisation Industry Forum also offers services in process improvement, organisation development and learning development, click here.