QUALITY MANAGEMENT AND PROCUREMENT
QUALITY MANAGEMENT
The high technical level of ANDRITZ products and systems requires the highest manufacturing standards, systematic organization, clearly defined business processes, and well-trained employees. ANDRITZ Quality Management plays a major role in implementing operating standards for products, process and personnel management, and in providing continuous feedback on the effects and fulfilment of these standards. Staffing of the quality team has been considerably increased in step with the strong growth of the ANDRITZ GROUP.
One focus of ANDRITZ’s quality management activities in 2008 was again on product quality, with a two-fold approach for quality assurance in the engineering phase and in ANDRITZ’s own, and outsourced, manufacturing. A key role is played by the quality of information transfer. The successful creation of the ERP module for quality assurance and continuous improvement has been an important milestone in this context.
In addition, the quality management team focused on supporting the integration of newly purchased companies as well as harmonizing and making available process- and product-related requirements and all necessary rules and standards. The Group-wide network of quality managers and engineers has made good progress in implementing the quality policy and reaching the set goals.
Special attention was given to the aspect of risk management. In the early stages of a customer project, when major decisions relevant for the outcome of a project are made, it is particularly important to utilize the entire experience available in all applicable units.
More resources have been deployed in supplier assessment and management to further improve efficiency in the cooperation with important suppliers, and to support Procurement in the search for and qualification of new suppliers.
PROCUREMENT
Due to the strong growth of the ANDRITZ GROUP over the past few years and in an effort to better utilize the potential of the increasingly globalized procurement markets, ANDRITZ has reorganized its procurement activities and, in 2008, installed a Group-wide, centrally coordinated network – ANDRITZ Global Procurement.
The new global organization aims to make an essential contribution to further increasing ANDRITZ’s competitiveness by reducing the costs of material and services purchased. Strategies and measures to achieve this goal include:
- Optimum utilization of the global procurement markets.
- Early integration of Global Procurement in the project acquisition phase to fix target costs for materials and external services, reconciling sales and purchase strategies in the best possible way.
- Bundling of cross-divisional and global demand.
- Global implementation of a standardized supplier management process.
- Ensuring optimum supply through continuous improvement of logistics.
New purchasing functions were created to achieve these goals effectively and efficiently. Business Area Procurement was installed to coordinate the purchasing organizations of all divisions and sites of a specific business area, thus ensuring swift implementation of all purchasing strategies. Category Teams develop and implement worldwide purchasing strategies for defined material fields. The Project Procurement Management function was introduced to achieve optimum integration and utilization of purchasing resources for specific customer projects, thereby fixing as best as possible the target costs for materials and external services. Purchasing Controlling and support to purchasing organizations within defined regions were also enhanced.
A steering committee, consisting of the managers of the individual purchasing functions and headed by the Global Procurement manager, monitors effective and efficient functioning of the global purchasing network.