The Volkswagen Group continues to pursue its strategy of intensifying cooperation with suppliers, and has now successfully launched the Suppliers’ Quality Forum, a further initiative concerning cooperation with suppliers. The strategy consists of three components: the Suppliers’ Conventions, the Suppliers’ Quality Forum and the Innovation Forum.

The Suppliers’ Convention, the first initiative, focused on material cost and already achieved triple-digit million savings in October of last year.

The second component, the Suppliers’ Quality Forum, was initiated by Francisco Javier Garcia Sanz, Member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG, and Falko Schling, Director of Volkswagen Group Quality Assurance. At the Forum, 24 selected suppliers joined up with top management to form 24 teams together with cross-departmental expert groups from Volkswagen. “We will be handling quality issues with the same openness we give to cost issues in the Suppliers’ Conventions,” emphasized Garcia Sanz: “We are aiming for an open and forward-looking dialog to develop solutions for improvements.”

The teams determined goals and objectives for improving the quality of purchased parts. Enhanced quality for the customer plays an important role in addition to improving the quality of parts delivered by suppliers. We must focus on long-term quality, as this has a significant impact on brand loyalty in particular, added Schling. Various agreements on joint efforts to find low-cost and effective customer service solutions for vehicles outside the guarantee period were therefore made.

Volkswagen will be launching the Innovation Forum, the third component, at the end of May. This is where the company and its suppliers will jointly develop strategies and approaches for the early realization of innovations to enhance customer benefit.