Volkswagen Group of America, Chattanooga Operations announced today that the automobile manufacturing facility’s quality management system has been independently audited and confirmed as conforming with the requirements of the International Organization for Standardization’s (ISO) 9001:2008.
ISO 9001:2008 is an internationally recognized quality management standard applicable to manufacturing organizations for establishing a business management system with a focus on system optimization and ongoing improvement.
“I’m very pleased that Volkswagen Chattanooga has achieved this quality benchmark so early in the process of running this facility,” said Frank Fischer, Volkswagen Chattanooga’s Chair and CEO. “From the very start we have emphasized quality, whether in our planning or employee training, as a foundation to building the highest quality mid size sedan, and this audit has verified our success reaching those goals,” Fischer said.
The ISO 9001:2008 audit, completed by TUV USA, highlighted as ‘quite impressive in depth and scope’ the hiring and training process of the Volkswagen Chattanooga employees. The Volkswagen Academy located at the manufacturing facility has extensive classroom and hands-on training for every team member hired to work at Volkswagen Chattanooga.
The audit also noted that given the short timeframe for implementation, the effort in general was ‘impressively done with excellent depth and detail within each department.’ Planning was also highlighted as ‘very well executed at all levels’.
“We are proud of the Passat we are building and proud of the quality measures that each person who touches the process takes in their work,” said Andreas Linke, General Manager Quality Assurance for Volkswagen Chattanooga. ISO 9001:2008 is an important step, but is by no means the end of the process of producing quality. In fact, it’s just the beginning,” Linke said.
