Quality

As a carmaker, we are under an obligation to our customers and society to supply high-quality products that are safe and environmentally compatible. Across the Volkswagen Group we pursue a rigorous quality policy which is manifested in three areas – mature products, robust processes and excellent customer satisfaction. Various quality methods, especially our complex quality management system “Volkswagen Excellence” have made significant contributions to the traditionally low frequency of defects in Volkswagen models. With the support of our quality management system, we are continuously improving our own production processes and the quality of our customer support. In addition, we help our suppliers and our partners in dealerships and repair shops to provide higher-quality services.

Suppliers are partners
To ensure outstanding quality, we cooperate intensively with our suppliers in a spirit of partnership and include their systems and components in our quality assurance process. With a view to further intensifying cooperation and to coming closer to our objective of zero defects, we have launched a number of initiatives.

In advance of the development of a new product, “design responsibility agreements” are concluded between the Volkswagen Group and its suppliers. The objective is to reinforce cooperation in the development phase and to extend the responsibility of suppliers for warranty and concession expenses.

By introducing Supplier Conventions, the Volkswagen Group has also set in motion a worldwide initiative for improving cooperation with suppliers in the production phase. Supplier Conventions focusing on delivery quality and other site-specific topics are held by all our brands and in all regions and plants throughout the world. Apart from an exchange of specialist experience between Volkswagen and its suppliers, the objective of these conventions is to agree specific measures with the management of suppliers where problems have arisen, with a view to ensuring a sustained improvement in the quality situation.

Bringing quality to the customer
Our quality management also includes customer service in the quality assurance organisation. We are able to avoid numerous complaints by reacting faster to calls and letters received from our customers.

Increasingly complex, networked technologies call for new tools to deliver high-quality service. This is why we will be providing our dealers with ODIS (Offboard Diagnosis Information System) software to support their customer service operations from 2008. ODIS gives service technicians access to all the systems and information that are essential for vehicle diagnosis. The information available online is updated almost daily. Service personnel will then no longer need to log on separately to each source of information. The duplication of inputs and resulting repetition of repair work are avoided. Customer satisfaction is enhanced and repair and warranty costs are reduced.

Summit for top quality
Even beyond the boundaries of the company, the Volkswagen Group is actively involved in quality. For example, the fourth quality policy summit of VDA – the German Association of the Automotive Industry – was held at the Autostadt in Wolfsburg on 23 November 2006 and attended by 200 representatives of manufacturers and suppliers.