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Auto Process Consulting Hero
Automotive Manufacturing Teaser

The definition of vehicle quality has evolved

J.D. Power process improvement consulting engagements are designed to improve a client’s marketplace performance and resultant financial success. The technique to achieving this can be directly correlated to ensuring the product is correctly and consistently assembled to customer satisfaction target requirements – in a more coordinated, accurate, timely and cost effective manner.

J.D. Power offers a series of highly-effective process improvement solutions:

Assessments

Assessments provide access to J.D. Power’s global manufacturing consulting experts to help identify and recommend the implementation of specific action items that will drive overall quality improvement.

Operations Improvement Support

J.D. Power’s Operations Improvement Support activities are designed to assist clients in addressing opportunities for improvement in order to fuel progress toward an ideal state vision.

Training / Skills Enhancement

J.D. Power offers customized training programs that teach the need to integrate the Voice of the Customer into daily work activities to help improve the quality of the overall output.

Assessments

Production System Assessment

How can we improve first-time quality effectively and efficiently? How do we reduce output variation? How can we structure our continuous  improvement system to be better aligned to  customer needs and business objectives?

Improve operations by combining Voice of the Customer, production quality system best practices, and engineering expertise to identify, recommend, and implement  solutions that lead to improved internal and external business metrics.

Benefits:

  • Improve customer satisfaction in the marketplace and build-in-quality in the workstations
  • Improve end-of-line first-time capability and reduce in-line and off-line rework
  • Identify opportunities to strengthen the production system
PSA
QIS

Launch Readiness Review

How can we improve first-time quality effectively and efficiently? How do we reduce output variation? How can we structure our continuous improvement system to be better aligned to customer needs and business objectives?

Prepares operations for a successful product launch by assessing launch plans for key production quality system elements. Provides manufacturer with an additional level of confidence in the product launch and allows them to address customer-relevant topics prior to market introduction.

Benefits:

  • Evaluate the production system in terms of its readiness to satisfy customer quality and delivery expectations
  • Assess the manufacturing site’s ability to build quality in at the workstations and to validate vehicles to customer expectations
  • Help complete vehicle audit personnel better understand what is expected from a consumer and conquest buyers outside of the OEM

Independent Benchmark Review

How do we compare to other plants in the OEM enterprise – or within the industry at large? How can you be sure your operations are performing at optimum efficiency?

Takes a standardized approach to understanding a factory’s production status and gaps to industry-leading best practices. Evaluates activities across 16 categories within Assembly, Paint and Body shops. 

Benefits

  • Drive customer satisfaction improvement and factory performance metric improvement through regular production system enhancements
  • Receive objective third-party feedback on your production quality system and expert recommendations on how to close gaps vs. global benchmark systems
  • Compare the maturity of factory’s production systems to others within the OEM, vs. the industry average, and vs. benchmark practices
  • Identify weaknesses in a plant’s production system and prioritized areas for  system enhancement
assessments-ibr
TPSA

Transportation & Processing System Assessment

How do we identify and eliminate sources of risk in our vehicle transportation system? How do we ensure our transportation and delivery team have customer-focused standards?

Helps manufacturers, transportation service providers, and dealerships improve operations by assessing the risks associated with the transportation and handling processes in the factory’s transportation preparation through the pre-delivery process at the dealership.

Benefits:

  • Understand where the risks to customer satisfaction are throughout the complete transportation and processing system
  • Identify opportunities to reduce the risk to the vehicle and improve customer satisfaction at delivery
  • Enhanced transportation, handling, and dealership customer preparation processes that improve customer satisfaction and reduce costs associated with handling concerns

Quality Information System (QIS) Assessment & Enhancement

What can we do to effectively and efficiently communicate timely quality information across our company and to our problem solvers? 

Assesses current client’s QIS to provide recommendations for improvement and incorporation of the Voice of the Customer. Redesigns the QIS to ensure that it’s sending the right quality information to the right place at the right time, so action can be taken across all markets.

Benefits:

  • Provide one, clear, accurate voice for the market to provide actionable information about product quality to the factory
  • Identify problem detail to allow for effective corrective action to be taken and prioritize problems from a consumer as well as financial perspective
  • Provide metrics to assess performance and set targets
LRR

Process Improvement

Production System Improvement Support

What are others doing that we can employ as best practices? What can we do to get all employees focused in one direction?

Help develop overall improvement strategy based on gaps identified in the production system evaluation.  Works with production management levels to implement the improvements and track the progress toward an ideal state vision.

Benefits:

  • Implement production system improvements based on the findings of the assessment
  • Short term improvements are typically focused on protecting the customer and improving customer satisfaction in the marketplace
  • Longer term improvements are on variation reduction and structuring the improvement system to be better aligned to customer needs and company business objectives
PSI
POI

Paint Operations Improvement Support

How can we improve first-time quality effectively and efficiently? How do we reduce output variation? How can we structure our continuous  improvement system to be better aligned to customer needs and business objectives?

Provides improvement support covers all aspects of the Paint Shop Operations, from production processes to end-of-line inspection and complete vehicle audits standards and specifications.

Benefits:

  • Install best practices to address opportunities in the Paint Shop and Customer Validation processes
  • Short term improvements are focused on improving customer satisfaction in the marketplace by ensuring inspection and repair standards, methods, and facilities will yield results that meet customer expectations 
  • Longer term improvements are sustainable, process-specific variation reduction

Problem Resolution Support

How can we solve this problem quickly and effectively? What problem solving tools should we use to diagnose this problem? 

Helps clients resolve product quality, production performance, and other complex problems. Introduces a practical problem solving method as part of the problem resolution support process.

Benefits:

  • Resolution of a product or production-related complex problem
  • Deeper understanding of the basics of problem solving methods and tools
PRS

Training / Skills Enhancement

Voice of the Customer Training

What can we do to be more proactive in terms of quality? How can we build a more quality-focused culture throughout our organization? 

Customized training programs for automotive industry employees that teach the need to integrate Voice of the Customer into daily work activities which will improve the quality of output.

Benefits:

  • Educate the workforce on the industry’s and their customer’s expectations
  • Application of learnings to improve the workforce’s ability to identify, contain, correct, and prevent customer problems from leaving their zone
  • Improved workforce-driven continuous improvement effort and end-of-line first-time quality
VOC_2
QSE

Quality System Element Training

What can we do to be more proactive in terms of quality? How can we build a more quality-focused culture throughout our organization? 

Customized training programs for core quality system elements covering product development through production part approval, and the tools necessary to make system, launches, and production processes successful.

Benefits:

  • Educate participants of the requirements and / or tools of key quality system elements
  • Strengthen production system foundation
  • Improve problem solving skills, reduce risks in the processes, advance internal and external business metrics

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