Muller Holdings (www.muller-england.co.uk), a sub-contact machining specialist that employs 90 people at its headquarters in Cleobury Mortimer, has become one of the first companies in the UK to secure International Automotive Task Force 16949 accreditation.

The audit process took just 12 months, from initial planning to mobilising the quality team and ensuring that the 21 changes in specification were met.

Stephen Lock, managing director of Muller South Wales, said: “IATF replaces TS in September and is a lot more risk-based, covering risk evaluation and analysis in all aspects of the business.

"We recognised the need to achieve certification within a fairly narrow time-frame, so we carried out a gap analysis and introduced new procedures and process controls that bridged the ‘gaps’.

"Comprehensive training plans were also rolled out at our four sites in the Black Country, Shropshire, South Wales and Worcestershire.

"The end result has been worth it, with the IATF certification achieved before many of our major customers.”.

The IATF standard, which is held by all four UK sites and the factory in Manesar in India, puts Muller Holdings in a good position to retain existing automotive work and to take on additional contracts.

This approach is already paying off, with new orders worth £300,000 recently secured from Wabco and THK Germany.

Mr Lock added: “The quality standard proves that we operate to the highest possible global standards and have measures in place to ensure that production continues in the event of any risk scenarios.

“It’s a great start to an exciting 2018 — a year where we are looking to take our sales past £14 million and invest more than £500,000 in new technology.”