A West Midlands engineering firm has added the TS16949 automotive accreditation to its list of honours. The goal of TS16949 is to develop quality systems that provide continual improvement, emphasise defect prevention and reduce variation and waste in the supply chain. Berck Ltd (
www.bercklimited.co.uk), which makes high-quality metal pressings and metal/plastic sub-assemblies, numbers Jaguar Land Rover among its customers.
Managing director Darren Yates says: “70% of our business is in the global automotive sector, and it made sense to strengthen our quality process. Gaining accreditation took 18 months, and it was awarded at the end of July. Berck achieved the aerospace equivalent three years earlier, so it was already well placed to complete the automotive benchmark for quality.
“While the standard is useful from a marketing perspective, our main focus was on improving the business and processes.”
The process of gaining TS16949 accreditation was very time-consuming for Berck — especially for the quality department — but the benefits are already noticeable.
The main changes included moving machinery around to achieve a better flow of components, plus improvements in documentation and procedures, empowering people on the shopfloor and giving them more responsibility for what they are making.
Quality manager Steve Bettridge says: “It’s about getting people more involved with what they produce and showing them how critical they are to the customer. This was a company-wide effort, and we are very proud of what we have achieved as a team.”