Working in collaboration, volunteers from Chrysler Group LLC, Delphi Corp., Ford Motor Co., General Motors LLC, Honda of America Manufacturing Inc., Nexteer Automotive, The Lincoln Electric Co., Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, TRW Automotive, and Visteon Corp., have developed the Soldering (CQI-17) and Welding (CQI-15) System Assessment Guidelines. These guidelines are among the special process assessments that provide a common approach to a welding and soldering management systems for automotive production and service part organizations.

The new assessment guidelines are available in print and electronic document formats, exclusively from the Automotive Industry Action Group.

The AIAG is a not-for-profit organization involving OEMs, suppliers, service providers, government and academia working together to drive down cost and reduce complexity from the supply chain via global standards development and harmonized business practices.

“The CQI-15 and CQI-17 assessments are important to the industry as a whole, and specifically to individual companies, because they provide a roadmap for companies to keep their procedures and processes updated,” according to Delphi Corp.’s Virender Choudhri, global technical, cost and supplier quality leader: stampings, tubings, and steel. Choudhri worked as a member of both groups. “This allows them to meet and or exceed customer expectations.”

These system assessments were developed to provide continual improvement and to emphasize defect prevention and reduction of variation and waste in the supply chain. The Soldering System Assessment helps frame a common approach to a soldering management system for automotive production and service part organizations, while the Welding System Assessment does the same for welding management systems.

Both assessments support the automotive process approach in ISO/TS 16949.

"These assessments provide easy access to automotive industry minimum expectations with regards to system and process quality,” states Dave Willig, Nexteer Automotive’s senior manufacturing engineer, welding & robotics.