The V Interregional conference Quality Is Basis of Competitiveness of Modern Automobile Industry took place at KAMAZ (part of Rostec State Corporation). The two-day event was held with the support of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Republic of Tatarstan.
Albert Karimov, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Tatarstan – Minister of Industry and Trade, Konstantin Leonidov, Head of Department of State policy in the Field of Technical regulation and Ensuring unity of Measurements of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, Andrey Lotsmanov, First Deputy Chairman of RSPP Committee on Technical Regulation, Standardization and Compliance Assessment, and others participated in the conference. Urgent quality issues were discussed by more than 200 experts from various cities of Russia and the CIS. They are quality and certification experts, managers of the largest vehicle assemblies, suppliers of KAMAZ PTC.
Addressing the participants of the meeting, Yury Gerasimov, First Deputy Director General of KAMAZ PTC – Executive Director, noted that the annual specialized conference had become a good platform for experience sharing for five years, as it gave an opportunity to tackle burning problems and find new ways to improve quality. The largest Russian truck maker is ready to share its experience. “Having placed a new truck lineup on the market, we reached a new level of product quality and are keeping our positions with success,” told Gerasimov. “Now that we are expanding our presence on export markets, it is especially important to prove our reputation as a producer of reliable vehicles – thanks to high quality, reasonable price, effective service and customer orientation.” Among the Russian vehicle manufacturers, KAMAZ has got the highest customer satisfaction level – 7.34 under a 10-point scale.
The first day of the event was devoted to the experts’ reports and their discussion. In particular, the participants discussed prospects of development of standardization of management systems of the automobile industry in the Russian Federation, dwelt on issues of training of employees as the key to high quality, discussed problems and prospects of digital quality assurance management, etc. The KAMAZ experts shared their knowhow in the lean production development, elaborated on modern technologies and measures of production modernization that influence the product quality.
The winners of KAMAZ’s contest Best Quality Assurance Manager were awarded at the conference. Besides, highly praised were the merits of Deputy Director for Quality Assurance at the Automobile Plant Evgeny Masliev: he was recognized as the Best Quality Assurance Manager of the Republic of Tatarstan in 2017.
Round table meetings to form the vision of the future automobile industry were conducted on the second day. The event was crowned with benchmarking: the guests were invited to the subdivisions of KAMAZ PTC to see the latest management systems introduced in compliance with international standards. The participants of the conference visited the automobile plant and the press and stamping plant, and also attended ZF KAMA JV. In general, it is worth mentioning that there was a wide range of topics set forth for discussion at the event, vehicle producers were informed about quality improvement instruments, and practitioners who participated in the conference were experienced.