Bombardier’s IRIS Certification: Improving Quality through the Supply Chain

Bombardier Inc., whose head office is in Canada, is the global leader in innovative commercial and business aircraft transport solutions, as well as in rail transport equipment and systems and related services. Its revenues for the fiscal year ended Jan. 31, 2008 registered at USD 17.5 billion. Bombardier Transportation, with its head office in Berlin, Germany, is present in over 60 countries. It is the leading global supplier of rail equipment and related services in 8 out of the 10 market segments in which it operates and has an installed base of over 100,000 rail vehicles worldwide. In France, Bombardier Transportation operates at its facility in Crespin, in Northern France, where it employs 2000 employees and develops a wide range of rolling stock.

Interview with JEAN-MICHEL CARLIER, Quality Director Bombardier Transportation France.

What does this certification mean for Bombardier and its business activity?
Certification ensures continuous quality improvement throughout the supply chain thanks to standardized requirements, improved product quality and an efficient chain of procedures. Consequently, Bombardier, along with its certified suppliers, benefits from a decisive advantage in securing or maintaining contracts in the industry. Other benefits include cost savings due to uniform terms of qualification, reduced cost of obtaining IRIS certification through a combined certification of both ISO 9001 and IRIS and time savings because the need to undergo numerous individual customer audits has been replaced by the requirement of one overall audit.

Why did you decide to be IRIS Certified?
Because Bombardier implemented the IRIS certification requirements for all its suppliers with a deadline of June 2009, it seemed obvious we needed to do the same for our site in Crespin, in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region. Bombardier Transportation’s French business is developed on this site, which employs 2000 people, and is the largest railway production site in France and home to the Bogie Center of Excellence. Our production unit here in Crespin manufactures a broad range of equipment, including the Autorail Grande Capacité (AGC), with 700 units ordered by 21 French regions and the Francilien, designed for the SNCF Transilien network serving the Ile-de-France, an ultramodern suburban train that will be delivered from late 2009. These two equipment offerings exemplify the company’s know-how. This certification was also designed to improve the quality of information sharing between us and our customers and suppliers and thereby contribute to the kinds of relationships that ensure customer retention.

What criteria did you use to select Bureau Veritas Certification for this project?
Bureau Veritas Certification is the first global independent certification body to receive IRIS accreditation from UNIFE. So they were the obvious choice for Bombardier when we were looking to launch our supplier certification program. The project for the Crespin site fits into the European Framework Agreement that Bombardier entered into with Bureau Veritas for certification of all its railway production sites.

What benefits does this certification bring to Bombardier and its business activity?
IRIS has brought cohesion to the site’s continuous production system by involving all players in the identification of non-conformities and implementation of corrective actions. Other certification benefits include better response times and increased awareness of the importance of quality among the personnel, by helping to instill a culture where quality is most important. Moreover, it has greatly contributed to improving the machine tool and product design process, with additional benefits extending to environmental protection and health and safety, and has helped to develop a culture of prevention throughout the site.
Bombardier received a certification with no recommended corrective action. All these benefits translate into cost savings, improved employee engagement and better customer retention.